FCC defiant as political leaders meet PM Hamdok

The Central Leadership Council of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) has emphatically distanced itself from a meeting held between Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and 18 members of the Council in Khartoum on Tuesday, saying that “whoever met with Hamdok does not have a mandate to represent the Central Leadership Council.”

A press statement by the Prime Minister’s Office following the meeting on Tuesday, asserts that the delegation from the FCC (the main drivers of the revolution that overthrew the 30-year Al Bashir dictatorship in 2019, and convenors of an ongoing campaign of civil disobedience and mass demonstrations since the coup) expressed its approval of the political agreement between Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, leader of the military junta that seized power in a coup d’état on October 25, and Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, to reinstate the PM and return the country to democratic transition in terms of the Constitutional Document.

The statement also says that “the two parties also stressed the necessity and importance of agreeing on a political pact between the various active political forces in Sudanese society to ensure the success of the remainder of the civil democratic transition period”.

However, the FCC Central Leadership Council, which has repeatedly rejected the political agreement – a stance which resulted in the resignation of 11 cabinet ministers on Sunday – says that it “did not name any representative for any meeting with the PM,” and said that whoever met PM Hamdok “does not have a mandate to represent the Central Leadership Council”.

Sources confirmed that no representatives of the Sudanese Congress Party, the Baath Party and the Federal Gathering participated.

In a separate statement, Sati El Haj, a leading member of the FFC, said that he met PM Hamdok with “ quite a number of FFC political leaders” on Tuesday. He explained that they demanded that the Prime Minister immediately implement four steps, namely ,the release of all political detainees, to nullify all appointments made after 25 October, to reinstate the dismissed officials, and to review all decisions issued during the coup period.

El Haj says that the political leaders also demanded that the PM work to secure and protect the Marches of the Millions planned for today. They also demanded the formation of a commission of inquiry into the killing of all the people who have died after October 25.

The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reports that Hamdok issued a directive yesterday to immediately suspend dismissals and appointments to the civil service in all government units, at both national and state levels until further notice.

He also directed those appointments and dismissals made during the past period be subject to study, evaluation and review.