SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Burhan’s call to open Sudan’s political process for more groups, why?

5/1/2023: Sudan Tribune - Burhan’s call to open Sudan’s political process for more groups, why?

Sudan Tribune’s feature piece identifies several reason as to why the commander-in-chief of the Sudanese army, Abdulfattah al-Burhan, has called for the expansion of signatories to the Framework Agreement.

Al-Muez Hadrat, a leading Forces for Freedom and Change member, suggested that al-Burhan was tacitly calling for the former ruling Islamist National Congress Party to not be excluded.

The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) seek to exclude “non-revolutionary and pro-coup forces” who they say would “flood the process of democratic transition”.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Wilson Center - Sudan: A Flicker of Hope

5/1/2023: Wilson Center - Sudan: A Flicker of Hope, by Marina Ottaway

Marina Ottaway, a Middle East Fellow at the Wilson Center, identified two sources of “guarded optimism” that a democratic process can emerge from Sudan’s Framework Agreement.

Ottaway noted how Sudan’s previous three experiences with civilian rule (1956-58, 1964-68, 1985-89) saw the government controlled by Umma Party and Democratic Unionist coalitions that were incapable of cooperating or governing effectively. However, she noted that the traditional parties “are no longer controlled by dynasties, and their importance has faded compared to that of newer organisations”. Ottaway further noted the decline of the Islamic Movement, while the “Forces of Freedom and Change represent a broader section of the population; they are younger, more mobilized and better led”.

Ottoway concluded that the second source of optimism is that “most of the military leadership seems to realise that they cannot rule alone,” which is conducive towards compromise.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Sudan’s FFC factions divided on Egyptian dialogue offer

5/1/2023: Radio Dabanga - Sudan’s FFC factions divided on Egyptian dialogue offer

Radio Dabanga’s report that the Forces for Freedom and Change-Democratic Block (FFC-DB) faction announced its support for the Egyptian dialogue initiative on Sudan’s political situation following the framework agreement quotes the FFC-DB’s stated reasons for rejecting the agreement.

FFC-DB spokesperson Juma al-Wakeel said the agreement “does not include issues of identity, religion and the state, dialogue with non-signatories to the peace agreement, and wants to revise the Juba Peace Agreement”.

He accused the mainstream FFC-Central Council of “hijacking the scene”, and deplored the FFC-CC’s refusal to sit with all members of the Democratic Block. “The Framework Agreement will play a major role in deepening the wounds and exacerbating the crisis in Sudan,” al-Wakeel added.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Global Development Institute  – After UNAMID: Who will offer protection to civilians and the displaced in Darfur?

5/1/2021: Global Development Institute  – After UNAMID: Who will offer protection to civilians and the displaced in Darfur?, by Tanja R. Muller

 Tanja Müller, a Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute, argues that the presence of UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) “did make a difference – even if not on the scale and scope hoped for or expected by those it aimed to protect.”

Müller quotes a Darfuri refugee who said “never went after the perpetrators” but “the UNAMID work of reporting incidents and coming to visit places where incidents have taken place made perpetrators feel that they have to be careful as their actions might be reported and they might be held responsible”.

Furthermore, Müller cites a 2016 academic report on UNAMID entitled ‘No One on the Earth Cares if We Survive, Except God and Sometimes UNAMID’ as a reflection of Darfuri beliefs that “UNAMID served as the only protection for the displaced, even if often imperfect”.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – Sudanese Professionals Association demand the dissolution of the Rapid Support Forces

5/1/2021: Multiple sources – Sudanese Professionals Association demand the dissolution of the Rapid Support Forces

 The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) called for the Rapid Support Forces to be disbanded and integrated into the national army, as part of campaign entitled ‘Know Your Right’, which protests against the RSF’s violence towards “ordinary citizens,” following the killing of activist Bahaeldin Nouri.

 In a memorandum submitted to Justice Minister Nasreldin Abdelbari and Attorney General Tajelsir al-Hibr, the SPA demanded urgent steps “to criminalise the abduction and detention of citizens by the RSF”, and “to clearly restrict the right to arrest people to the police.”

 The SPA also urges Sudanese authorities to form a committee to “review all detention centres of the RSF and other forces, transfer the detainees who have been charged to police stations,” and for the closure of all “illegal detention centres” and “ghost houses of the security apparatus”.

 

The attorney general was requested to form “a permanent commission to investigate allegations of RSF violations”.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - SPA: ‘Structural changes needed for Sudan’s police and security services’

5/1/2020: Radio Dabanga - SPA: ‘Structural changes needed for Sudan’s police and security services’

Radio Dabanga reports that the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) has called for structural changes in the administrative structures of the police and security services to avoid further violence.

In a statement, the SPA urged the transitional government to “take serious steps to resolve this insecurity situation”, and change the chief of police, heads of departments, and public administrations, and “replace them with those who believe in change and freedom”.

The SPA said that the violence and insecurity the country has recently witnessed are “well organised acts rather than coincidences.”

The SPA also holds members of the security service, the police, and other law enforcement forces responsible regarding the deterioration of the security in the country, citing their obligations “to protect and to provide security across Sudan.”