By Andrew Irumba
Sudan: Sudan’s ruling military council and pro-democracy movement signed a political document on Wednesday 17 July that formalized the broad outlines of a power-sharing deal announced this month. But key details of the deal, including the powers of a transitional ruling council and cabinet, have yet to be agreed on.
The two sides, which have been wrestling for control of Sudan since the ouster of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in April, signed the document early Wednesday at a hotel in the capital, Khartoum, after a night of talks led by African Union mediators.
Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, known as Hemeti, signed the deal for the military in a visible sign of the shifting balance of power in Sudan. Troops under General Hamdan’s command led a violent dispersal of pro-democracy demonstrations on June 3 that tilted the negotiations in favor of the military. Since then, General Hamdan has emerged as one of the most powerful figures in the country.
Potential immunity from prosecution for General Hamdan and other military leaders accused of using violence to suppress protests is one of several core issues that still divide military and civilian negotiators. Within hours of the political agreement being signed on Wednesday, protest leaders warned that a return to civilian rule is by no means assured in Sudan. But the deal at least signaled that the country’s fraught transition to democracy remains on track, after a bruising three-month confrontation between the military and civilian leaders that has seen huge street protests, tense negotiations and military-led violence that killed scores of people.
After they helped oust Mr. al-Bashir on April 11, protesters refused to leave the streets until the military agreed to completely hand over power to a civilian-led administration. The standoff ended on June 3, when troops from General Hamdan’s paramilitary unit, the Rapid Support Forces, swept through the protest area and opened fire on protestors.
Doctors said that at least 128 people were killed in the rampage, during which bodies were dumped in the Nile and many people were raped. The government acknowledged 61 deaths, including three soldiers.
Weeks later, mediators from Ethiopia and the African Union, with backing from Western and Persian Gulf countries, brought the two sides together for new talks that led to the power-sharing deal announced on July 4.
Since then, the two sides have been hammering out the fine details of the deal amid considerable mutual distrust. Protest leaders are uncomfortable with the prominence of General Hamdan and his Rapid Support Forces, which have emerged as the dominant group in a byzantine security apparatus that under Mr. al-Bashir included military units, security agencies and semiofficial militias.
The deal signed on Wednesday confirmed the broad strokes of the agreement reached on July 4 that Sudan would be run during a transition period of just over three years by a sovereign council comprising five military members, five civilians and an 11th member agreed on by both sides.
A military General would lead the council for the first 21 months of the transition, and a civilian leader for the following 18 months. A cabinet of as many as 20 ministers, all nominated by civilians except for the defense and interior portfolios controlled by the military, would run the country day to day.
But arguments continue over the division of powers between the sovereign council and the cabinet, and more detail about how that would work is expected to be included in a second constitutional agreement yet to be signed. Mediators said that talks on that agreement would resume on Friday.The two sides are also at odds over the composition of a transitional legislative council. The military originally agreed to a legislative council with two-thirds of its members nominated by the Forces for Freedom and Change, the coalition representing pro-democracy groups, but later changed its mind.
The document signed on Wednesday provided for an “independent investigation committee” into the violence on June 3 but did not specify the composition of that committee. It said only that the committee could seek help from the African Union.
