Sudan PM willing to step down ‘if the people demand it’

Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok has expressed his willingness to step down from his post whenever the Sudanese people ask him to do so. The Sudanese Congress Party has called on the protesters in Khartoum to stop their actions.

In an interview with Radio Omdurman on Friday, Hamdok said that his government’s doors “are open to meet with the leaders of the Resistance Committees” active in the neighbourhoods of towns and in various villages in the country.

“If the people demand my dismissal, I’m willing to step down,” he said in response to the call of the Resistance Committees Coordination in Khartoum to continue the street protests until the transitional government has fallen.

The protests escalated in the Sudanese capital after many people were injured in clashes with police on Monday August 17 as thousands took to the streets to mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Constitutional Declaration.

The following days, activists blocked the main roads in Khartoum, calling for a return to the principles of the revolution, the establishment of a Parliament, the holding of a broad economic conference, and the restructuring of the Forces for Freedom and Change.

‘We are all in one and the same boat. We can go together or sink together at the same time. There is no victor or defeated. The only victor is the homeland’ – PM Abdallah Hamdok

Hamdok explained that the formation of the Legislative Council is not his responsibility as prime minister, and emphasised that his government is always ready for a dialogue with the members of the Resistance Committees.

“We do not need demonstrations and barricades to communicate with each other,” he said. “We are all in one and the same boat. We can go together or sink together at the same time. There is no victor or defeated. The only victor is the homeland.”

The PM further said that justice and retribution will be achieved, “no matter how long the work of the various investigation committees takes”. He emphasised that all investigation committees formed by the transitional government “enjoy complete independence, without any direct interference from the executive body”.

‘More burdens’

The Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), one of the driving forces behind the uprising that led to the ousting of the regime of President Omar Al Bashir in April last year, has urged the Resistance Committees in Khartoum to suspend their actions against the transitional government.

The party said in a statement on Friday that “the ongoing protests only place more burdens on the shoulders of the people. The barricades do not deliver any message related to the demands of the people”.

Instead, “all components of the revolutionary forces, whether they are the government, political parties, or the Resistance Committees, should engage in a serious dialogue to evaluate the government's performance and agree on a joint action plan to correct the course of the revolution,” the statement reads.

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