Under pressure from the international community, the commander of the Sudanese Army, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on Thursday (4) ordered the release of four ministers held during the military coup that two weeks ago removed the country’s civil transition office .
The announcement came shortly after the general spoke by telephone with the secretary general of the United Nations, the Portuguese António Guterres, who called for the detained authorities to be released and for the civilian government to be urgently re-established.
Burhan also had a dialogue with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who urged the Sudanese to release the detained politicians and initiate a dialogue to restore the democratic transition. Hours after the coup, the White House suspended a billion-dollar aid package for the East African country.
The release of ministers Hamza Baloul (Information and Culture), Hachem Hassabarrasul (Telecommunications), Ali Jeddo (Commerce) and Yusef Adam (Youth and Sports) was ordered. The date for their release, however, was not informed. Most of the civilian cabinet was arrested after the coup, including Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok. He was released a day later and placed under house arrest.
Burhan also announced the “imminent formation” of a government to guide the country through democratic elections in 2023, but did not detail its composition. In the coup, the military dismantled not only the country’s civilian cabinet (responsible for public policy, law and diplomacy), but also the Sovereign Council, created in 2019 and composed of 11 members -six civilians and five military personnel – to command the transition to democracy.
The two spaces were created after massive protests in the country, dubbed the Sudanese revolution, ousting the dictator Omar al-Bashir, in power for three decades. With broad international support, especially from Washington, the bodies’ objective was to stitch together a democratic transition by gradually removing the military protagonism in public life and transferring it to civilians.
The military tried to justify the coup out of fear of civil war. Weeks earlier, Sudanese took to the streets again to demand that the transfer of power from the military to civilians be accelerated, in acts spurred on by an earlier failed attempt to seize power in September.
International observers in the country report that talks between the military and Prime Minister Hamdok have outlined a potential agreement on a return to the division of power, including the reinstatement of the prime minister. Details and deadlines, however, are unclear.
Tut Gatluak, envoy of South Sudan, said the talks were moving forward, but positions were still far from a consensus. “Burhan has no problem with a return of Hamdok as prime minister, but he doesn’t want a return to the pre-October 25 situation. [data do golpe]”, he said. The general had already said that a new cabinet should be composed of figures who were not “traditional politicians”.
UN envoy Volker Perthes has called for a deal to be brought to life in “days, not weeks” before the parties harden their position and move further away from consensus. “The longer you wait, the more difficult it is to implement an agreement and get the necessary buy-in from the streets and political forces,” he said.
After the coup, Sudanese took to the streets daily to protest the return of civilian government. At least 12 protesters died from repression by local forces and hundreds were wounded, according to monitoring by a local committee of doctors.
The United Nations Human Rights Council, made up of 47 member countries, meets this Friday (5) with NGOs in a special session on the Sudanese situation. The body is expected to issue a resolution, prepared by the UK, Germany, Norway and the US, to create a human rights committee to monitor events in Sudan since the coup and prepare a report in 2022.
German ambassador to the United Nations, Katharina Stasch, called the initiative an “important step towards ensuring accountability for human rights violations committed.”
Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described the military takeover as “deeply disturbing” and called for an end to the use of force by Sudan’s army and military police.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF SUDAN
- 1956: Sudan becomes independent from the rule of England and Egypt, who ruled the country since the end of the 19th century
- 1958: General Ibrahim Abbud launches the Republic of Sudan’s first coup, dissolving political parties and closing newspapers
- 1962: Conflicts erupt between the north of the country, more sympathetic to the government, and the south, led by the Anya Nya guerrilla
- 1964: Abbud resigns amid mounting pressure
- 1969: Colonel Gaafar el-Nimeiri leads new military coup and takes command of the country
- 1971: Failed Communist Coup Attempt Strengthens El-Nimeiri
- 1972: Addis Ababa treaty grants autonomy to the south of the country, ruled by Anya Nya, and ends Sudan’s first civil war
- 1983: Amid growing fundamentalism, Nimeiri enforces sharia (strict Islamic law); colonel revokes terms of the treaty and re-divides the south into provinces, starting a new civil war
- 1985: Nimeiri is deposed by a military council, which holds elections the following year
- 1989: In a new military coup, General Omar al-Bashir takes power, leads the country with an iron fist and reintroduces sharia, which provides for physical punishment
- 1996: Bashir elected president; in 2000, is re-elected
- 1998: US fires missiles at drugmaker in capital Khartoum, claiming site manufactured chemical weapons
- 1999: Bashir dissolves National Assembly amid power struggle with President of Legislative
- 2003: Rebel militias rise in Darfur, a non-Arab region in the west of the country
- 2004: Regime reacts in Darfur and army attacks population, causing humanitarian crisis and wave of refugees; Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State, describes deaths as genocide
- 2005: New peace deal restores autonomy in the south of the country, and former rebel leader Salva Kiir takes over as Vice President
- 2007: UN Security Council approves peace mission in Darfur; crisis opens diplomatic conflict with Chad
- 2009: International Criminal Court (ICC) calls for arrest of Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur
- 2010: Bashir is elected president again, in a contested vote; ICC issues second arrest warrant, now for genocide
- 2011: South Sudan gains independence after popular vote; Salva Kiir becomes president of the new country
- 2015: Bashir wins, with 95% of the vote, election again contested
- 2019: Bashir decrees state of emergency and suspends governors after mass protests; in April, military deposes dictator after 30 years in power and prepares transitional government
- 2020: Darfur’s remaining rebels sign peace deal with government
- 2021: Amid power struggles, the military arrests the prime minister, declares a state of emergency and says they will govern until 2023 elections ​
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