Huge crowd floods Khartoum pushing for Sudan handover

Tens of thousands of protesters converged from all directions on Sudan's army headquarters on Thursday after calls for a "million-strong" demonstration to demand the ruling military council cede power.

The day after three council members resigned following talks with protest organisers, demonstrators flocked towards the central Khartoum site Thursday evening, beating drums and singing revolutionary songs, said an AFP journalist at the scene.

"We want the military council out. We want a civilian government," said protester Adam Ahmed, a medical student.

The rally came after Sudan's new military rulers and protest leaders agreed to set up a joint committee, to chart the way forward two weeks after the ouster of veteran president Omar al Bashir.

Protesters delay naming of Sudan's civilian govt

The organisers of the protests that led to ouster of Bashir from power are delaying their announcement of a transitional civilian government as they hold new negotiations with the ruling military council.

The protesters suspended talks with the military last weekend, saying key figures in the council were too close to Bashir. 

But on Wednesday they resumed negotiations, and three members of the council resigned from their posts, apparently in response to the protesters' demands.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which spearheaded the protests, had planned to announce a transitional civilian government at a mass rally on Thursday. 

But Ahmed Rabie, a senior member of the group, says it will delay the announcement and instead focus on forming different committees to hold talks with the military.

TRT World spoke to Mukerrem Shafi of Social Sciences University of Ankara about possible implications of the crisis in Sudan for the whole region.

Protesters slam Egypt ‘interference’ 

Hundreds of Sudanese marched towards the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum to condemn what they described as Egypt's Abdel Fattah el Sisi's "interference" in their affairs.

"This is Sudan," marchers chanted. "Your authority ends at [the Upper Egyptian city of] Aswan."

On Sudanese social-media accounts, activists posted video footage showing protesters in central Khartoum chanting angrily against Sisi.

Egypt declared support for the transitional military rule in Sudan, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arabic Emirates.

On Tuesday, Cairo hosted an African Union (AU) summit, where participants called for giving the MTC a three-month deadline for handing power over to a civil administration.

Egypt currently holds the AU's rotating chairmanship.