Sudan’s Military, Opposition Reach Framework Agreement
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit which led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe’s rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, Saturday, June 22, 2019.
CAIRO (Sputnik) – The Sudanese military and opposition have agreed to sign a framework political agreement, with the signing ceremony expected to take place next week, the country’s leading opposition alliance Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) said.The framework agreement, which aims to create a transitional civil authority in the country, was reached at a Friday meeting in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, attended by the head of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and opposition leaders, as well as international mediators.”The parties agreed that the signing will take place next Monday,” FFC said in a statement after the meeting.In June, a political dialogue was initiated in Sudan between the military and members of the opposition. Talks were brokered by the so-called Trilateral Mechanism that includes the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa. The mediators decided to postpone the talks in July after FFC withdrew from the dialogue over their disagreements with the military in power.
In early July, Burhan said that the military was not going to be involved in the national dialogue between rival groups to “provide an opportunity for the revolutionary and national political forces to conduct a dialogue among themselves.”
Last month, international mediators proposed to resume the direct talks between Sudan’s military and the opposition on November 15.In October of last year, the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, overthrew the government in a military coup, declaring a state of emergency and establishing a transitional sovereign council under his leadership. Subsequent protests forced Burhan to sign a pact stipulating the reinstatement of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, releasing all political prisoners, holding elections in July 2023 and handing power to an elected civilian government. The political crisis persisted, however, and Hamdok stepped down on January 2.
