The African Union and Security Council has with immediate effect suspended the participation of Sudan in all its activities until the effective establishment of a Civilian-led Transitional Authority.
This comes just days after the military shot and killed at least 60 protesters in Khartoum on Tuesday.
In a post on Twitter, The AU’s Peace and Security Department said a civilian-led transition was the only way to allow the Sudan to exit from the current crisis.
At least 108 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors.
Eritrea’s Information Ministry in a statement released on Wednesday, June 5 titled: AU stance may exacerbate the situation in the Sudan, blamed the continental organisation for what it said was internationalizing the crisis.
“The AU’s posturing on the events unfolding in Sudan is a recent and vivid illustration of this deplorable state of affairs,” the statement read in part.
“Its evident weaknesses aside, what has become more perplexing in the past years is its unwitting role to provide suitable pretexts for external intervention,” Eritrea said.
On Wednesday, AU Commission chairman Moussa Faki had tweeted, “I spoke to US @AsstSecStateAF yesterday,who voiced support of AU position on #Sudan condemning unacceptable violence. No unilateral solution possible. Vital for the international community to speak with one voice + convince parties to resume talks on a consensual transition.”
“My special envoy is currently in Khartoum and holding talks with all the parties and I look forward to brief the @AfricanUnion Peace&Security Council when it meets tomorrow to evaluate the current situation in #Sudan.”
Sudan’s army ruler had on Wednesday indicated that he was open to negotiations after the “bloody massacre”.
The military has proposed a nine-month transition period after which elections will be done, a proposal the opposition has rejected.
Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the opposition Freedom and Change alliance, on Tuesday, told Al-Jazeera that an open-ended civil disobedience campaign would continue to try to force the ruling Transitional Military Council to hand over power to a civilian-led interim government.