CAIRO
\nTalks aiming at ending Sudan\u2019s ongoing political deadlock began Wednesday, the United Nations said, although the country\u2019s main pro-democracy alliance is boycotting them over a continued police crackdown on those protesting last October\u2019s military coup.
\nThe joint peace effort is brokered by the U.N. political mission in Sudan, the African Union, and the eight-nation east African regional group Intergovernmental Authority in Development, IGAD. The effort aims to bring the generals and an array of political and protest groups to the negotiating table.
\nThe military\u2019s takeover has upended Sudan\u2019s short-lived fragile democratic transition and plunged the East African nation into turmoil. Sudan had been transiti
\nng to democracy after nearly three decades of repression and international isolation under Islamist-backed strongman Omar al-Bashir. A popular uprising pushed the military to remove al-Bashir in April 2019.
\nThe U.N., AU and IGAD launched the process Wednesday with a technical meeting involving the military and civilians. It came after months of separate discussions with an array of groups including the military and the pro-democracy movement.
\nThe U.N. envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, the process would discuss a \u201ctransitional program,\u201d including the appointment of a civilian prime minister and arrangements for drafting a permeant constitution and elections at the end of the transition.
\nGen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the leader of the coup who also heads the ruling sovereign council, welcomed the talks as a \u201chistoric opportunity to complete the transitional phase.\u201d
\nIn a speech to the nation late Tuesday, he urged all factions to take part in the talks, vowing that the military will implement their outcome.
\n\u201cWe are fully committed to work with everybody to end the transitional period as soon as possible with fair and transparent elections,\u201d he said.
\nAhead of the talks, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee visited Sudan earlier this week and met with military and civilian leaders in Khartoum to support the negotiating process. She urged all parties to join the talks to \u201cachieve a civilian-led path towards democracy for Sudan.\u201d
\nHowever, The Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, or FDFC \u2014 an alliance of political parties and protest groups \u2014 is boycotting the meeting. They say the talks should lead to \u201can end to the coup and the establishment of a civilian democratic authority.\u201d They also criticized the participation of pro-military groups and Islamists who had been allied with al-Bashir\u2019s government.
\nThe alliance also called for the implementation of trust-building measures, including the release of coup-related detainees, and the ending of violence against protesters.
\nThe talks come as the violent crackdown on anti-coup protests continued in the capital of Khartoum. A five-year-old was killed Tuesday when a police vehicle ran her over while chasing protesters. That brought the total deaths among protesters since October to at least 101, according to a medical group tracking the casualties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CAIRO Talks aiming at ending Sudan\u2019s ongoing political deadlock began Wednesday, the United Nations said, although the country\u2019s main pro-democracy alliance is boycotting them over a continued police crackdown on those protesting last October\u2019s military coup. The joint peace effort is brokered by the U.N. political mission in Sudan, the African Union, and the eight-nation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1212,468,609],"class_list":{"0":"post-265161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-boycott","9":"tag-crisis","10":"tag-sudan"},"yoast_head":"\n