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Sudan army ruler calls on protest leaders to hold unconditional talks

By AFP
Sudan This photo released on April 16, 2019 by the Twitter account of the official Sudan News Agency SUNA shows Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the chief of Sudan's military council.  By - SUDAN NEWS AGENCYAFPFile
JUN 20, 2019 LISTEN
This photo released on April 16, 2019 by the Twitter account of the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) shows Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the chief of Sudan's military council. By - (SUDAN NEWS AGENCY/AFP/File)

Sudan's army ruler Wednesday called on protest leaders to resume talks on the transfer of power without any conditions, as tension between the two sides persists after the bloody dispersal of demonstrators.

"We are calling on the Alliance for Freedom and Change and all political powers to come and sit without any conditions... we need a solution that satisfies all people," General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan told a gathering of medics in a speech broadcast on state television.

His remarks came just over two weeks since armed men in military fatigues broke up a weeks-long sit-in outside army headquarters.

The ruling generals had vowed on several occasions not to disperse the sit-in.

The dispersal came after multiple rounds of talks between the military council and protest leaders faltered.

"The country has been without a government for three months... the Sudanese people and foreign policy have been affected by the lack of government," Burhan said.

"We don't want the situation to get out of control. We don't want to see another coup," he said.

The ruling generals said last week that "more than one coup attempt had been planned" against the military council, but had been thwarted, with "two groups of officers" taken into custody.

The military council took power after deposing long-time president Omar al-Bashir on April 11, following months of demonstrations against his iron-fisted rule.

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