SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Lawfare - A Constitutional Moment in Sudan

 1/11/19: Lawfare - A Constitutional Moment in Sudan, by Israa Saber

For Sudan’s transitional constitution to avoid backsliding toward authoritarian rule, Isra Saber, a senior researcher at the Brookings Institute, calls for “real” commitment from the opposition and the military, and for the Forces of Freedom and Change to unify their vision.

 Saber argues that the transitional constitution does not clarify how the interim government will prepare a permanent constitution, which individuals will be involved, whether different social groups will be represented, or when the process will start. 

 Saber also warns that the transitional constitution’s failure to clarify what a post-transition government will look like risks creating a “precarious situation.”

 However, for Saber, “the biggest remaining hole” is that civilians do not have oversight over the military, adding that the military’s ability to name its ministers of defence and the interior and manage its own reforms risks strengthening the deep state, even after Sudan’s democratic transition.