The list of 11 members of the Sovereign Council in Sudan was finally announced Tuesday, August 20, two days late. This council will have to steer the transition in the country for a little over three years.

Among the members of this Council, the representatives of the protest appointed six civilians, including four men and two women. According to Bastien Renouil, correspondent for France 24 in Sudan, it was "extremely important that women be part of this sovereign council, they who were so long excluded from the political life under Omar al-Bashir". Of the two women named, one is from the country's Christian minority.

"It took time to succeed in creating this sovereign council"

The military has appointed five of them, including General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and General Hemetti. "These are really the two strongmen of Sudan since the fall of Omar al-Bashir on April 11. They were the leaders of the transitional military council," said Bastien Renouil.

The Council will be chaired for 21 months by the current head of the Transitional Military Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, which will be invested Wednesday at 9 pm GMT (11 am in France). A civilian will take over from General Burhane at the head of the Sovereign Council for the remaining 18 months of transition.

Abdallah Hamdok, likely prime minister

Moreover, Wednesday, "the council should announce the name of the new Prime Minister," says Bastien Renouil. "It should be Abdallah Hamdok, a former UN economist whose main mission will be to restore the country's economy as quickly as possible." He will then have to form a government whose composition is to be announced on August 28th. A transitional parliament will also be formed.

Despite the euphoria generated by the official signing of the transitional agreement on Saturday, there is palpable uneasiness in the protesters' camp due in part to the omnipresence of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the leader of a dreaded paramilitary force accused of being involved in the repression of the protest. The latter is also number two of the Transitional Military Council and was appointed Tuesday to the Sovereign Council.

"It took time to succeed in creating this sovereign council," notes Bastien Renouil, who adds: "It was extremely complicated to compose it." Politicians from civil society were called and some refused because they did not want to enter this risky advice that could fail "if it fails to return power to civilians as expected.

With AFP