Summary

After Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok launched his ‘Road Forward Initiative’ as an attempt to create a national project that solves Sudan’s democratic transition issues, the governing civilian Forces for Freedom and Change (FCC) signed a declaration confirming its unity. However, Hamdok’s ‘Road Forward’ has already faced four resignations, with criticisms of its membership – particularly the inclusion of remnants of the former regime, and the absence of women and the youth. In addition, the FFC’s unity declaration was not signed by two rebel groups that are currently in government – the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement, alongside one of Sudan’s largest political parties – the Communists. Indeed, the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) maintains its grievances towards the civilian government, and continues to refuse to re-join the FFC.

Meanwhile, Hamdok froze appointments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following reports that employment was not being granted on the basis of competency, after which the Communist Party alleged that the military component of the Sovereign Council are blocking the employment of communists into the civil service, with the 100-200 communists in the civil service allegedly facing restrictions. Furthermore, political parties have been told to plan for elections, despite their attempts to extend the transitional period.

The solutions proposed have been: greater youth involvement in the democratic transition, for Hamdok to stop “wasting time” on his Road Forward initiative and to focus on his ministerial duties, and for a population census ahead of elections.

Key events

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Hamdok – The Road Forward Initiative

Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok announced the initiative ‘National Crisis and Transition Issues - The Road Forward’, “to find a way out of the national crisis and issues of democratic transition” in Sudan. The initiative contains proposals to implement the goals of the Sudanese revolution, solve the economic and political crises in the country, develop a clear a national programme to unify the transitional bloc, and achieve a comprehensive peace by expanding its base. “The decision-making centres in Sudan should work according to a common vision” on “a civil, democratic system of government based on equal citizenship and free and fair democratic elections,” he stated (Radio Dabanga, 23 June).

Hamdok then announced the formation of a mechanism “to create a broad consensus” for the implementation of his ‘Road Forward’ initiative to protect Sudan’s democratic transition. Hamdok explained that his initiative attempts to compensate for failures to create a national project, adding that all responses from the international community were positive (Radio Dabanga, 16 August).

Political Declaration of the Unity of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC)

43 members of the governing Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) signed the Political Declaration of the Unity of the FFC (FFC), which reiterated their unity and determination to achieve the foundation for democratic reforms and to hold general elections at the end of the transitional period. The signed text also stated that the need to build a unified and professional army that reflects diversity and is based on a new military doctrine, which "requires a serious dialogue between civilians and the military to determine the nature of reforms" (Multiple sources, 9 September).

The charter also promised to work together with the military component of the transitional authority to establish support the Empowerment Removal Committee to dismantle the former regime, build the state of law, justice and democracy, alongside pledges to remove the obstacles preventing the formation of the Transitional Legislative Council, the Constitutional Court, the High Judicial Council and the Public Prosecution Council

Civil service employments frozen

Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok announced that a special committee was formed to look into the Foreign Affairs’ ministry’s latest round of appointments, following his review of extensive reports provided by both Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour’s civil service selection committee. Foreign Minister Dr. Maryam al-Mahdi also formed her own committee to investigate complaints about the ministry’s recently appointed personnel (al-Taghyeer, 16 August).

Elections

Sudan will start consultations on the preparations for the first free general elections after the collapse of the former regime in April 2019. Sovereign Council member and spokesman Mohamed al-Faki said the council tasked some of its members to launch discussions on the formation of the Electoral and the Constitution-Making Commissions, stressing that preparing for the elections requires discussions on defining constituencies, statistics, the preparation of the civil registry and workshops. Cabinet affairs minister Khalid Omar Yousif said elections could be held in January 2024, although the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) has not set an official date (Sudan Tribune, 20 August).

Issues

Road Forward initiative rejected

Despite Hamdok’s emphasis that his Road Forward initiative aims to unite all revolutionary forces, it has faced several resignations, including Darfur governor Minni Minawi and eastern Sudanese native administration leaders (Radio Dabanga, 26 August).

In addition, Radio Dabanga (26 August) also reported on civilian resignations and criticisms. Firstly, professor Hadia Hasaballah announced her resignation from the initiative, stating that the committee’s composition cannot achieve its central goals due to the lack of representation of women and youth. Secondly, Shahinaz Jamal, a member of the Resistance Committees, also submitted her resignation from the initiative, saying that the mechanism contained people who are “part of the crisis”, such as remnants of the former regime and opportunists. She also criticised the fact that the members were not able to choose the composition and structure of the initiative's membership.

Moreover, Hamdok has also been criticised for the initiative. Writer Salah Shu’aib suggests that Hamdok is “wasting time” with his “very generalised” initiative mechanism which culminates in a proliferation of committees that have unclear objectives, and distract him from his ministerial duties. Shu’aib also noted that Hamdok’s initiative is 95% male, before questioning whether it will solve key issues pertaining to Islamists, the former regime, the re-integration of the Sudanese Communist Party and the Professionals Association into the government, alongside economic and security concerns (al-Rakoba, 16 August).

Non-signatories to declaration

The Political Declaration of the Unity of the FFC was not signed by numerous parties, including the Communist Party (al-Taghyeer, 9 September). They were joined by the Technical Committee for Freedom and Change, which includes a number of parties and movements, including the Sudan Liberation Movement faction under the leadership of Darfur governor Minni Minnawi – who labelled the FFC coalition “liars who are not to be believed” and accused of “clinging on to seats of power”. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which is represented by Finance Minister Dr. Jibril Ibrahim, also said it is not part of the political declaration, explaining that “meetings did not take the comments of the movement seriously”, calling the declaration an “incomplete vision in a way that does not achieve comprehensive unity” (Radio Dabanga, 9 September).

FFC divisions

Despite Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s calls upon the leaders of the FFC to exert more effort to integrate holdout groups into the governing coalition, the latter groups told Hamdok that they request a delay of the appointment of governors, the formation of the legislative council and the prioritisation of FFC coalition structure reforms. Indeed, as noted by Sudan Tribune (2 August), divisions within the FFC factions hampered the formation of the legislative council and delayed reforms to be enforced by the transitional government, alongside weakening Hamdok’s government.

One of Sudan’s largest opposition parties, the Sudanese Communist Party, rejected calls to re-join the FFC, due to its opposition to the transitional government’s economic reforms, among other issues.

Communist party refusal to rejoin FFC

The Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) withdrew from the FFC in November 2020 and called to bring down Hamdok’s government in April 2021, as it “did not want to bear the responsibility of the unpopular economic reforms” (Sudan Tribune, 29 August), with SCP spokesman Fathi Fadl telling Sudan Tribune (16 August) that the party did not abandon the slogan of overthrowing the transitional government, as the government "failed to implement the demands of the revolutionaries”, and that the Communists reject “foreign dictates”, in reference to the government’s implementation of IMF-monitored economic recommendations.

The SCP also criticises the slow pace of government efforts to achieve peace and justice, particularly targeting the approach adopted in negotiations with the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel coalition ahead of the Juba peace agreement of 3 October 2020 (Sudan Tribune, 16 August). The Communists voiced their opposition to the Juba peace process as it excluded FFC forces at the expense of armed components. “The government did not develop a plan to address the roots of the problem”, said Siddiq Youssif, a leading SCP figure, "rather, it focused on reaching an agreement with the armed groups based on the power and wealth sharing” (Sudan Tribune, 29 August).

Allegations of military interference in the civil service

Although Khalid Omar Yousif, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, declared that reform to the civil service sector in Sudan is one of the transitional government’s top priorities (al-Taghyeer, 19 August), the foreign ministry is facing allegations that it is not hiring based on competence, following reports that applicants are being rejected despite passing exams, at the expense of those who failed (al-Taghyeer, 16 August).

Indeed, the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) alleged political interference in civil service employment, accusing the military component of the Sovereign Council of seeking to prohibit the employment of its members, “particularly in the ministries of finance and foreign affairs,” SCP Spokesman Fathi Fadl told the Sudan Tribune (31 August).

Fadl alleged that 100-200 SCP members in the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, health and education are subjected to restrictions because of their political affiliation. "Attempting to politicize the civil service and attacking the communist workers can turn into a sword directed at any unwanted servant who by the influential parties in power," he added.

Fadl said that the applicants for the foreign ministry were surprised that the civil service interviews included a direct question: "Are you a communist or not?"

Parties not prepared for elections

Sudan Tribune (20 August) note that some non-FFC groups call for early elections as “the transitional government failed to achieve revolutionary goals,” although the Communist Party says a new constitution must be adopted beforehand, with numerous political forces keen to delay the elections in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of previous failed transitions.

However, columnist Zahir Bakhit al-Faki, accused Sudan’s transitional authorities of “enjoying power”, in article thanking the US for reminding the government of the elections. Al-Faki argues that Sudanese politicians are keen to extend the duration of the transitional period as their “current squabbling for government offices and their benefits” suggests that they preserve power “because of their conviction that they will not win in the elections due to their lack of popular bases.” Al-Faki adds that the voter, “in this time of enlightenment,” is difficult for politicians to win over as “this requires instruments these politicians do not have” (al-Jareeda, 4 August).

Solutions

Youth involvement in the transition

US NGO the Carter Centre (5 August) call for Sudan’s government to prioritise youth involvement in government decision-making by identifying and developing regular channels for them to express their views, and implementing a youth-focused outreach strategy with the aim of sharing information and engaging youth participation.

Civilian Sudanese democrats are called upon to establish coalitions around employment, health care, and the rising cost of living—the top priorities of youth across Sudan. The international community were called on to seek youth input on initiatives and encouraging Sudanese stakeholders to do the same, alongside supporting training for youth on discerning the accuracy of information, within the overall goal of fostering a transparent social media environment.

Hamdok requested to stop “wasting time”

Salah Shu’aib (al-Rakoba, 16 August) calls for Prime Minister Hamdok to “save time and energy” by allowing the transitional partners’ council, the alternative to the proposed legislative council, to handle Hamdok’s democratic transition mechanism and Road Forward initiative. With elections due in two years, Shu’aib suggests that Hamdok should prioritise improving his executive performance, particularly fixing economic, social, information, diplomatic and cultural shortcomings, which is “the meaning of the revolutionary authority he was given”, instead of “wasting time”.

Population census

Ahead of the elections, the Sudanese Communist Party stress that a population census should take place, in order to take into account the demographic changes that have occurred in Sudan due to internal conflicts (Sudan Tribune, 29 August).