Dictator Omar al-Bashir's shadow creates divisions in Sudan's military leadership: Hemeti again criticises the military transition process

Sudan's unattainable transition process

photo_camera PHOTO/AFP - Sudanese protesters hold up a banner with the crossed-out image of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan during a demonstration demanding a return to civilian rule

To include the army in the transition process or not. This is the question that has been dividing Sudan since the October 2021 coup d'état and is increasingly eroding the dream of finding a peace that will restore stability to the African country. The head of Sudan's Sovereignty Council and coup leader Abdelfatá al-Burham now faces the difficulties of a parallel transition in Cairo, his links to dictator Omar al-Bashir and a vice president unhappy with his own junta's military performance. Demonstrations across the country. 

The city of Juba, capital of neighbouring South Sudan, has been the latest venue to call on all parts of Sudanese civil society and opposition to join the official peace agreement promoted by the army, known as the Framework Agreement, created last December. And if there is one thing this city is known for, it is conflict resolution. It was here that the Juba Peace Agreement was signed in 2020, ending 17 years of armed conflict in Sudan.

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And under the pretext of accelerating the implementation of the agreement, South Sudan's own president, Salva Kiir, has himself urged reluctant Sudanese groups to join the negotiating table. Kiir argued that signing the implementation matrix of the agreement would help accelerate the formation of the transitional government of national unity in Sudan. "As the guarantor who led the process, let me reiterate on behalf of other guarantors that this workshop is not a parallel political process or a renegotiation of the Juba Peace Agreement. Its purpose is to contribute to the ongoing dialogue in Sudan on options for transition and the best approach to the issue of democratic transition," said Kiir. He was referring, irremediably, to reluctant groups such as the SPLM-N faction led by Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu and the Sudan Liberation Movement under Abdul Wahi Al-Nur. 

However, these groups are not the only ones opposed to the military junta's proposal. Several members of civil society have opened another political transition proposal in Cairo, one that does not include the military, as called for by thousands of demonstrators who have been protesting in the streets of Khartoum since the 2021 coup. In any case, the proposal is not being endorsed by the international community. The Framework Political Agreement process remains, in our view, the best basis on which to form a civilian-led transitional government," US and EU representatives said in a statement, speaking out against "parallel transitional processes".

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This discontent has now been echoed by Mohamed Hamdam Dagalo, "Hemeti", vice-president of Sudan's Sovereign Transitional Council and leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In his opinion, the transitional process in Sudan is "a mistake that has opened the door to a return of the old regime". These statements come days after Hemeti described the October 2021 coup as a "mistake" that had politically benefited supporters of former president Omar al-Bashir. 

The dictator's shadow looms over the Sudanese military junta at a difficult time. This is yet another problem that al-Bashir is trying to shrug off. The head of the military leadership has reiterated that the army he leads is completely neutral and only obeys the will of the people. "It is neither in the nature of the armed forces to cause trouble nor to be drawn into confrontation with anyone," said al-Burham.

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But the truth is that the two men, Al Burham and Hemeti, have had a relationship with Omar al-Bashir, as has much of society who are now demanding the release of the dictator and his aides, who were arrested in the 30 June 1989 coup d'état. 

Since al-Bashir's military junta seized power from Abdalla Hamdok's civilian government, Sudan has faced severe economic and political turbulence, while the process of democratic transition seems to be further and further away. 

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