Opposition parties blame military for recurring violence across Sudan

According to the National Consensus Forces (NCF), the rapid deterioration of security in many parts of Sudan is caused by the presence of organised opposition and the failure of the authorities to maintain security.

In a statement on Friday, the NCF, an alliance of progressive political parties, said that the recurrent violence in various parts of the country proves to be the failure of Sudan’s military to fulfil its self-imposed task of maintaining security in the country.

“The military component [of the government] continues to justify its participation in executive power by its competence in the security issue,” the statement reads.

“The lack of completion of an executive authority and the absence of a Legislative Council is one of the causes of failure of the transitional government to perform its role.”

The NCF points in this context to “excesses, including the reappointment of affiliates of the former regime in positions of authority”, and “the escalation of criticism on the Empowerment Elimination, Anti-Corruption, and Funds Recovery Committee”.

This means “a shift from defending the December Revolution to attacking the goals of the revolution”, the statement reads. Military leaders “are taking advantage of the weakness of the government on one hand, and the complicity of some influential people in the transitional government on the other hand”.

At the end of 2019, the Sudanese government established the Empowerment Elimination, Anti-Corruption, and Funds Recovery Committee, with the aim to purge Sudan of the remnants of the Al Bashir regime. Empowerment (tamkin) is the term with which the ousted government of Omar Al Bashir supported its affiliates in state affairs by granting them far-going privileges, including government functions and the setting-up of various companies.

At the start of 2021, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) launched the campaign Know Your Right, to protest the violence of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against “ordinary citizens”. The association further demands the dissolution of the militia.

In response to three weeks of protest, Sudan’s Senior Public Prosecutor, Tajelsir El Hibir, issued a directive to security, police, and military forces in the country on Thursday, prohibiting the detention of people except by the police and the prosecution.