KHARTOUM, Sudan
Sudan’s military leaders on Sunday reiterated their commitment to hand over power to a civilian transitional government to be formed by the end of the ongoing political process, while the holdout groups described the launch of the second phase as a negative indication.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (pictured) head of the Sovereign Council and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Hemetti made
their pledges at the launch of the second and final phase of the political
process before the civil forces signatories of the framework agreement.
“We assure everyone and the
Sudanese people that we will not fail them and we will not redraw back from the
path we have embarked on leading to a genuine democratic transition,” al-Burhan
said.
“The military establishment
will have no role in this transition,” he stressed.
He further called to keep
efforts to bring the non-signatories to join what “we started with full
conviction”.
The head of the military
component also thanked the regional and international actors for the role they
have played to end the political crisis in Sudan pinpointing to the Trilateral
Mechanism which has been targeted by the Islamists during the past months.
“We thank the regional and
international partners who support this process, and in particular the
Trilateral Mechanism for its role in bringing together our word and unifying
our vision,” he said.
The opening session was
attended by the tripartite facilitation panel and foreign diplomats in
Khartoum.
The commander in chief of the
military component also spoke about the security reforms that are part of the
second stage of the political process.
“We reaffirm that the
establishment military is fully committed to its exit (from politics) and is
also committed to working with our political and civilian partners to lay the
foundations for the military’s work in democratic societies,” he said.
He went further to underscore
they believe that the armed forces must come under the command of an elected
civilian authority.
Al-Burhan has always refused
to put the army under the control of the transitional government saying they
are unelected.
The second phase will discuss
five issues including security reforms and the unification of all the armed
forces under the national army.
The head of the Rapid Support
Forces in his speech was keen to reaffirm his adherence to the power handover
to a “full civilian government”, pointing out that the role of the armed forces
is strictly to protect the nation and its borders.
“The military institution must
devote itself to protect the country and engage in a comprehensive security and
military reform that leads to a single, professional and national army that has
nothing to do with politics,” he reiterates.
Also, he pointed to the launch
of the second stage of the political process had been delayed because they were
working to include some groups that did not sign the framework agreement and
whose participation we agreed in advance.
“We hope that you will be involved
in this agreement so that we can end this crisis that the country is going
through,” he said alluding to the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan
Liberation Movement of Minni Minnawi.
For its part, the Democratic
Bloc coalition on Sunday vowed to mobilize its supporters to protest against
the framework agreement and announced the suspension of informal consultations
with its signatories.
The coalition, which includes
some groups signatories of the Juba peace agreement, held a press conference to
renew its rejection of the two-stage process.
The block calls to keep the
2019 constitutional declaration and reject the review of the Juba peace
process. Also, they refuse the idea of a technocratic government and want to be
part of the transitional government.
Mubarak Ardol, the
Secretary-General of the bloc, held a press conference to denounce the launch
of the second stage and announced their decision to stop any negotiations and
informal discussions with the parties to the framework agreement.
He added they informed the
head of the Sovereign Council, al-Burhan, of their decision.
Also, he said they asked him
not to consider individual positions of the bloc members as representatives of
the whole bloc.
For his part, Minnawi who is
outside the country posted a tweet saying that the launch of the final phase of
the political process without them is a negative indication.
“The (FFC) Central Council’s
inauguration of the final phase of the framework agreement at a time when the
military-facilitated dialogue is taking place between us and them is
undoubtedly a negative sign and a manifestation of a unilateral spirit,”
Minnawi said.
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