43 protesters injured during anti-FFC-military agreement demonstrations

One protester sustained a skull fracture after government forces shot tear gas canisters into crowds in at least two areas of Khartoum.

In response to the signing, some resistance committee leaders called for demonstrations against the agreement. Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said that anti-military protesters say the deal “doesn’t meet their aspirations” and that they had been “excluded from the talks.”

Abdelbagi Jibril, a human rights defender, stressed the need for the authorities to show “good intentions to implement the framework agreement well,” calling for the restoration of public freedoms and the preservation of the lives of young demonstrators. 

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Jibril called on the signatories to the agreement, which was signed on Monday, to take “serious action” to convince the military to reach a final agreement and form a transitional government. 

“All parties in Sudan should be impartial and give priority to the public interest in order to address the security, economic, and social conditions in the country,” he said. 

The lawyer praised the framework agreement as “a consensual, negotiated, and neutral vision that achieves the goals of the revolution.” He added, “it can be considered a step in the right direction to unite the largest base” in the country. 

Kamal Omar, a leader of the Popular Congress Party, one of the 40 parties of the civilian bloc that signed the framework agreement with the military on Monday, told Radio Dabanga that the bloc will meet soon to discuss the violence of government forces against protesters. The party will demand more freedom, he said, adding that the international community will guard the agreement from certain powers in Sudan’s political landscape. 

The civilian bloc is seeking to meet urgently with various parties to discuss the five deferred issues, he said. The five issues are justice and transitional justice, reform of the military and security apparatus, removal of the remnants of the Al Bashir regime, possible amendments and implementation of the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, and the “issue of Eastern Sudan.” 

A number of political parties and groups have refused to sign the framework agreement, on the basis that any agreement with the military threatens the continuation of a civilian government. On the streets, a number of Sudanese people stressed by daily worries shrugged their shoulders on Monday. 

The Forces for Freedom and Change-Democratic Block (FFC-DB), dominated by rebel movements and eastern Sudan opposition parties and groups, have said that they will join “the demonstrators on the street… to bring the framework agreement down within three months”.