Sudan celebrates end of stand-off between military leaders and opposition

Sudan’s military leadership and the country’s pro-democracy movement have agreed to form a rotating, joint sovereign council that will govern “for the next three years or a little longer,” Mohamed el-Hassan Labat, the African Union’s envoy to Sudan, said early Friday. “Today our revolution has won and it waves the flags of victory,” the opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) said Friday. Talks between the military leadership and opposition groups collapsed after security forces broke up a protest camp outside Khartoum’s military headquarters on June 3. More than 100 protesters were killed in the crackdown. Ethiopia’s government and the African Union mediated talks that led to Thursday’s agreement, Labat said. Tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Sudan’s cities in the run-up to the deal. The Transitional Military Council has been in power since the military ousted long-time President Omar al-Bashir in April. The coup followed months of protests that engulfed the country. Sudan’s pro-democracy movement remained on the streets after Bashir’s ouster, demanding a transition to civilian rule.