Sudan opposition, military council to resume negotiations

The Sudanese opposition and the Transitional Military Council have agreed to resume dialogue to resolve the current political crisis, a day after the suspension of civil disobedience in the country, the Ethiopian envoy to Sudan said.

Ethiopian Prime Minister’s special envoy to Sudan, Mahmoud Drir said that talks on the formation of a Transitional Governing Council “will begin soon”, explaining that the Sudanese military council has agreed to release political prisoners “as a confidence building step” after the opposition agreed to suspend protests.

In the early hours of 3 June, the Sudanese security forces stormed a sit-in in central Khartoum, forcibly removing it, according to opposition forces. The Sudanese Central Committee of Doctors reported that the death toll had reached 108.

Since then the military leadership has been accused of using militias to intimidate protesters. Women’s rights campaigner and activist Nahid Jabrallah told the German publication Deutsche Welle that the Rapid Support Forces, part of Sudan’s security services, raped numerous Sudanese women and men as they violently dispersed a pro-democracy sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum last week.

A black out has now been reported in the country with protesters unable to use mobile phones to go online, limiting the information which is now able to flow out of Sudan.

READ: Sudan will not be silenced

Massacre in Sudan – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]