{"id":39015,"date":"2019-04-16T09:22:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T09:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=39015"},"modified":"2019-04-16T09:22:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T09:22:46","slug":"algerian-rights-lawyer-mustapha-bouchachi-a-leading-voice-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=39015","title":{"rendered":"Algerian rights lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi, a leading voice for change"},"content":{"rendered":"

African Union threatens to suspend Sudan\u2019s membership unless military council steps down<\/h2>\n
\n

\nKHARTOUM\/CAIRO: Sudan\u2019s protest leaders piled pressure on the country\u2019s new military rulers on Monday to hand over power immediately to a civilian government. \u2028<\/p>\n

\nThey were joined by the African Union, which threatened to suspend Sudan\u2019s membership unless civilian authority is in place within 15 days. \u2028<\/p>\n

\nThe replacement of former ruler Omar Al-Bashir with a transitional military council was an unacceptable coup d\u2019etat, the African Union said. \u2028<\/p>\n

\n\u201cA military-led transition would be completely contrary to the aspirations of the people of Sudan,\u201d it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nIn a communique on Monday, the African Union\u2019s Peace and Security Council called for Sudan\u2019s military to transfer power to a \u201ctransitional civilian-led political authority\u201d within 15 days or face suspension from the AU.<\/p>\n

\nLt. Gen. Jalal Al-Deen Al-Sheikh, a member of the TMC, met Ethiopia\u2019s prime minister in Addis Ababa, where the AU is based, Sudanese state news agency SUNA said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are already in the process of choosing a prime minister\u201d for a civilian government,\u201d Sheikh said at a news conference in Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSo we are initiating this even before having this session with the African Union. This is our conviction and this is also the way forward to peace, but also, we respect it and we are committed to the decision of the Peace and Security Council.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAbdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of the TMC, received phone calls from the Saudi king, UAE president, Qatari emir, Ethiopian prime minister and South Sudanese president, SUNA said on Monday. They expressed support for the TMC in \u201cthis delicate and historic stage\u201d and their concern for the security and stability of the country, SUNA said.<\/p>\n

\nThe TMC\u2019s deputy head, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known by his nickname Hemedti, said on Monday the Sudanese forces participating in the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen will remain there, SUNA said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are adhering to our commitment to the coalition, and our forces will remain until the coalition fulfills its goals,\u201d Hemedti said.<\/p>\n

\n
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\nMembers of a traditional Sudanese band perform during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum on April 15, 2019. (REUTERS\/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Protesters deflect bid to end sit-in<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nThe Sudanese Professionals\u2019 Association (SPA) called for the military council to be disbanded and a new interim civilian ruling council to be formed, with the armed forces having representation. \u2028
\u201cIf our demand for the formation of a civilian transitional council with military representation is not met, we will not be part of the executive authority, the cabinet, and we will continue the mass escalation and the sit-ins to fulfill our demands,\u201d SPA member Ahmed Al-Rabie said. \u2028
The SPA issued its demands hours after protesters blocked an attempt to break up a sit-in outside the Defense Ministry that has continued despite Al-Bashir\u2019s departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nTroops had gathered on three sides of the sit-in and tractors were preparing to remove stone and metal barriers, but protesters joined hands and formed rings around the sit-in area to prevent them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nSome of the most prominent SPA leaders, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s and were detained until after Bashir\u2019s ouster, spoke at the news conference.\u2028
Outside the Defense Ministry on Monday, about 5,000 protesters chanted \u201cFreedom, freedom\u201d and appealed to the army to protect them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nSPA representatives also renewed their calls for the head of the judiciary and his deputies and the public prosecutor to be removed. They demanded the dissolution of Bashir\u2019s National Congress Party, the seizure of the party\u2019s assets and the arrest of its prominent figures. \u2028<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFor us in the SPA, in the first stage, the transitional government stage, we will play a role in the restoration of the civil service and state institutions and establishing a democratic state,\u201d said Gamaria Omar, another SPA member.\u2028<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAfterwards, the SPA \u2026 will be a guardian of democracy.\u201d Meanwhile, the extradition of Al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges is a matter for the next civilian government, military council member Jalaluddin Sheikh said. \u2028<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe decision whether to extradite Bashir to ICC will be made by a popularly elected government and not the transitional military council,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nOn Saturday, Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, better known as Salah Gosh, resigned as head of NISS. He was once seen as the most powerful person in the country after Bashir and protesters held him responsible for the killing of demonstrators demanding an end to military rule.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFor us in the SPA, in the first stage, the transitional government stage, we will play a role in the restoration of the civil service and state institutions and establishing a democratic state,\u201d said Gamaria Omar, an SPA member.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAfterwards, the SPA will be comprised of unions, and will be a guardian of democracy in Sudan,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

African Union threatens to suspend Sudan\u2019s membership unless military council steps down KHARTOUM\/CAIRO: Sudan\u2019s protest leaders piled pressure on the country\u2019s new military rulers on Monday to hand over power immediately to a civilian government. \u2028 They were joined by the African Union, which threatened to suspend Sudan\u2019s membership unless civilian authority is in place…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}