African summit gives Sudan military more time for reforms, says Sisi
African leaders meeting in Cairo agreed to give
Sudan’s ruling military council more time to implement democratic reforms,
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday.
The decision appears to extend a 15-day deadline set
by the African Union last week for Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC)
to hand over power to civilians or to be suspended from the grouping.
The TMC took over after President Omar al-Bashir was
ousted on April 11.
Speaking at the end of a summit attended by several
African heads of state, Sisi said that the meeting agreed on the need to deal
with the situation in Sudan and to install a comprehensive democratic system.
The states had agreed to give “more time” to carry
out these measures with the help of the African Union, Sisi said in his closing
remarks at the summit.
The TMC is under pressure from protesters to
immediately hand over power to a civilian administration. The TMC says it wants
to oversee a transitional period of up to two years but is willing to work with
a civilian government comprised of technocrats.
Sisi is the current president of the African Union.
