Framework agreement with Sudan junta ‘to be signed within 72 Hours’

It is expected that the signing of the framework agreement between the military junta and the Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC) and other civilian parties will take place within 72 hours. According to sources, the various political parties and alliances will each separately sign the framework agreement before the AU-IGAD-UN Trilateral Mechanism.

The Trilateral Mechanism said it held “a fruitful meeting” with a delegation from the mainstream Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), headed by Jaafar El Mirghani, on Wednesday about the current political process.

The DUP, which is the oldest political party in Sudan, recently joined the Forces for Freedom and Change-Democratic Block, formed by a number of rebel movements that signed the Juba Peace Agreement in the South Sudanese capital in October 2020.

Sources from the DUP told Radio Dabanga that the Democratic Block will receive the latest version of the political agreement from the FFC-CC on Wednesday, in order to comment on it, before submitting a response to the Trilateral Mechanism about their approval or not.

The sources further said that the Democratic Block will nominate Nazir Sayed Tirik as deputy head to the alliance, chaired by Jaafar El Mirghani.

A DUP delegation, headed by El Mirghani, will leave for Juba within the next 72 hours to meet Abdelaziz El Hilu, head of the hold-out Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North in the Nuba Mountains to consult him on the current political process. A delegation of the Trilateral Mechanism will also meet with El Hilu in Juba.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the driving force behind the December 2018 revolution which announced the Declaration of Freedom and Change on January 1, 2019, rejects the agreement the civilian parties intend to sign with the military junta.

According to SPA spokesperson El Waleed Ali, the SPA considers the framework agreement “a settlement project between two parties which cannot succeed”.

He told Radio Dabanga that “the agreement will almost certainly lead to the reproduction of the coup scenario.

“The main objective of this agreement is to find a safe way out for the putschists from the crimes they committed against the people, in addition to preserving the gains and interests of the Islamists and other parasites during the previous period [the 30-year-long dictatorship headed by ousted President Omar Al Bashir)”.

Ali warned that the agreement on a new civilian government “will not remove the power of the putschists”, who “will remain protected by their weapons and positions”.

On Monday, the Old Omdurman Central Resistance Committees announced its “initial approval” of the transitional constitution and the framework agreement.

In a press statement, the group demanded that “all parties to the revolution” be included in the current political process, including the resistance committees in the country, all parties to the Declaration of Freedom and Change, including the Communist Party of Sudan, and the two hold-out rebel movements headed by Abdelaziz El Hilu and Abdelwahid El Nur.

The Old Omdurman Resistance Committees further denounced the continuing impunity for the military in the agreement.

They urged to speed up the development of mechanisms for the formation of the Legislative Council.