KHARTOUM:Rapturous crowds filled the streets of Khartoum yesterday as Sudan's generalsand protest leaders signed a historic deal paving the way to civilian rule.Thousands of cheering people gathered around the Friendship Hall next to theNile, where the documents that will govern Sudan's 39-month transition weresigned. "This is the biggest celebration I have ever seen in my country.We have a new Sudan," said Saba Mohammed, a veiled 37-year woman, waving asmall plastic flag.
Minutes earlier,the deal was signed by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, deputy chief of the militarycouncil, and Ahmed Al-Rabie, representing the Alliance for Freedom and Changeprotest umbrella. Heads of state, prime ministers and dignitaries from severalcountries - including Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egypt's PremierMustafa Madbuli - attended the ceremony.
Theconstitutional declaration formalizes the creation of a transitionadministration that will be guided by an 11-member sovereign council, comprisedof six civilians and five military figures. The agreement brought an end tonearly eight months of upheaval that saw masses mobilize against president OmarAl-Bashir, who was ousted in April after 30 years in power. Thousands of peoplehad arrived on trains from Sudan's provinces to take part in the celebrations,which will include a huge gathering in Khartoum's main gardens.
"We hopeSudan can move forward now, we want to be proud of our country," saidSaida Khalifa as she got off the train after an all-night ride from Atbara, thetown where the protests started in December last year. "The guns must gosilent now and we must pull the country out of this mess to gain peace andfreedom," she said. One young girl wearing jeans and draped in a Sudaneseflag rode a bicycle to the conference hall, an inconceivable sight in theconservative country even a few months ago. "This is the biggestcelebration I have ever seen in my country. We have a new Sudan," saidSaba Mohammed, a veiled 37-year-old woman, waving a small plastic flag.
The compositionof the civilian-majority transition ruling council is to be announced today.That follows the naming on Thursday of former senior UN official AbdallaHamdok, a veteran economist, as transitional prime minister. He is expected tofocus on stabilizing Sudan's economy, which went into a tailspin when theoil-rich south seceded in 2011. Economic woes were the trigger that sparked theinitial protests.
At Khartoum'scentral market early yesterday, shoppers and stallholders interviewed by AFPall said they hoped a civilian government would help them put food on thetable. "Everybody is happy now," said Ali Yusef, a 19-year-olduniversity student who works in the market to get by. "We were under thecontrol of the military for 30 years but today we are leaving this behind usand moving towards civilian rule," he said, sitting next to tomatoes pileddirectly on the ground. "All these vegetables around are very expensivebut now I'm sure they will become cheaper."
While it remainsto be seen how the transition will change people's daily lives, residents oldand young were eager to exercise their newfound freedom of expression."I'm 72 and for 30 years under Bashir, I had nothing to feel good about.Now, thanks to God, I am starting to breathe," said Ali Issa Abdel Momen,sitting in front of his modest selection of vegetables at the market. But manySudanese are already questioning the ability of the transitional institutionsto rein in the military elite's powers during the three-year period leading toplanned elections.
The country of 40million people will be ruled by an 11-member sovereign council and agovernment, which under the deal must be dominated by civilians. However, theinterior and defense ministers are to be chosen by military members of thecouncil. Observers have warned that the transitional government will havelittle leverage to counter any attempt by the military to roll back theuprising's achievements and seize back power.
Security forcesdeployed across Khartoum yesterday for the biggest international event in yearsin Sudan, which had become something of a pariah country under Bashir's rule.One of the most immediate diplomatic consequences of the compromise reachedthis month could be Sudan's return to the African Union, which suspended thecountry's membership in June. Bashir, who took power in a 1989 coup and iswanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide in the Darfurregion, had been slated to appear in court yesterday on corruption charges. Buthis trial has been postponed to an as yet undetermined date.