Sudan Tagadom leaders ‘continue despite criminal complaints against them’

According to the Civil Democratic Forces (Tagadom), the charges filed in Port Sudan, the de facto capital of the country, against its leaders on Saturday “will not affect communication between the alliance and the army leadership”.

The National Committee for War Crimes and Violations by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Saturday filed criminal charges with the Port Sudan Prosecution Office in the Red Sea state against 17 leaders of the Tagadom Coordination Committee.

The Tagadom alliance of progressive parties and groups, headed by the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC-Central Council), was formed in October last year with the aim to build a broad democratic civil front against the devastating war between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF that erupted nearly a year ago.

In December, Tagadom invited the commanders of the SAF and RSF to discuss protection of civilians, the provision of humanitarian aid, and a ceasefire. The army ignored the request, but RSF Commander Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo responded and signed an agreement with Tagadom in Addis Ababa on January 2.

Because of this accord only, Tagadom is seen by SAF supporters as pro-RSF.

The leaders of the alliance, chaired by former PM Abdalla Hamdok, are accused of provoking war against the state, incitement, conspiracy, undermining the constitutional order, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

The Sudan state television broadcast the news on Saturday and said that the prosecutor ordered the arrest of Hamdok, Omer El Degeir, Khaled Yousef, Maryam, Zeinab, and Siddig El Sadig, El Wasig El Bereir, Rasha Awad, Maher Abujookh, Shawgi Abdelazim, Babakr Feisal, Taha Ishag, Mohamed El Faki, Yassir Arman, Suliman Sandal, Jaafar Hasan, and Mohamed Osman, to bring them to trial.

Journalist Osman Fadlallah reacted to the news by saying that “the escalation against the FFC and Tagadom was expected, given that the situation in Sudan is now under the control of the Islamist movement”.

He told Radio Dabanga yesterday that “the war of the Islamists mainly targets the forces of the revolution, the FFC and Tagadom. They have been pressing since the beginning of the war to lodge complaints against the FFC and other political forces, so such a move was expected”.

Fadlallah explained that “there is a state of mistrust between the Islamists and the SAF command, and therefore the Islamists saw it necessary to cut off any attempt of Tagadom which they consider criminal forces, and therefore it was expected that steps would be taken, especially since the army commander-in-chief recently agreed to meet with Hamdok.

“This type of procedure has become usual in Sudanese politics since [the Islamists took power via Omar Al Bashir in] June 30, 1989, when criminal complaints were filed against most of the political opposition leaders. Some of them were even sentenced to death.”

‘Below the belt’

Bakri El Jak, spokesperson for Tagadom told Radio Dabanga yesterday that “the decision issued by the prosecution to open a report against Hamdok and the other Tagadom leaders will not affect the communication between Tagadom and the army command.

“We understand that the official complaint is part of political bidding and a hit below the belt, but the bottom line for us is that the war must end in one way or another. The only way to achieve this is through a negotiation process that will cease the hostilities and launch an integrated political process with the aim to establish a new political system and re-establish the Sudanese state on new foundations. This is our conviction, and if that does not happen, the Sudanese state, the army, and the RSF will fall apart, and this is a scary scenario,” he said.

“We will continue our communication with the army and the RSF. Of course we condemn the RSF violence against civilians, as we do not have a special relationship with the RSF. We are not mediators, like Saudi Arabia and the United States, but stakeholders. Stakeholders carry their own agenda, and this is what we did when we signed a declaration with RSF Commander Hemedti [in early January] that included six principles, the most important of which is the preservation of the Sudanese territorial integrity.”

According to El Jak, “The fundamental idea of ​​this war is to liquidate the 2018 December Revolution and empty the civil space of any democratic forces seeking a new horizon, which guarantees equal citizenship and opens the country towards a participatory development project”.

He added that “attacks on Tagadom will definitely continue, whether through misinformation, falsification, character assassination, or legal formulas.

“The goal of this is that when negotiations between the warring parties start, the facades created by high-level members of the dissolved National Congress Party [of Omar Al Bashir], which have begun to take shape these days in Port Sudan, will be rendered in a demagogic manner to the people.”