Sudan’s TMC Rejects Ethiopian Proposal, Open to African Union Plan

Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) says Ethiopia and the African Union (AU) must unify their efforts to mediate between military rulers and protest groups on the structure of a would-be transitional government. The council has rejected Ethiopia’s proposal but agreed in principle to the AU’s plan, the details of which were not provided. The declaration came on Sunday, a day after the demonstrators stated they had agreed to a draft agreement from an Ethiopian mediator saying the sovereign council would be made up of seven civilians and seven members of the military, with one additional seat reserved for an impartial individual, according to a report by Reuters. Talks between the two sides collapsed due to the military’s aggressive crackdown on demonstrators, which killed as many as 128 people. The opposing sides have been at loggerheads ever since the overthrow of president Omar Al-Bashir on April 11, as activists have been pressuring the military leadership to transfer power to civilian rule.