Sudan’s new Legislative Council to convene in August

Sudan’s Transitional Partners Council has started the long-awaited formation of a Transitional Legislative Council, with its first session planned for August 17. The council also recommended that all state Walis (governors) should be relieved.

Member of the Council Haidar El Saffi said in a press statement yesterday that at a meeting at the Republican Palace in Khartoum on Monday, chaired by Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, the head of the Sovereignty Council, that “the Council set up a committee chaired by Kamal Bulad to finalise the work on completing the Legislative Council, and to arrange for it to hold its first session in August 17.”

That date is auspicious as it marks two years since the signing of the Constitutional Document which is the blueprint for the transitional period.

El Saffi said that the Council has recommended the relieving of all the Walis (governors) of the States as of August, and the appointment of the new governors in the same month.

He underlined that the partners discussed the issue of eastern Sudan and the solutions and treatments related to it, which he said will start from now, stressing the council’s interest in this issue at the political, security and other levels.

Long-awaited establishment

The formation of the Legislative Council has been the topic of much controversy since its establishment was promised in the Juba Peace Agreement and the Constitutional Document. Its formation has been delayed several times. 

In May, Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) Volker Perthes warned of the consequences of the fact that several critical aspects of the Juba Peace Agreement remain unimplemented, most importantly the formation of a representative Legislative Council.

In January, the Sudan Professionals Association (SPA) called for the formation of the Legislative Council along with serious military reforms and in December, Hafiz Ismail stated in an interview with Radio Dabanga that "the formation is long overdue”.