The general who led the coup in Sudan in October, Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and the deposed Prime Minister, Abdallah Hamdok, signed this Sunday afternoon a controversial agreement that reviews, in line with the position of the military, the distribution of powers and the outlines of the democratic transition that began in 2019. The pact annuls the decision to relieve Hamdok and reinstates him as prime minister. Thousands of people, however, have demonstrated in different cities of the country to show their opposition and demand that power be handed over to an exclusively civilian government and that the coup leaders be held accountable, demands to which the main formations have joined. Sudanese politics.
The agreement, signed at the Palace of the Republic in Khartoum, cements the authority of the generals in command of the transition, by renewing the lopsided civil-military partnership as its guarantor and by conferring on the Sovereign Council, a body designated by Al Burhan the week past, functions of Head of State and supervision. The pact also includes the commitment to form a technocratic government. In addition, it recovers the document that served as the constitution in the transition – and that Al Burhan had in practice emptied – as a basic guide, and urges a very vague release of political prisoners. The preamble of the text justifies the military coup and reduces it to “measures and decisions” to ensure the stability and unity of the country.
Al Burhan announced on October 25 the takeover of power in Sudan by the military and the dissolution of the main organs of the transition, shortly after having detained several civilian leaders of the country, including Hamdok. Hundreds of thousands of people have been mobilized since then in opposition, in a protest campaign during which forces related to the coup have killed at least 40 people. The international community criticized the military rebellion, and organizations such as the UN have intervened to seek a solution to suit them.
The agreement this Sunday also commits to restructure the committee in charge of dismantling the regime of former dictator Omar Al Bashir, a body that the military viewed with great suspicion, as well as, vaguely, to investigate the violence that occurred since the coup. The pact does not contemplate reforming the security and military forces.
In his first public appearance since the coup, Hamdok has wanted to launch a message conciliatory and has indicated that the agreement allows to address all the issues related to the transition and avoid further bloodshed. However, the mere rumor of a pact has been enough for thousands of people to take to the streets again, especially in Khartoum, to reiterate their open rejection of any negotiation or compromise with the military, in a clear example of the lack of legitimacy of the agreement. Security forces have killed at least one protester, a 16-year-old, in the protests this Sunday. The Sudan Professionals Association, key, together with the resistance committees, to articulate the mobilizations against the coup, has qualified Hamdok’s “betrayal agreement” and “political suicide” pact.
Likewise, the Forces of Freedom and Change, the broad political alliance, close to Hamdok, which had shared power with the military before the coup, have reiterated in a release your opposition to any negotiation or association. And the Umma Party, one of the largest formations in the country and not part of the previous coalition, has also shown its rejection of the pact in another release. Despite this, the UN mission in Sudan has given welcome to the agreement, as have the African Union, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the latter two very close to the Sudanese generals.
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