AP, Cairo :
The mass marches held in Sudan this week breathed new life into the uprising that toppled long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir, but the protesters and the ruling military council remain at an impasse amid fears the country could slide into further chaos.
Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of the capital, Khartoum, and other areas on Sunday, vowing to complete the revolution they launched in December. Nearly a dozen people were killed in clashes as security forces prevented the demonstrators from reaching the military headquarters and the Nile-side presidential palace.
It was the biggest show of determination by the protesters since security forces violently dispersed their main sit-in outside the military headquarters on June 3, killing at least 128 people. That triggered the suspension of talks on forming a transitional government just as the two sides seemed on the verge of an agreement.
Ethiopian and African Union mediators are working to restart the talks, but both sides have hardened their demands since last month’s violence, with the generals saying earlier proposals are off the table and the protesters calling for an immediate transition to civilian rule and an investigation into the killings.
Here’s a look at where things may be heading.
Protests first erupted in December in response to price hikes but rapidly escalated into near-daily marches calling for an end to al-Bashir’s nearly 30-year rule. Troops largely refused al-Bashir’s orders to fire on the protesters, and the military removed him from power on April 11.
Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and other war crimes committed during the Darfur conflict in the early 2000s, now languishes in a Khartoum prison where his forces once jailed and tortured his opponents.
But the protesters remained in the streets, fearing that the military, with support from regional powers like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, would cling to power or elevate a new autocrat. When the military announced it would govern for up to two years until elections could be held, the protesters demanded an immediate transition to a civilian body that would govern the country for four years.
After several rounds of talks the two sides appeared to be closing in on a power-sharing agreement in which the Forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, which represents the protesters, would hold 67 percent of the seats in an interim legislative body and appoint a Cabinet. But the two sides remained divided over the makeup of the sovereign council, which would hold executive power for three years.
