Sudan PM Hamdok reinstated after coup, protester killed
Sudan's deposed prime minister and the top general who ousted him a month ago signed a breakthrough deal on Sunday to reverse the military takeover, but protests continued and a teenager was killed.
Thousands of demonstrators in multiple rallies rejected the deal, shouting "No to military power" and demanding the armed forces fully withdraw from government.
A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in Khartoum's twin city Omdurman, medics said, bringing the overall death toll since last month's coup to 41.
Several other people suffered gunshot wounds after clashes with security forces.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan appeared at the presidential palace in Khartoum for a televised ceremony with a haggard looking premier Abdalla Hamdok, emerging from weeks of house arrest.
The 14-point deal they signed officially restores the transition to civilian rule that had been derailed by the October 25 putsch in the poverty-stricken African country.
The agreement, which comes after crisis talks involving Sudanese, UN, African and Western players, stated that Burhan's decision "to relieve the transitional prime minister (of his duties) is canceled."
It said all political detainees would be freed, and formally relaunched the fragile transition process towards full democracy that started after the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
Hamdok praised the people power "revolution" that brought him to government and declared the top priority now was to "stop the bloodshed in Sudan before anything else."
"We leave the choice of who rules Sudan to its mighty people," he said.
Burhan thanked Hamdok for his service and vowed that "free and transparent elections" would be held as part of the transition process.
"He was patient with us until we reached this moment," Burhan said before posing for photos with the reinstated premier and his own deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The deal was welcomed by the African Union, the United Nations, the United States, Sweden and Saudi Arabia and Egypt who have strong ties with the Sudanese military.
The African Union said it was "an important step towards the return to constitutional order." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter he was "encouraged" by the talks, while also calling for "security forces to refrain from excessive force against peaceful protesters."