First phase of lead up to Final Agreement concludes in Sudan capital
leading member of the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC-Central Council) and spokesperson for the current political process, Khaled Omar Yousef (File photo: Supplied)
KHARTOUM –
The first conference, on the removal of empowerment*, which began on Monday, January 9, concluded in the Sudan capital on Thursday. The political process in preparation for the signing of a final agreement with the military junta for the transition to civilian-led government, will soon begin with its second conference on (transitional) justice, leading member of the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC-Central Council) and spokesperson for the current political process, Khaled Omar Yousef, reported in a press conference in Khartoum on Friday.
Five important issues are to be discussed and agreed upon between the signatories of the Framework Agreement before the outcomes of the conferences on the five issues will be negotiated with the military.
“The AU-IGAD-UN Trilateral Mechanism and the signatory parties to the Framework Agreement have begun to make the necessary arrangements to set the general framework for the Conference on Justice and Transitional Justice,” Yousef said.
He expects that discussions on the remaining three issues (military and security reform, the Juba Peace Agreement, and governance of eastern Sudan) may be concluded within a very short period.
As for the series of workshops on empowerment removal that ended on Thursday, the spokesperson stated that the signatories to the Framework Agreement will work on the outcomes of the roadmap conference for renewing the mechanisms of empowerment removal and turn them into texts to be included in the Final Agreement.
Yousef explained that the discussion of the subject will be continued with the groups that reject the Framework Agreement, with the aim of including them in the rest of the consultations to reach a comprehensive final agreement.
He said that the signatories “will work to form the largest popular base for the agenda of the democratic transition”.
‘Continuing genocide in Darfur’
Remarks to Radio Dabanga by El Shafee Abdallah, a displaced community leader in Darfur, belittled the transitional justice conference that is now taking place in Khartoum.
‘Transitional justice can only be achieved when just and comprehensive peace has been realised’ – El Shafee Abdallah
Abdallah told Radio Dabanga said that “the papers submitted through the Framework Agreement will not achieve transitional justice for several reasons. “The main reasons are the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country and the continuing genocide in Darfur,” he stated.
“This conference keeps the military in power,” he said. “Transitional justice requires security and stability, while this has not been achieved; on the contrary, for the people living in volatile areas of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.”
The community leader said that “transitional justice can only be achieved when just and comprehensive peace has been realised, the people are protected, and the judiciary has become independent again,” and added that “Transitional justice requires the existence of a transitional government in accordance with the glorious December revolution.”
Recommendations
The conference on the empowerment removal concluded on Thursday with a number of recommendations of which the most important are the annulment of rulings of the High Court that cancelled the decisions of the Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC*) following the military coup of October 2021, and returned a number of dismissed affiliates of ousted President al Bashir to their positions.
The recommendations called for a review of all decisions issued concerning the subject after the coup d’état, in addition to establishing a special police force for the members of the ERC.
The final statement of the conference stressed the need to implement the process of dismantling the structures of Al Bashir regime in accordance with international standards and the rule of law.
The work of the ERC is to be continued, however with a new law, a new strategy and structure, and with well-qualified staff members. Guarantees have to be set such as a supportive and advocacy framework for building a just democratic state and the need to strengthen the role of the media, in particular investigative journalism.
The conference believed in the necessity of training young people, women, people with disabilities and professionals on integrity standards and fighting corruption, and involving them in the institutions concerned with empowerment removal.
The participants set as one of the ERC’s priorities the removal of affiliates of Al Bashir within the judicial apparatus and restore its judicial role.
“The desired security and military reform process include practical measures to end all forms of partisan presence and the effects of the former regime’s empowerment within the government forces as a prerequisite for democratic transformation,” the statement said.
* 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. 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. The full name of the ERC is the Committee for Dismantling the June 30 1989 Regime, Removal of Empowerment and Corruption, and Recovering Public Funds.
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