Sudan’s Gen El Burhan to sue AFP for ‘lying and fabrication’

The office of the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, and leader of the military junta that seized power in Sudan in a coup d’état on October 25, Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, has filed a formal legal complaint against Mona Zaki, Director of the Agence France Presse (AFP) office in Khartoum, for allegedly misquoting/misrepresenting El Burhan in an interview on Saturday.

El Burhan’s office accuses AFP of “reporting a statement that is different and contradictory to what the TSC President said”, and that El Burhan clearly emphasised that he has no doubts that the participation of the military in the upcoming elections is not possible according to the text of the Constitutional Document.

The complaint filed has been to the Information Crimes Prosecution and the Press and Publications Prosecution, related to Article (26a) related to honesty and integrity in journalistic work and Article (26b) relating to the dissemination of information related to national security and the movements of the armed forces.

It is in reaction a report by AFP following a recorded interview, quoting El Burhan as having said that that the upcoming elections will be open to all forces that participated in the transitional phase, including the military.

El Burhan’s office accused the agency of “lying and fabrication”. The office says that it contacted AFP agency to request a rectification and apology, “however, the agency did not rectify this false statement and promised to withdraw the answer to the question, but it did not”.

The office called the case “a dangerous precedent that calls for accountability before the law”.

Other international news agencies including Associated Press (AP) and Reuters have reported El Burhan as saying that Sudan’s military will exit politics after the elections scheduled for 2023, and that that he won’t seek a government position.