Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said on Sunday they had agreed to send Sudan $3 billion worth of aid, throwing a lifeline to the country’s new military leaders after protests led to the ousting of president Omar al-Bashir, Trend reports citing Reuters.
The two Gulf Arab countries will deposit $500 million with the Sudanese central bank and send the rest in the form of food, medicine and petroleum products, their state news agencies said in parallel statements.
But in a potential setback to efforts to form a new government, a coalition of protesters and opposition groups said it was suspending contacts with the political committee of the military rulers’ Transitional Military Council, accusing it of being composed of “remnants” of the ousted regime.
“Our dealings with the political committee had been positive but it deals with us in the same old manner, which prompted us to suspend dealings with it,” a leader of the group known as Forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, told Reuters.
Sudan’s TMC is under pressure from protesters who have kept up a sit-in outside the Defence Ministry since Bashir was ousted on April 11. They demonstrated in large numbers over the past three days, pressing for a rapid handover to civilian rule.
TMC head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan told state TV that the council had received many blueprints on how to manage the transitional period and that the formation of a joint military-civilian council - one of the demands put forward by Sudanese activists - was being considered.
“The issue has been put forward for discussion and a vision has yet to be reached,” he said.
“The role of the military council complements the uprising and the blessed revolution,” said Burhan, adding that the TMC was committed to handing power over to the people.