Sudan's army rulers Tuesday said Islamic law
should remain the guiding principle in a new civilian structure, after
protest leaders handed in proposed changes they want enforced but kept
silent on Sharia.
The 10-member
military council, which seized control of the country after president
Omar al-Bashir was deposed in April, was handed the proposals last week
for the new civilian structures protest leaders want.
SHARIA LAW
The
military council told reporters that the generals overall agreed to the
proposals but had "many reservations". These included the silence on
Islamic Sharia law remaining the bedrock of all laws.
"The
declaration failed to mention the sources of legislation, and the
Islamic sharia law and tradition should be the source of legislation,"
Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, spokesman for the military
council, told reporters.
Sudan, under
Bashir, saw Islamic law applied inconsistently, even though the
country's constitution says that Sharia is the guiding principle.
Over the years this led to thousands of women being flogged for "indecent behaviour," according to women's rights activists.
Kabbashi
said the military council was also of the opinion that declarations of
emergencies be in the hands of a "sovereign" authority and not the
cabinet as proposed by protest leaders.
He said the composition of a "sovereign" body has yet to be discussed with the protest leaders.
The
military council and protest leaders have differed on the composition
of an overall ruling council, with protest leaders demanding it be led
by majority civilians and the generals insisting it be a military-led
body.
Kabbashi said that the military
council wanted a two year transition period as opposed to four years
proposed by protest leaders.
Protest leaders confirmed they had received the military council's response to their proposals.
"It
will be considered in the coming hours," said Mohamed Naji al-Assam, a
leader from the Sudanese Professionals Association that initially
launched the campaign against Bashir's rule in December.
CIVILIAN RULE
But he reiterated that the protesters demand of full civilian rule has to be met.
"The solution and success of the revolution lies on transfer of power to a full civilian authority," he said.
Protest leaders have often called the military rulers the "remnants of the regime" of Bashir.
"We
are not heirs to the former regime," said Lieutenant General Yasser
al-Atta, who also attended the press conference along with Kabbashi late
on Tuesday.
Kabbashi also revealed
that Sudan's former head of the feared National Intelligence and
Security Service, Salah Ghosh, had been put under house arrest.
It was Ghosh who oversaw security agents' sweeping crackdown on protesters before the fall of Bashir.
Dozens of protesters were killed in the crackdown, hundreds wounded and thousands jailed.
Thousands
of protesters meanwhile remain encamped outside the army complex in
central Khartoum, demanding that the army rulers step down and hand over
power to a civilian administration.
The generals took power after the army ousted Bashir on April 11 following months of protests against his iron-fisted rule.
But since then the military council has resisted calls for handing over power to civilians, the main demand of protesters.
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