SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Asharq Al-Awsat - Sudan Opposition Figure to Asharq Al-Awsat: We are Close to Agreement with Military Council

8/5/19: Asharq Alawsat – Sudan Opposition Figure to Asharq Al-Awsat: We are Close to Agreement with Military Council, by Ahmed Younes and Aidarous Abdulaziz

 A leading member of Sudan’s opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change, Omar Al Digair, expressed optimism that an agreement may soon be reached with the transitional military council (TMC) on Sudan’s future.

 Al Digair said that the disputes are centered on the sovereign council that both sides are looking to set-up, saying “[the TMC] want a military council, while we want a civilian one with military representation and limited privileges.”

 Asked whether Sudanese political parties can lead Sudan’s transition, Al Digair said that Sudanese political parties “have been exhausted by the oppression of the former regime,” and that they were deprived of communicating with the youth.

 Al Digiar also said that the Islamist PCP and NCP parties would not participate in Sudan’s transitional period, and must wait until elections.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Asharq Al-Awsat - Sudan's Transitional Military Council Suggests Amendments to Opposition's Vision

8/5/19: Asharq Al-Awsat- Sudan’s Transitional Military Council Suggests Amendments to Opposition’s vision, by Ahmed Younes and Aidarous Abdulaziz

 Ahmed Younes and Aidarous Abdulaziz report on the TMC’s announced vision for the transitionary period, highlighting that the TMC has praised the constitutional draft put forward by the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFC).

 Younes and Abdulaziz highlight that the draft contained descriptions of the duties of a sovereign transitional council that the opposition groups hope will replace the TMC.

 Younes and Abdulaziz note however, that there were some disagreements, in particular concerning the omission of Sharia Law. Spokesman for the TMC Shams El Din Kabbashi asserted that the TMC has ‘agreed on the mediation of some figures who are keen on Sudan’s security and stability’. Kabbashi also reinforced that despite the disputes, room for negotiations exists. 

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times - Time for Sudan to sign UN convention on women

8/5/19: Financial Times – Time for Sudan to sign UN convention on women

 In a letter to the Financial Times, Idriss Jazairy, the executive director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, called for the new leadership of Sudan to “end the stubborn anomaly of Sudan being the only Arab UN member state, and one of only three in the world, not to have signed the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.”

 Jazairy wrote the request as a follow up on Zeinab Badawi’s May 6 Financial Times opinion piece “Women, hopeful for change, are driving Sudan’s uprising.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources - Sudan's protest coalition calls for civil disobedience campaign

8/5/19: Multiple sources - Sudan's protest coalition calls for civil disobedience campaign

Reuters

AFP

Sudanese protest and opposition leaders on Wednesday called for a campaign of civil disobedience in response to what one of them described as the military’s “disappointing” answer to their proposals for an interim government.

 “We call for and prepare for civil disobedience,” Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF), told a news conference in Khartoum.

 The DFCF, the opposition groups’ umbrella body, did not give details of what it planned. But the DFCF has led work strikes, marches, protest sit-ins and other acts of civil disobedience for weeks. Protesters have also blocked bridges, roads and rail tracks, disrupting Sudan’s transport infrastructure.

 Khalid Omar Yousef, another protest leader, said the aim was not to start a confrontation with the military but to speed up efforts to resolve the impasse.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: AP - US urges quick transition to civilian government in Sudan

8/5/19: AP – US urges quick transition to civilian government in Sudan

AP reports that the US has urged Sudan’s transitional military council to move “expeditiously” toward a civilian-led government, in an US State Department statement

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan “expressed support for the Sudanese people’s aspirations for a free, democratic and prosperous future” in a phone call with the head of the Sudanese military council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudan's military rejects mediation proposal

8/5/19: Sudan Tribune – Sudan’s military rejects mediation proposal

 The Transitional Military Council has rejected a mediation proposal to establish a Security and Defense Council, saying it does not constitute a level of government.

 The mediation proposal offers to form a transitional sovereignty council composed of 10 people (7 of them from the Freedom and Change forces, and 3 from the Transitional Military Council), as well as a defence council to be chaired by head of the military council, and including three civilian acting as prime minister, foreign minister and finance minister.

 TMC spokesman Shams Al Din Kabbashi said that the TMC rejected the proposal as its role is limited to defence policy only, but said the TMC has responded with a request to continue meditation on

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudan puts former security chief under house arrest: official

8/5/19: Sudan Tribune – Sudan puts former security chief under house arrest: official

Sudan Tribune reports that Salah Gosh the former Director of the National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) has been placed under house arrest, said Shams El Din Kabbashi, the spokesperson of the military council.

In a press conference held at the Sudanese presidency, Kabbashi denied reports about Gosh being free, saying he and the other figures of Omar Al Bashir’s regime are in jail and that their investigations are underway.

"No one will escape punishment," Kabbashi said.

Mohamed Nagi Al Asam, the spokesperson of the Sudanese Professionals Association, had earlier told reporters that the former regime officials responsible for the killing of 90 protesters have been killed were still at large, including Salah Gosh.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: AP - As Sudan uprising grew, Arab states worked to shape its fate

8/5/19: AP – As Sudan uprising grew, Arab states worked to shape its fate, by Samy Magdy

Anonymous Sudanese and Egyptian officials provided details on the military coup against Omar Al Bashir, and the influence of Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian officials said that following the April 6 sit-in, three Sudanese military and intelligence officials arrived in Cairo to meet with Egyptian counterparts. They asked how Egypt would respond if the military removed Al Bashir, and whether the Saudis and the Emiratis would provide financial aid.

The Egyptian officials said that Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia then reached out to current Sudanese military council chief Abdelfattah Al Burhan and his deputy Himedti.

A Sudanese official said that Al Bashir furiously refused the Egyptian proposal for Al Bashir to safely leave for Saudi Arabia, and that he “was shocked and kept yelling” during the eventual military coup, although he was reassured that he would remain in the presidential palace under house arrest.