Sudan opposition to hold talks with ruling military

By Bahram Abdel-Monem

KHARTOUM (AA) – Sudan's opposition alliance on Wednesday announced to hold direct talks with the ruling military council, amid tension since the ouster of autocrat President Omar al-Bashir.

In a statement issued in capital Khartoum, the Forces for Freedom and Change Coalition (FCC) -- an umbrella of opposition parties -- said it has accepted requests from mediators, to sit in direct negotiations with the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC).

Earlier, the FCC said that it had received a draft agreement, proposed by Ethiopia and the African Union (AU) to resolve the issue with the military council.

The opposition alliance, however, said it has agreed to hold conditional talks, without elaborating on the terms it has set for the talks.

On Friday, the TMC had accepted, a power sharing proposal submitted by the AU and Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s proposal calls for allocating majority of the transitional parliament's seats to the FFC. It also proposed appointment of a 15-member council of ministers, with seven members each from civilian and military side. In addition, the proposal recommended appointment of one independent civilian to the ministerial council, to be chosen through the process of consultations between the two sides.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat