Sudan protest leaders suspend talks with army rulers

Protest leaders on Sunday said they suspended talks with Sudan’s military council as they urged people to intensify their protest outside army headquarters in Khartoum and in other towns.

“We will continue the sit-in and we are suspending our talks with the military council,” a spokesman of the protest movement Mohamed al-Amin announced in front of thousands of protesters gathered outside the army complex.

“We are treating the military council as an extension of the regime,” he said.

Amin also called on demonstrators to step up their protests until their demand for a transfer of power to a civilian council is met by the military.

“We call for escalating and continuing the demonstrations until the demands are met,” he said.

A sea of protesters had been rallying outside the army headquarters, awaiting the unveiling of a civilian body to replace the military council that was put in place following the ouster of president Omar al-Bashir earlier this month.

The military rulers have resisted calls to transfer power immediately to a civilian body, but earlier on Sunday new army ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan insisted he was committed to handing power to the people and also pledged to respond to demonstrators’ demands within a week.