Troika countries urge Sudan’s junta to hand over power to civilians
April 14, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The Troika Countries have urged the transitional military council to hand over power to the political and social forces stressing that Sudan needs an orderly transition to civilian rule.
In a joint statement issued on Sunday, the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway said that the “legitimate change” Sudanese are demanding has not been achieved, despite the pledge by the new head of the military council to transfer power to civilians.
“It is vital that the authorities listen to the calls from the Sudanese people. Most pressingly, the continuing peaceful protests must not be met with violence from any quarter,” said the Toika.
“Sudan needs an orderly transition to civilian rule leading to elections in a reasonable time frame,” they further stressed.
On Sunday, U.S. Charge d’Affaires Steven Koutsis met on Sunday morning with the deputy head of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (aka Hemitte) but neither the embassy nor the Sudanese official issued a statement on the meeting.
He probably informed the deputy TMC head of the content of the statement before to release it.
Hemitte had resigned from the first military council after accusing Awad Ibn Ouf of implementing Islamist agenda and called to transfer power to civilians in a period between three to six months. The military council said the handover would take place after two years.
In Khartoum, Sudanese protesters outside the army headquarters held discussions in small groups where the activists in spontaneous interventions called on the opposition groups to not accept further talks with the military council except on the power handover.
Also, the Troika condemned “the acts of violence by legacy forces of the former regime, such as the Popular Defence Forces, the Popular Police Forces, and other militias”.
Armed elements allegedly members of the to the National Congress Party’s militia Popular Security attacked a Sudanese army troops deployed near the University of Khartoum on Saturday.
(ST)