Sudan – Negotiations to Form a Civilian Government
According to press reports, successive meetings were held between the leaders of the Sudanese Army and the opposition alliance “Forces for Freedom and Change”, which were stopped earlier due to the widening gap between the two parties. This confirms the progress of negotiations on the formation of a government through a political agreement.
Mubarak al-Fadhel al-Mahdi, head of the Umma Party, said negotiations over the past few hours between the military and the Central Council for Forces of Freedom and Change led to an agreement that took shape in the form of a new partnership.
Al-Mahdi said: The agreement is based on the implementation of the Constitutional Declaration prepared by the Sudanese Bar Association’s Steering Committee. He pointed to the withdrawal of Army Chief Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan from the principle of non-exclusion and from the July 4 statement announcing withdrawal from political work. In return, the Freedom Forces retreated from the principle of non-negotiation, partnership, or bargaining, and accepted the establishment of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces with wide powers.
A detailed meeting is expected to be held between the forces of freedom and change, the central council, and the military, to discuss the launch of a new political process that allows civilians to form a full civil authority. Al-Burhan will be the commander of the army, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo will be the commander of the rapid support forces.
On Monday, al-Burhan affirmed the military’s commitment to moving out of the political process and maintaining stability and security in the country.
The past few days have witnessed intensive international mediation efforts known as the “Quadripartite Mechanism”, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, along with the “Tripartite Mechanism” composed of the United Nations, the African Union, and the African Development Organization (IGAD), with military commanders in the “Sovereignty Council” and meetings with other parties.
The political agreement is based on the draft constitutional arrangements for the transitional period drafted by the Bar Association, which is affiliated with the opposition forces and has received much support from the parties involved in international and regional mediation, as a draft that can be built upon to establish the transitional authorities in the country among all the actors in the political scene.
It is worth mentioning that the Sudan has been witnessing continuous protests for more than 11 months, in which 120 people were killed, following the measures taken by Al-Burhan on October 25, 2021, which ended the partnership that had existed between civilians and the military since the fall of the regime of the deposed Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
