\n Sudanese protest organisers have presented demands to the country's new military rulers, urging the creation of a civilian government, the group spearheading demonstrations said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Thousands remained encamped outside Khartoum's army headquarters overnight to keep up the pressure on a military council that took power after ousting veteran leader Omar al-Bashir on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n
\n A 10-member delegation representing the protesters delivered their demands during talks late Saturday, according to a statement by umbrella group the Alliance for Freedom and Change.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We will continue... our sit-in until all our demands are met,\" including the formation of a fully civilian government, one of the alliance's leaders, Omar al-Degier, said in the statement.\n<\/p>\n
\n The umbrella group insists that civilian representatives should be accepted onto the military council, and that a fully civilian government should be formed to run day-to-day affairs.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We surely want our demands to be met, but both sides will have to be flexible to reach a deal,\" said a protester who spent the night at the army complex.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Burhan talks the talk -\n<\/p>\n
\n On Saturday, the new chief of the military council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan vowed to dismantle Bashir's regime and lifted a night time curfew with immediate effect.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan also pledged that individuals implicated in killing protesters would face justice and that protesters detained under a state of emergency imposed by Bashir during his final weeks in power would be freed.\n<\/p>\n
\n He took the oath of office on Friday after his predecessor General Awad Ibn Ouf stepped down little more than 24 hours after ousting Bashir.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tens of thousands of people have massed outside the army headquarters since April 6, initially to urge the armed forces to back their demand that Bashir be removed.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan comes with less baggage from Bashir's deeply unpopular rule than Ibn Ouf.\n<\/p>\n
\n But while celebrating the fall of Bashir and then Ibn Ouf -- a defence minister and long-time close aide of the deposed president -- protesters remain cautious.\n<\/p>\n
\n Degier said their demands include restructuring the country's feared National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), whose chief Salih Ghosh resigned on Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rights group Amnesty International on Saturday urged the military council to examine Ghosh's actions during a crackdown against protesters during the final weeks of Bashir's rule.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It is crucial that Sudan's new authorities investigate Salah Ghosh's role in the killings of scores of Sudanese protesters over the past four months\", said Amnesty's regional director Sarah Jackson.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Gulf allies voice support -\n<\/p>\n
\n The newly formed 10-member transitional council contains several faces from Bashir's regime.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Saturday evening, the new military ruler named NISS deputy head Jalaluddin Sheikh to the council.\n<\/p>\n
\n He also nominated Mohammad Hamdan Daglo -- known as Himeidti -- a field commander for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) counter-insurgency unit, which rights groups have accused of abuses in war-torn Darfur.\n<\/p>\n
\n One of the protesters taking part in the sit-in outside the army headquarters said he was ambivalent about Himeidti's appointment.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We don't have many options -- they (the RSF) have guns, they have money,\" said Mohamed, who gave only his first name for security reasons.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Himeidti was part of the crimes that happened previously but at least now he is on the side of the people,\" he added.\n<\/p>\n
\n Key regional power-brokers Saudi Arabia and the UAE voiced backing for the transitional council.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan's nomination \"reflects the ambitions of the brotherly people of Sudan for security, stability and development\", UAE state news agency WAM said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Saudi Arabia has promised an aid package, the Saudi Press Agency reported Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sudan is part of a UAE and Saudi-led military coalition fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.\n<\/p>\n
\n That marked a dramatic shift by Khartoum, aligning itself with the Gulf Arab monarchies and dropping close ties with their arch-rival Iran.\n<\/p>\n
\n The International Criminal Court has longstanding arrest warrants against Bashir for suspected war crimes during the regime's brutal campaign of repression in Darfur, where a decade-and-a-half of conflict has killed 300,000 people.\n<\/p>\n
\n Amnesty demanded Saturday the deposed president be handed over to the Court.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the military council has said it would never extradite Bashir or any other Sudanese citizen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sudanese protest organisers have presented demands to the country's new military rulers, urging the creation of a civilian government, the group spearheading demonstrations said. Thousands remained encamped outside Khartoum's army headquarters overnight to keep up the pressure on a military council that took power after ousting veteran leader Omar al-Bashir on Thursday. A 10-member delegation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-41059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n