ANSD : Sudan protesters accept road map for civilian rule

WED 8 - 5 - 2024

Date: Jun 24, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Sudan protesters accept road map for civilian rule

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s protest movement said Sunday it has accepted an Ethiopian road map for civilian-led transitional government, after a monthslong standoff with the country’s military rulers. Ahmed Rabie, a spokesperson for the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, told the Associated Press that the Ethiopian proposal included a leadership council with eight civilian and seven military members, with a rotating chairmanship.

The ruling military council did not immediately say whether it would also agree. Rabie added the road map would restore all previous deals with the military. These include a three-year transition period, a protester-appointed Cabinet and a protester-majority legislative body.

Rabie said the protest leaders would also discuss with the Ethiopian envoy, Mahmoud Dirir, establishing an “independent” investigation into the military’s crackdown against a protest sit-in earlier this month that killed dozens.

Separately, a Sudanese court ordered telecoms operator Zain Sudan to restore internet services, a lawyer said, after they were severed nearly three weeks ago when security forces dispersed protesters camping in central Khartoum.

Sudan’s military rulers ordered the internet blackout as a security measure but it is harming the economy and humanitarian operations in the African nation of 40 million. The protesters are demanding the military hand power to a civilian authority.

Abdel-Adheem Hasan, a lawyer who filed his own case against Zain Sudan over the blackout, told Reuters the Khartoum District Court had ordered Zain to “immediately restore internet services to the country.” Sudanese courts do not confirm or deny their rulings to the media.

Zain Sudan, a subsidiary of Zain Kuwait and the largest operator in Sudan, was not immediately able to comment on the matter Sunday.

Hasan said a Zain representative had told the court in response to the petition that the company had been ordered verbally by “high authorities” to cut the internet.

Sudanese officials could not be reached for comment and it was unclear what impact Sunday’s court order would have.

Authorities also restricted access to popular social media sites during 16 weeks of protests against veteran leader Omar al-Bashir earlier this year. Bashir was finally ousted on April 11. The current blackout, which began on June 3, has resulted in a “near-total loss of access” for mobile and fixed-line connections for most ordinary users, though connectivity had improved from 2 percent to 10 percent of normal levels by last Thursday, said Alp Toker of NetBlocks, a digital rights NGO.

“Data indicate that Sudan’s current internet restrictions remain more severe than those observed during the rule of Omar al-Bashir, including those applied in the final days of the regime,” Toker said in an email.

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