Sudan’s Dagalo, Burhan Agree in Principle to Civilians Naming Prime Minister, Head of State

Sudanese anti-military protesters took to the street demonstrating against last year’s coup and demanding an immediate transfer of power to civilians, in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)
Sudanese anti-military protesters took to the street demonstrating against last year’s coup and demanding an immediate transfer of power to civilians, in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)
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Sudan’s Dagalo, Burhan Agree in Principle to Civilians Naming Prime Minister, Head of State

Sudanese anti-military protesters took to the street demonstrating against last year’s coup and demanding an immediate transfer of power to civilians, in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)
Sudanese anti-military protesters took to the street demonstrating against last year’s coup and demanding an immediate transfer of power to civilians, in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)

Sudan's military leaders agreed on the appointment of a prime minister and head of state by civilian political forces, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said in a statement on Friday, following a meeting with head of state General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The generals reaffirmed statements from this summer that the military "would exit the political scene and focus fully on its duties as laid out in the constitution and the law," following the appointment of a civilian government, the statement said.

Sudan's military took power in an October coup that ended a power-sharing agreement with civilian pro-democracy parties, plunging the country into political and economic turmoil.

Mediation efforts led by the United Nations, African Union, and foreign powers have not come to fruition. Civilian groups have demanded the complete and immediate exit of the military from politics.

Sources told Reuters that earlier this week Burhan had met with ambassadors from the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss political solutions to the crisis.

A draft constitution circulated by the Sudanese Bar Association in recent weeks has received praise from some political groups, as well as General Dagalo, leader of the controversial Rapid Support Forces, in a statement this week.

Sudan's pro-democracy movement, led by neighborhood resistance committees, has held demonstrations weekly since the coup, with the latest scheduled for Saturday in the city of Bahri.



Iraq’s FM: Israeli-Russian Hostage Tsurkov is Alive

Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
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Iraq’s FM: Israeli-Russian Hostage Tsurkov is Alive

Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP

Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is being held hostage by an Iraqi militia, is alive and the Iraqi prime minister is working on her release, Iraqi foreign minister Fouad Hussein told Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Thursday.

Tsurkov, a 38-year-old student at Princeton University, disappeared in Baghdad in March 2023 while doing research for her doctorate. She had entered the country on her Russian passport.

The only sign she was alive has been a video broadcast in November 2023 on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media purporting to show her.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. But Israel believes she is being held by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.