Sudan’s army ruler vows to hand ‘power to the people’

KHARTOUM: Sudan's military leader vowed Sunday he was committed to handing power to the people, as a sea of protesters outside army headquarters awaited the unveiling of a rival civilian council.

New army ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also pledged to respond to demonstrators' demands within a week and confirmed that cash worth over 113 million dollars had been seized from deposed president Omar al-Bashir's residence.

Protesters on Sunday waved national flags and held their mobile phones aloft as night fell, the torches on their devices once more creating a sea of light outside the army headquarters, where they have been encamped since before Bashir´s April 11 downfall.

Clapping and waving Sudanese flags, the crowd waited for their leaders to announce a civilian council that they want to take power from the military rulers as loudspeakers played nationalist and revolutionary songs.

"High! High! Sudan is up high," huge crowds of protesters chanted.

"Our revolution is civilian and protected by the people," they vowed. They also chanted "freedom" and "Whether it (the regime) falls or not, we are staying", as they again pledged to keep up the pressure on the country´s new military council.

Burhan said a team of police, army and security agents found a cash haul including seven million euros ($7.8 million), $350,000 and five billion Sudanese pounds ($105 million) during a search at Bashir´s home.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates meanwhile offered $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) on Sunday in financial aid to the cash-starved country.

The northeast African nation is one of the world's most impoverished countries and faces an acute foreign currency shortage -- a key factor which helped trigger nationwide protests against Bashir.

A military council has been put in place for a planned two-year transition period, but despite talks with protesters the two sides have struggled to agree on the shape and form of a civilian leadership.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), at the forefront of the protests, has defiantly said it will unveil its own civilian council later Sunday.

"We are waiting for the announcement today," Romaysaa Omar, one of the protesters at the sit-in area, told AFP. "All Sudanese people are in favour of the council to be announced by the SPA."