African Union continues to postpone Sudanese army, protestors’ talks

The African Union (AU) is postponing talks between Sudan’s ruling military council and the Forces of Freedom and Change (FDFC), concerning the so-called “power-sharing agreement,” local media reported yesterday.

Following a recent announcement by the AU special envoy to Sudan, Mohamed El-Hassan Ould Labbat, about the meeting’s postponement, the Sudanese protestors declared their “reservation over some of the agreement’s clauses,” stressing that the accord was subject to “an under consultations by the FDFC leadership.”

“After the DFC’s board final approval on the draft agreement, we [DFC] will hold a joint meeting with the negotiating parties to discuss the outstanding points,” FDFC pointed out.

The joint meeting was initially planned to take place on Saturday. But the protestors’ movement has called for the talks to be postponed “for more consultations.” The deal was said to be aiming to “organise a transition period to free elections and civilian rule.”

Read: What next for Sudan?

Local media recently reported that the Sudanese Communist Party, which is part of the protest movement, had rejected the power-sharing agreement over the fact that it “does not include an international investigation into the crackdown and keeps paramilitary forces in existence.”

In a similar context, the Sudanese politician, Khalid Al-Aayser recently warned that the delays would lead to “a scene escalation.”

Long-stalled talks between Sudan’s military and the national opposition groups have collapsed after the violent dispersal of the sit-in. But direct negotiations revived after mediation efforts by the AU and Ethiopia.