Immunity from prosecution point of contention in Sudan’s FFC-military agreement dialogue

The most prominent points of contention between the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC) and the military junta are the military's request for guarantees of immunity from prosecution for the abuses after the 2019 and 2021 coup d'états, says Mohamed El Mahdi Hasan from the National Umma Party. The FFC and military are currently engaged in a dialogue to reach an agreement for a new government.

Hasan, who is head of the Political Bureau of the National Umma Party, told Radio Dabanga on Wednesday, that the military is demanding a role in the upcoming ruling system which would enable it to implement the guarantee of non-accountability in the form of immunity from prosecution. 

The military wants immunity for the acts of violence and abuse that occurred since the June 3 Massacre after the 2019 coup and after the October 2021 military coup. The two parties are currently engaged in a dialogue to reach an agreement for a new government.

At least 7,000 protesters were injured between the October 25, 2021, coup and August 2022, and the Resistance Committees of Khartoum reported that 120 protesters have been killed since the 2021 coup. After the 2019 coup that took place during the revolution that toppled the Al Bashir regime, the military used extremely violent tactics to disperse a sit-in in front of the General Army Command in Khartoum in what became known as the June 3 Massacre, killing at least 186 whilst another 100 went missing and many more were injured.

There is a continuation of contacts between the two parties to end the current political crisis caused by the coup last year, Hasan said and indicated that there are many points of agreement so it could be possible to reach an agreement on the controversial points as well.

The NUP politician condemned the use of excessive violence against peaceful demonstrators but at the same time stressed that "violence should not impede dialogue in order to reach a political agreement that ends the crisis and leads to the resumption of the transitional period leading to elections".

"We can benefit from the experiences of other countries in transitional justice to overcome the current situation, in addition to following Sudanese customs, which are rich in similarities," he added.

Hasan did not rule out the existence of parties within the current groups in power "that could use violence in order to widen the gap between the dialogue parties and impede the political process from reaching its goals".  But added that "this should not prevent us from continuing the dialogue day and night in order to reach a complete agreement that ends all forms of violence and enables the transitional period to resume".

The FFC recently denied that it would allow the military to escape accountability. Sudan's resistance committees reject any political settlement with the military junta.