Khartoum-Al-Yrae: The coup leader and chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in remarks Friday that he had taken a step to calm tensions in the country six months after a military coup.
“We are coming to a difficult stage in which we must all make concessions for the country,” Al-Burhan said in remarks made during a Ramadan breakfast, noting the deteriorating economic and security situation in the country.
“We are ready to do what we can to create a climate for dialogue,” he said.
Al-Burhan and other military leaders staged a coup on October 25, ending two years of power-sharing arrangements with a civilian political coalition after the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.
Since then, at least 94 people have been killed in security campaigns over protests and dozens arrested.
Al-Burhan said that although there are no “political detainees,” he met with the attorney general and the head of the judiciary to discuss speeding up the release of the detainees, including prominent civilian political leaders.
They had also discussed the possibility of reducing the current state of emergency.
In its latest report and a meeting with Al-Burhan last week, the UN mission in Sudan required such steps as confidence-building measures for any Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue, while the Forces for Freedom and Change said in a statement yesterday that it would not participate in any upcoming dialogue before releasing political prisoners and stopping violence against protesters.
Al-Burhan said these steps came in the context of concessions made by some political groups to reach an agreement.
Reuters reported earlier this month that an agreement under consideration, submitted by parties allied with the military, to form a new government.
Al-Burhan had earlier said that the army would only hand over power to an elected government. He called on political parties again in friday’s remarks to reach consensus.
Al-Burhan said in his remarks that unlike in the past, not a single group should control the political landscape. In remarks before and after the coup, military leaders accused the civil alliance of monopolizing power.
Al-Burhan also said that judicial orders would be reviewed, leading to the return of dozens of civil servants associated with the Bashir regime.
