Sudan: Military reinstates civilian PM

Sudanese top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Sunday appended signatures to a deal with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to usher-in transition to civilian rule nearly a month after a military junta in the AU Member State.

The 14-point agreement, signed in the presidential palace in Khartoum, reinstated Hamdok as Prime Minister, and the release of civilian leaders.

Hamdok had been under house arrest guarded by armed men upon General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared on October 25 a state of emergency and ousted the government, a decision that supended a two-year transition to civilian rule and sparked international backlash.

“The house arrest of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has been lifted and the forces guarding his house have withdrawn,” an official told African Editors.

The said agreement follows moments, mediators on Sunday declared that the military had reached a consensus to reinstate Hamdok as PM.

The return of Hamdok, a British-educated Economist who has worked for the United Nations and African organisations, has been a key demand of international community.

The power grab triggered a wave of mass street protests in which 40 demonstrators have been murdered according to medical sources.

But as news of the development broke, hundreds of protesters again rallied against the military and the ensuing crackdown, witnesses said.

The main civilian bloc that was on the forefront, spearheaded the anti-Bashir protests and signed a 2019 power-sharing agreement with the military has rejected Sunday’s deal.

“We affirm our clear and previously declared position, that there is no negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy for the coup,” said the mainstream faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change in a statement.

Protesters gathered in downtown Khartoum, and eastern state of Kassala and the northern city of Atbara witnesses told African Editors.

It’s important to anchor the point that Sudan has been facing political upheavals and every now and then there is a new twist to the matter.

Source: africaneditors.com