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Sudan's military and civilian leaders signed Monday an initial agreement aiming to put an end to the deep crisis caused by last year's military coup, prompting skeptical protesters to cry betrayal.  

In October 2021, Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power, resulting in a rocky transition to civilian rule that started after the 2019 ouster of veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The past year has witnessed near-weekly protests and a crackdown that took the lives of at least 121, a wrenching economic crisis aggravated by donors slashing funding, and a renewal of ethnic violence in several remote regions.  

Since the coup, divisions among civilian groups have deepened, with some calling for a deal with the military while others insist on "no partnership, no negotiation".  

The deal was signed by al-Burhan, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and several civilian groups, most particularly the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC).

As the deal parties put pens to paper, hundreds of citizens took to the streets in Khartoum to protest against the deal, setting fire to tires, erecting barricades and facing down water cannons.  

"The settlement is betrayal" and the FFC "sold our blood," demonstrators said.  

"We reject this deal as it overlooked street demands for justice for the people killed since the coup," said protester Mohamed Ali.  

If the deal takes place as planned, the civilian signatories will agree on a prime minister who will drive the country through a 24-month transition.    

The signing was "a culmination of the sustained efforts of Sudanese stakeholders over the past year to find a solution to the political crisis and restore constitutional order," UN special representative Volker Perthes said.

The initial deal was welcomed by the United States and European Union in a joint statement from the "Friends of Sudan" group, which also included Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Norway, Japan, and Saudi Arabia.  

The accord is an "important first step toward a political agreement," UN High Commissoner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

During the signing ceremony, Dagalo reiterated the military's purported commitment to leave the political scene, saying "it is essential to build a sustainable democratic regime".  

Other signatories included the Islamist Popular Congress Party, a faction of the Democratic Unionist Party and some ex-rebel groups who signed a 2020 peace deal.

Based on a proposal by the Sudanese Bar Association, the agreement was negotiated in the presence of officials from the UN, Western diplomats, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the FFC.    

Perthes urged the Sudanese factions to begin the second phase "immediately" to resolve the outstanding matters and reach a comprehensive deal.    

However, that part is far thornier, with observers questioning whether the military would be willing to give up economic interests -- as stipulated -- and wider powers that it views as its privileged domain.

The first phase of the deal "is a very low-level commitment on Burhan's part... allowing him to survive" politically, said Kholood Khair, the founder of the think-tank Confluence Advisory.

However, the signatories will likely face "a real political crisis as they start talking in earnest about security sector reforms, transitional justice (and) financial accountability," Khair added.    

The signing comes months after al-Burhan vowed that the military would make way for factions to agree on a civilian government.  

Some of the former rebels who signed in 2020 peace deals with Sudan voiced their opposition to Monday's agreement, too.

The spokesman for the ex-rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Mohamed Zakaraia, told AFP that it "will bring about dire consequences and further complicate the political scene".