Sudan has a new sovereign council, but protesters aren't letting their guards down yet

Sudan's 39-month transition to elections has begun.

On Tuesday evening, Sudan's ruling military council formally disbanded, and the country's generals and opposition leaders formed a new 11-member joint ruling body, which is made up of six civilians and five soldiers. Among the civilians are a woman, a journalist, and a Coptic Christian judge, who was appointed as the council's 11th member after an agreement by both sides. The members were sworn in on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reports.

The old military council's leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan will helm the new council for the first 21 months of the transitional period before the protest leaders appoint a civilian to succeed him for the final 18 months prior to the promised elections.

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In addition, economist Abdalla Hamdok is set to be sworn in as Sudan's new prime minister after he was nominated by the main opposition alliance last week. Hamdok is reportedly widely respected and previously served as the deputy executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Al Jazeera reports he is expected to focus on fixing Sudan's chronic financial crisis that played a major role in the anti-government protests that culminated in the ousting of former President Omar al-Bashir in April.

The power-sharing agreement inspired widespread celebration in Sudan in recent weeks, but the country's citizens do not plan on sitting idly. "If this council does not meet our aspirations and cannot serve our interests, we will never hesitate to have another revolution," Ramzi al-Taqi, a fruit seller in Khartoum, told Agence France-Presse. "We would topple the council just like we did the former regime."