TMC sharply criticises Ethiopian mediators’ initiative on the future of Sudan

The Transitional Military Council has sharply criticised the Ethiopian mediators’ initiative on a future government for Sudan, which was accepted by the Alliance for Freedom and Change. It also threatened to revoke the agreement that the TMC and the AFC reached last month.

The spokesman for the TMC, Lt Gen Shamseldin El Kabbashi, told a news conference in Khartoum on Sunday evening that "the military junta was surprised by the presence of two documents, one from the African Union and one from Ethiopia, instead of a unified document that outlines all the proposals".

He stressed that the junta may retreat completely from what was previously agreed upon with the AFC, because there are no written and binding agreements, just “understandings”.

The deputy chairman of the Political Committee of the TMC, Yasir El Atta, made the same point. He said that changes in the political situation give the military junta the responsibility to shorten “the constitutional vacuum”, by forming a government itself. He stressed that the TMC hopes it will not have to come to that.

Regrettable

The Alliance for Freedom and Change described the position of the military junta on the results of the Ethiopian mediation at a press conference on Monday as “regrettable”.

Spokesman for the AFC Ismail El Taj told the media that the military junta was “lacking in reason”. The TMC seems to think that mediation is a kind of imposed tutelage, El Taj said. “And that when this mediation is supported by the regional community, the African Union, IGAD and the European Union.” He apologised to the mediators for the response of the military junta.

El Taj welcomed that the meeting of the Troika (UK, USA and Norway) in the German capital Berlin confirmed that Sudan should have a civilian government.

March on June 30

AFC spokesman El Taj concluded that because of the position of the TMC there was no other option but to continue the revolution, and prepare for the march that is planned on June 30. Time en course of that march will be determined later, in relation to security conditions.

He warned the TMC not to repress this rally in any way. Any loss of life and all other consequences will in that case be borne by the military junta, he said.

Congress Party

Secretary-general of the Sudanese Congress Party and leading member of the AFC Khalid Omar said that the military junta seeks to strengthen the power of the TMC by prolonging the negotiations, repressing the media, cutting the internet, and spreading rumours and lies about the AFC.

He stressed that the AFC approval of the Ethiopian mediators’ proposal gives the junta two options. Either the TMC approves the proposal as well and transfers power to civilians. Or it doesn’t, in which case the Sudanese will unite against the TMC even more and the TMC will also face confrontations within the region.

Omar stressed that the AFC will stay unified, either in achieving a civilian transitional authority or to go unified to prison or to their graves.

Nothing new

Commenting on the press conference of the TMC, AFC leader Mohamed Esmat stressed there is in fact nothing new in the position of the military junta. The TMC so far refused all solutions, initiatives and concessions to find a safe exit out of the crisis, he said.

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