Sudan Activists Refuse to Share Power, Call for Strike

 Sudan's protest movement has rejected internationally backed initiatives to return to a power-sharing arrangement with the army after the events of last month.

The movement called for two days of nationwide strikes starting Sunday.

After the Sudanese army seized power on October 25, dissolving the transitional administration and arresting dozens of government officials and politicians.

The international community accelerated mediation efforts to find a way out of the crisis, which threatens to further destabilize the already volatile Horn of Africa.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which led the uprising against former president Omar Al- Bashir two years ago, said late Friday that mediation initiatives that seeking for a new settlement between military and civilian leaders would reproduce and exacerbate the country's crisis.

The SPA   pledged to continue protesting until a fully civilian government is formed to lead the transition period in the country.

Under the slogan: "No negotiations, no compromise, no power-sharing," the Sudanese Professionals Association, which is a grass-rooted movement spread across the country, called for strikes and civil disobedience on Sunday and Monday.

For his part, Al-Wathiq Al-Barir, Secretary-General of the Umma (Nation) Party, the largest political party in Sudan, urged the international community on Friday to pressure the army to stop the "unfortunate escalation."

Al-Bairir added that the mediation efforts have not yet borne fruit, and he blamed the army for this failure.

And he warned of the potential for bloodshed, as protest movements - including the Sudanese Professionals Association and the so-called resistance committees - insist on keeping the army out of any future government.