Protesters in Sudan demand army leave power, reject deal

Sudanese protesters faced armoured vehicle firing tear gas bomb at them, on Thursday (Dec. 8). Some demonstrators carried shields and threw stones towards security forces.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Khartoum led by the Resistance Committees group, to demand the ouster of the country's military rulers and reject a deal for the gradual transfer of power to civilian leaders.

Demonstrators in the capital headed for the Republican Palace, the seat of the ruling military council, before being intercepted by security forces who fired tear gas and water hoses at the crowds. There are no confirmed reports of any casualties.

"We totally reject the deal because it doesn’t meet or fulfill even 1% of the Sudanese street demands,"  political activist Adel Othman insisted.

"At the top of it (demands) is holding the martyrs' murderers accountable and achieving tangible results in the justice area as well as other area related to achieving freedom and peace. Those are our fundamental demands."

Another uncertainty is how the agreement would balance power between a new civilian government and the military. According to the deal, a reformed military will form part of a "security and defense council" overseen by a new prime minister.

However, commentators have cast doubt on whether the military will properly follow through on this pledge. Grassroots group Resistance Committees has steadfastly rejected negotiations with the ruling junta. The protest group has called for both men, who led last year's coup, to be tried in court. Whereas the the nation's main pro-democracy group, signed Monday, a "framework agreement" with the generals.

The Resistance Committees’ are one of a number of significant political players who have rejected the new agreement. Several former rebel leaders, who have formed their own political bloc, also boycotted the deal. In a statement issued Thursday, the U.N. Security Council praised the deal but said it hoped “key political forces that have not yet signed" the transition deal will "join the political process.”

A military coup in October 2021 ended a previous democratic transition agreement.