KHARTOUM — Sudan's top general
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said Saturday there are "positive indicators" that measures
taken against his country following an October military takeover could soon be
lifted.
اضافة اعلان
Burhan — Sudan's de facto leader since the
ouster of president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 — removed the civilian
government and declared a state of emergency on October 25, upending a
three-year transition to civilian rule.
The power grab triggered a wave of
international condemnation and several punitive measures, with the
World Bank and the
US freezing aid, a blow to a country already mired in economic crisis.
The African Union has also suspended Sudan's
membership over what it termed the "unconstitutional" takeover.
The military's move triggered mass anti-coup
protests which were met by a crackdown that killed at least 44 people,
according to an independent union of medics.
"The international community including
the
African Union is watching what will happen in the coming days," Burhan
told AFP in an interview.
"I believe there are positive
indicators that things will return (to how they were) soon. The formation of a
civilian government will put things back in order."
Burhan's interview with AFP was one of a
series he gave to international media a day after UN chief Antonio Guterres, in
a report to the Security Council, called Sudan hostile to journalists.
On November 21, Burhan signed a deal to
reinstate Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok who was ousted in the coup and kept for
weeks under house arrest.
The Burhan-Hamdok agreement was welcomed by
the UN, the African Union, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It was also cautiously
greeted by Britain and the US.
But critics have lambasted it as
"whitewashing" and accused Hamdok of "betrayal", with
pro-democracy activists vowing to maintain pressure on the military-civilian
authority.
The top general has long insisted the
military's move on October 25 "was not a coup" but a step "to
rectify the transition.”
Hamdok, prime minister in the transitional
government since 2019, has defended the deal, which he signed after his release
from effective house arrest.
He has said he partnered with the military
to "stop the bloodshed" and to "not squander the gains of the
last two years".
Sudan was led by civilian-military ruling
council under an August 2019 power-sharing deal that outlined a transition to
civilian government after Bashir's three decades of iron-fisted rule.
Planned elections
Burhan has previously said he had no
intention to run for president following the lapse of the transition.
On Saturday, he told AFP the August 2019
deal had "included a clear clause that all participants of the
transitional period will not be allowed to take part of the period that
directly follows it."
But a landmark 2020 peace deal with rebel
groups "granted some participants to the transitional period the right to
become part of the government" that followed the transition, he
said.
Burhan and Hamdok agreed to make amendments
to the August 2019 power-sharing deal.
"There is work now on a new political
charter as stated on November 21, to be agreed upon by political forces and to
determine the rest of the transitional period until the elections are
held," Burhan said.
He said "all political forces"
will be part of that deal apart from Bashir's defunct National Congress
Party.
Since the coup, Burhan has removed clauses
referring to the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) — an umbrella group which
spearheaded the protests against Bashir — from the 2019 power-sharing deal.
In November, Burhan formed a new Sovereign
Council, the highest transitional authority, with himself as chief, and
military figures and ex-rebel leaders keeping their posts
He replaced FFC members with lesser-known
civilian figures.
Hamdok has maintained that he has "full
freedom" to choose members of his cabinet after the coup, provided that
they are "independent" and "non-partisan".
It was not clear yet whether ministers from
ex-rebel groups, who signed the 2020 peace deal and were part of the deposed
cabinet, would be included.
"There is a discussion on whether to
keep these rights as stated in the agreement or find any other solution,"
Burhan said.
If they are to be excluded from the next
cabinet, "it has to be with their consent."
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