Call for protests in Sudan as deal on civilian rule delayed again
The second delay of the signing ceremony in a week is due to ongoing disputes between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces.
Sudan’s main pro-democracy bloc has called for protests after the signing of a deal to put the army-ruled country on a path to democratic transition was again delayed due to disagreements between security factions.
The Forces of Freedom and Change said in a statement Wednesday that the signing ceremony scheduled for Thursday had been postponed again “due to a resumption of talks between soldiers” on April 1 and Thursday.
The bloc called on people across the country to hold peaceful demonstrations for “freedom, peace and justice” on Thursday. Security was stepped up in the capital, Khartoum, and surrounding areas ahead of the protests, reports said.
Security reforms have been a major bone of contention in the negotiations over the past few weeks. They built on a tentative agreement reached in December to install a civilian-led government following nearly weekly protests since a 2021 coup that saw Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seize power.
The coup derailed Sudan’s short-lived path to democracy following the ousting of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, ending his three-decade rule.
Experts said the sticking point in the proposed reforms is the integration into the regular army of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group led by al-Burhan’s deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The two men have disagreed over the timetable for RSF integration, and analysts have pointed to a growing rift between them.
The pro-democracy bloc’s statement said progress had been made on several points during the talks, but one final point remained. That led to the second delay in a week after the deal was signed to appoint a citizen-led government to oversee elections in two years.
A draft of the deal obtained by The Associated Press news agency said the military would be limited to military actions only and a unified, impartial national army would be formed.
Some pro-democracy protest groups have opposed the deal, demanding additional judicial and security reforms.