The ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the opposition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) have agreed to resume talks on the Sovereign Council and to cease escalation, said the Ethiopian mediator Mohamoud Dirir on Tuesday.
Opposition officials leaked that the TMC in its meetings with Dirir agreed to give the presidency of the collegial presidential body to the civilians together with the majority of seats, after refusing during the past weeks.
In a press conference held on Tuesday, the special envoy of the Ethiopian Prime Minister said he held separate discussions with the TMC head Ahmed al-Burhan and the FFC leaders to facilitate the resumption of talks on the remaining sticking points.
In addition, he said the two sides agreed to “refrain from inflammatory statements” and create a conducive environment before the resumption of talks.
The TMC “agreed to take confidence-building measures including the release of Political Prisoners” and the FFC “agreed to call-off the Civil-Disobedience,” he added.
Following the attack on the main site of protest on 3 June and the killing of over 100 people, the opposition suspended sine die the talks and declared open-ended general protest to force the army to leave power.
On Monday, the military council admitted that some military personnel have been involved in the bloody attack on the sit-in of pro-democracy protesters and pledged to release the finding of its investigation committee within 72 hours.
For its part, the FFC announced the temporary suspension of the general strike starting from Wednesday but called on its neighbourhood committees to continue the mobilisations for the resumption of the strike.
The three-day strike was largely followed by the Sudanese and allowed the opposition to show its strong popular support.
In their previous discussions, the two sides agreed that during the three-year transitional period the county will be ruled by a collegial presidency, and a government of technocrats to achieve democratic and economic reforms and an appointed parliament with a majority of 67% to the FFC.
(ST)