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By Fay Abuelgasim And Samy Magdy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sudan\u2019s protest movement has rejected internationally backed initiatives to return to a power-sharing arrangement with the military after last month\u2019s coup, announcing two days of nationwide strikes starting Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The movement called for the establishment of a civilian government to lead a transition to democracy. The call came as a leader of the country\u2019s main political party accused the military leadership of negotiating in bad faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sudanese military seized power Oct. 25, dissolving the transitional administration and arresting dozens of government officials and politicians. The coup has been met with international outcry and massive protests in the streets of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The takeover has upended the country\u2019s fragile planned transition to democratic rule, more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the coup, the international community has accelerated mediation efforts to find a way out of the crisis, which threatens to further destabilize the already restive Horn of Africa region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sudanese Professionals\u2019 Association, which led the uprising against al-Bashir, said late Friday that mediation initiatives which \u201cseek a new settlement\u201d between the military and civilian leaders would \u201creproduce and worsen\u201d the country\u2019s crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The association vowed to continue protesting until a full civilian government is established to lead the transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the slogan of: \u201cNo negotiations, no compromise, no power-sharing,\u201d the association, which has a presence across the country, called for strikes and civil disobedience Sunday and Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday, the top U.S. diplomat spoke separately by phone with the military leader, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and Abdalla Hamdok, the deposed prime minister who was put under house arrest during the coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged for an immediate return to a civilian-led government and for the release of those detained in connection with the coup. Sudan\u2019s state-run SUNA news agency reported that Burhan vowed to \u201ccomplete the transition and preserve the country\u2019s security \u2026 until reaching an elected civilian government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al-Wathig al-Berier, the secretary general of the Umma party, urged the international community Friday to pressure the military to de-escalate. Since the coup, the generals have continued to dismantle the transitional government and arrest pro-democracy leaders. The Umma is Sudan\u2019s largest political party and has ministers in the now-deposed government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe truly need to prepare the atmosphere and de-escalate matters so that we can sit at the table,\u201d al-Berier told The Associated Press. \u201cBut clearly the military faction is continuing with its plan and there are no efforts to show good will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was referring to Thursday\u2019s arrest of leaders from the Forces for Freedom and Change, a coalition that was born out of the 2019 protest movement. The military detained three leaders of the movement shortly after they met with U.N. officials in Khartoum. The meeting was part of U.N.-led mediation efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al-Berier said the mediation efforts have yet to produce results, blaming the military for that failure. He warned of possible bloodshed since the military and the protest movement have become increasingly entrenched in their positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He urged the international community to increase pressure on the military leaders to reverse the coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn these initial stages, we hope that they continue strong pressure. This pressure has to be more than just tweets. This pressure needs to have mechanisms that could create real pressure on the military component,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other developments, the board of deans of Khartoum University officially suspended classes indefinitely after security forces stormed the university grounds on Oct. 25, the day of the coup, and beat and insulted students and professors. The classes had already stopped since the coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally published at AP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Fay Abuelgasim And Samy Magdy Sudan\u2019s protest movement has rejected internationally backed initiatives to return to a power-sharing arrangement with the military after last month\u2019s coup, announcing two days of nationwide strikes starting Sunday….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[1934,1935,1933],"class_list":["post-5878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-activists","tag-strikes","tag-sudan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n