Sudan Army, Protesters Agree to Resume Talks on Transitional Council

June 12/2019 The Transitional Military Council and protest leaders in Sudan agreed to resume negotiations on the formation of a transitional sovereign council, an Ethiopian envoy said.
"Both sides have also agreed to resume talks soon" on a handover of power to a civilian administration, the envoy Mahmoud Drir said while speaking to reporters in Khartoum, Sudan.

Protest leaders have agreed to suspend a civil disobedience campaign and resume negotiations with the country's ruling generals on the formation of a transitional council, he said.

"The Freedom and Change alliance agreed to end the civil disobedience (campaign) from today," said Mahmoud, who has been mediating since a visit by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week.

Mahmoud said the Transitional Military Council (TMC) had also agreed to release political prisoners as a goodwill gesture.

Protest leaders launched the nationwide general strike from Sunday after a June 3 crackdown on a weeks-long sit-in had left scores of people dead.

The health ministry acknowledges that 61 people were killed on June 3 across Sudan, including 49 by "live ammunition" in the capital.

Thousands of protesters had camped for weeks outside the army headquarters in Khartoum demanding that the TMC step down and hand power to a civilian-led administration.

The generals seized power after the military overthrew longtime ruler  Omar al-Bashir on April 11 following months of nationwide protests against his three-decade rule.