SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Carnegie Middle East Center – A Road Map to Civilian Rule If Sudan’s Military Putschists Retreat
Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, outlines a Sudanese path to civilian rule by depoliticising the military and appointing a civilian defence minister.
To get the army to support the proposal, Sayigh suggests the creation of incentive structures for soldiers to see the benefits of civilian rule and have a stake in the success of democracy: increased professionalisation, modernisation and addressed capability gaps.
In the interim, Sayigh suggests that the depoliticisation can be achieved by reviewing: entry to officer school (making the selection process more representative of Sudan’s demographics and geography), the composition of the ground forces’ brigades and their deployment rotations (with the purpose of diluting communitarian tensions among their personnel), the enlistment and training of noncommissioned officers (to encourage leadership), and pay and pensions as well as other conditions of service (to address equity issues and grievances, both internally and toward civilians).