Sudan: Military Council Promises a Civilian Government in 2021

General Omar Zein Alabidin said Friday that the Military Transitional Council (MTC) only wants to organize a y civilian government within the next two years. Meanwhile Sudanese citizens continued protesting in the capital city against the old regime and MTC who they say are incapable of "creating change."

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The council that now runs Sudan under Defence Minister Mohammed Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, said it hoping that a pre-election government transition period will last no more than two years, or much less if "chaos" can be avoided. No firm election date has been set to replace former president Omar al-Bashir who was ousted April 11 by the military after months of public protests against the long-time head of state.

"People in Khartoum went out on the streets to celebrate in the eight hours between the military’s take-over of power and the TV speech of the defence minister," Philipp Jahn, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's manager in Sudan told IPS journal. Jahn explained that "after the announcement of the two-year military rule, however, the mood changed significantly."

In a statement, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) restated it wants power to be handed over immediately to "a transitional civilian government." En estimated hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered outside of the Khartoum ministry of defense Friday collectively saying the military council is "not capable" of creating change.

"We do not reject a military council in principle, but we reject these people because they are from Bashir's regime," Abdelhamid Ahmed, a 24-year-old doctor at the peaceful demonstrations said of the MTC to Reuters.

During the first press conference after the military coup of Bashir, the head of the MTC Political Committee, General Omar Zain Al-Abideen, tried to assure the public that the army had not carried out a "coup d'état" and that the committee has no solutions to the current political and economic crisis.

"We do not come with solutions," Alabidin said and added, "protesters have to give us the solutions as well as the political, economic and social horizon."

The general assured that the MTC does not have any ideology or political affiliation because it only wishes the country to organize a government capable of preserving authority and achieving a peaceful transfer of power.

"We have nothing to dictate to the people. ... We are with the people's demands and for that reason we have to agree on a civilized form for a dialogue," Abideen said and swore that "we will not betray you, we are here for you, but you have to limit chaos."

In order to create a "fully civilian government" by 2021, the MTC asked politicians to agree on what characteristics such government should have. It was announced Friday that Bashir's ruling National Congress Party will be allowed to take part in the future presidential polls.

General Abideen announced that the military-led council will not hand over Al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court because he can be tried and prosecuted within Sudan "if the accusations against him are proven."

Bashir, 75, withstood 16 weeks of demonstrations sparked by rising food costs, high unemployment and escalating state repression. The man who governed Sudan for 30 years is wanted by the Hague Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in 2009 for war crimes committed in the Darfur region.