Khartoum: Huge crowds are expected to join a “million-strong” protest march on Thursday in Sudan to turn up the heat on the ruling military council after three of its members resigned following talks on handing over power. The rally outside the army headquarters comes after the military rulers and protest leaders agreed to set up a joint committee, to chart the way forward two weeks since the ouster of veteran president Omar al-Bashir.
“We expect huge crowds to come to the protest site, including people from outside of Khartoum,” activist Ahmed Najdi said. Demonstrator Ayman Ali Mohamed was among those preparing to march in the capital. “We fear that the military council might steal our revolution, so we have to participate until the transfer to civilian rule is accomplished,” he said.
“We are standing our ground no matter what.” The planned march follows a late-night meeting between the military council and leaders of the umbrella group heading the protest movement. “We have an agreement on most demands presented in the document of the Alliance for Freedom and Change,” Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, spokesman of the military council, told reporters afterwards.
He did not elaborate on the key demand of handing power to a civilian government, but said there “were no big disputes”. The Sudanese Professionals Association, which spearheaded months of protests against Bashir, described the meeting as a step towards “confidence-building”. “Both sides agreed on the importance of joint cooperation to steer the country toward peace and stability,” the SPA said on Thursday.
