KHARTOUM —
Sudan’s military and civilian leaders signed
Monday an initial deal aimed at ending a deep crisis caused by last year’s
military coup, prompting skeptical protesters to cry betrayal.
اضافة اعلان
Army chief
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan seized power in
October 2021, derailing a rocky transition to civilian rule that began after
the 2019 ouster of veteran autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.
The past year has seen near-weekly protests and a
crackdown that pro-democracy medics say has killed at least 121, a spiraling
economic crisis exacerbated by donors slashing funding, and a resurgence of
ethnic violence in several remote regions.
Divisions among civilian groups have deepened since
the coup, with some urging a deal with the military while others insist on “no
partnership, no negotiation”.
The deal was signed by Burhan, paramilitary
commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and multiple civilian groups, most notably the
Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) — the main civilian faction that was ousted
in the coup.
As the key players put pens to paper, hundreds of
citizens rallied in Khartoum to protest the deal, setting fire to tires,
erecting barricades, and facing down water cannons.
“The settlement is betrayal” and the FFC “sold our
blood,” demonstrators cried.
“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 plays out as planned, the civilian
signatories will agree on a prime minister who will steer the country through a
24-month transition.
Thorny issues ahead
UN Special Representative
Volker Perthes said 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”.
The initial deal was described as “welcome” by the
US and EU in a joint statement from the “Friends of Sudan” group, which also
included Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.
UN High Commissoner for Human Rights Volker Turk
hailed the accord as an “important first step toward a political agreement”.
During the signing ceremony, Dagalo reiterated the
military’s purported commitment to exit 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.
The agreement — based on a proposal by the Sudanese
Bar Association — was negotiated in the presence of officials from the UN,
Western diplomats, as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the FFC.
Perthes urged Sudanese factions to “immediately”
start the second phase to resolve the outstanding issues 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.
Phase one of the deal “is a very low-level
commitment on Burhan’s part ... allowing him to survive” politically, said
Kholood Khair founder of the Confluence Advisory, a Khartoum-based think-tank.
But the signatories will likely face “a real
political crisis as they start talking in earnest about security sector
reforms, transitional justice (and) financial accountability”, she added.
Monday’s signing comes months after Burhan pledged
that the military would step aside and make way for factions to agree on a
civilian government.
Some of the former rebels who signed peace deals
with Sudan in 2020 also voiced their opposition to Monday’s agreement.
Mohamed Zakaraia, spokesman for the ex-rebel Justice and
Equality Movement, told AFP that it “will bring about dire consequences and
further complicate the political scene”.
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