Hundreds demonstrate in Sudan against deal with military

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Hundreds demonstrated in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday in protest of a recent political deal between Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the military.

Protests were reported in several areas in Khartoum as well as in the cities of Nyala, Wad Madani, and El Daein.

Demonstrators raised banners calling for civilian rule and an end to the military takeover.

“The revolution is the people's revolution,” reads a banner carried by protesters in Wad Madani city in Al-Jazirah state in central Sudan.

Monday’s protests were called by the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition, which had shared power with the military before the Oct. 25 military takeover.

On Oct. 25, the military dismissed Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency, amid accusations between politicians and the military.

Hamdok, however, was reinstated on Nov. 21 under an agreement with Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the ruling military council, in a move that aimed to resolve a political crisis that threatened to undermine Sudan’s transition to democracy.

Before the military takeover, Sudan was administered by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials which was overseeing the transition period until elections in 2023 as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and Forces of Freedom and Change coalition.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara