Sales have tumbled at Hashem Abul Fadel's shopping centres in Sudan, where he and fellow business owners fear that months of political turmoil could bring on a full-scale economic collapse.

Sudan's protesters and ruling generals Wednesday inked a power sharing deal that aims to install a civilian administration, a key demand of demonstrators since president Omar al-Bashir was deposed three months ago.

Sudan's feared paramilitaries have beaten and tortured to death a civilian in a town in war-torn Darfur, a doctors committee linked to the protest movement said Tuesday.

Not far from Sudan's capital Khartoum, the epicentre of an uprising that toppled autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir, dozens of camel traders are oblivious to the country's biggest political upheaval in decades.

South Sudan's exiled opposition leader Riek Machar says he is ready to meet his rival President Salva Kiir to talk peace, if certain conditions on his freedom were met.

Amidst mounds of sand capped by hand-written signs naming the dead, Khadom embraces the tomb of her son, one of the more than 200 killed in Sudan's months-long turmoil.

The power-sharing agreement reached between Sudan's military and pro-democracy protesters last week came after the United States and its Arab allies applied intense pressure on both sides amid fears a prolonged crisis could tip the country into civil war, activists and officials said.
The agreement, which raised hopes of a democratic transition following the military overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April, was announced days after the protesters held mass marches through Khartoum and other areas.

Crowds of jubilant Sudanese took to the streets of Khartoum on Friday to celebrate a landmark deal between protest leaders and the country's ruling generals aimed at turning the page on months of political unrest.

Seven people were killed Sunday as tens of thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets to demand civilian rule in the first mass rally since a bloody crackdown on demonstrators -- a show of street power despite heavy troop deployments by the ruling generals.

A top Sudanese general Saturday warned he will not tolerate any vandalism at a planned mass protest, but insisted the ruling generals would hand power to a civilian administration.
