Current dialogues over Sudan’s thorny issues called ‘elitist’

The signatories of Sudan’s new framework agreement between the civilian forces of the revolution and the military junta participated in a series of workshops on Sunday. The workshops, held in Khartoum, have been called “elitist” by the displaced in Darfur.

The opening ceremony took place in the Friendship Hall in Khartoum with representatives of the signatories to the agreement, led by the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change, the FFC-Central Council.

The parties, which signed the first stage of a Framework Agreement with the military on December 5, chose Khaled Omar Yousef as their official spokesperson for the political process.

The dialogue workshops aim to help the parties come to a final agreement on the military’s withdrawal from power, following a coup d’état on October 25, 2021. They centre around five important but thorny issues: justice and transitional justice, security and military reform, the removal of remnants of the empowerment* policies of ousted President Omar Al Bashir, amendments to the Juba Peace Agreement, and governance issues in eastern Sudan.

In a press conference in Khartoum on Saturday, Babiker Feisal, member of the FFC-CC Executive Office, said that they hope to conclude the political process and start with preparations for the formation of a transitional civilian government in early February.

He said that the FFC-CC decided to proceed with the process leading to a final agreement. “We will clarify our vision to the street and the resistance committees, without affecting our position or forcing us to take a specific position,” he explained.

“The forces of the revolution, which were part of the FFC alliance until the fall of the National Congress Party regime [of Omar Al Bashir] in 2019, are all entitled to participate in the agreements [with the military]”, he said. Resistance committees, as well as several political parties such as the Communist Party and the Socialist Arab Ba’ath Party, categorically reject an agreement with those responsible for the October 2021 coup.

“The basis of the Framework Agreement is the army’s exit from the political process and the establishment of full civilian rule,” Feisal said. This agreement “has made huge steps” as it “grants broad powers to the prime minister, including supervision of the police and intelligence services.”

“One of the basic issues, without which there will be no stability or democracy,” is the need to unify all military forces, including the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under the command of one professional army, he stressed.

He accused powerful affiliates of the former regime of President Omar Al Bashir of seeking to drive a wedge between the army and the RSF. He said that the FFC-CC alliance does not aim to prioritise one party over the other, especially considering the “seriousness of the situation in Sudan.”

Ivory towers

“Transitional justice is an essential pillar for the stability of Sudan,” Lawyer El Moez Hazrat told Radio Dabanga on Sunday. “Therefore, holding grassroots conferences with the participation of stakeholders is especially important. We would benefit from the views of native administration leaders in this transitional justice process.”

Hazrat said that conferences on transitional justice held in “air-conditioned ivory towers” will not be able to achieve justice. He called for holding one of the planned workshops on transitional justice in a camp for the displaced in Darfur.

He stressed the need to reform the police, the judiciary, and the prosecution. “Until now, the reform of the judicial apparatus has not succeeded because of widespread corruption. It is of utmost importance to formulate new laws that prevent impunity and keep pace with the principles of international justice.”

Sheikh Abdelrazeq, a leader of the displaced in Darfur, also ruled out the potential of the workshops organised by the signatories to the Framework Agreement to achieve justice.

He described the workshops as “elitist” as “they are confined to Khartoum without any coordination with the victims.”

He called on the signatories to reach out to people in Darfur, warning against repeating what happened to the 2019 Constitutional Document. The agreement will fail if the signatories proceed with the current approach, he said.

Egypt offer

Feisal also denied that Egypt presented an alternative to the current ongoing dialogues to the FFC-CC last week. The head of Egyptian intelligence only proposed to meet with non-signatories to better understand their positions, according to Feisal.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, the Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID), Maj Gen Abbas Kamel, held separate meetings with Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, President of the Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudan Armed Forces, leaders of the FFC-CC, and the FFC-Democratic Block alliance last week.

The FFC-CC assured the Egyptian delegation that they “do not recognise any political block made and forged in the name of the FFC” and “will definitely not sit with them,” he said, referring to the FFC-DB.

The FFC-Democratic Block formed two months ago and includes the National Accord Forces (NAF), the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Sudanese Ba’ath Party, amongst others, and the eastern Sudanese Beja nazirs council presided by Sayed Tirik. The NAF (or FFC-NA) was established in April last year by former rebel leaders who backed the military during the October 2021 coup.

Minni Minawi, head of the Sudan Liberation Movement-MM, Governor of the Darfur Region, and leading member of the FFC-DB called on all political groups in the country to accept Egypt’s offer to get out of the current impasse.

“The Egyptian invitation is important for eliminating disparities,” he tweeted yesterday. “We believe it will play a role in bringing positions closer and removing artificial differences.”

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* Empowerment (tamkin) is the term with which the ousted government of Omar Al Bashir supported its affiliates by granting them far-going privileges, including government functions, the setting-up of various companies, and tax exemptions.The committee’s full name is the Committee for Dismantling the June 30 1989 Regime, Removal of Empowerment and Corruption, and Recovering Public Funds. In the end of 2019, the government of Abdallah Hamdok established the Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC) with the aim to purge the country of the remnants of the Al Bashir regime. The work of the ERC was suspended, and a number of its members detained following the October 2021 military coup d’état.