HISTORIC DAY FOR SUDAN AS POWER-SHARING DEAL SIGNED
▶ Protest leaders and military council ratify agreement on path towards civilian rule in front of foreign dignitaries and citizens
Sudan marked a historic moment yesterday with the official signing of a power-sharing agreement that over the next 39 months should navigate the country away from military rule and towards democracy.
The three-hour ceremony at Khartoum’s Chinese-built Friendship Hall revealed a mixture of jubilation, optimism and glimpses of the daunting tasks facing this vast Afro-Arab country during the threeyear transitional period before elections.
Representatives of the country’s protest movement that led the uprising that removed longtime dictator Omar Al Bashir from power four months ago formally signed the deal with the military generals who have governed since April.
At times, the ceremony resembled an opposition rally.
The poise and decorum expected on such a day giving way to chants by activists demanding civilian rule or retribution for victims of months of deadly, anti-government street protests in the build-up to Mr Al Bashir’s removal.
“Our people today are entitled to boast that they never surrendered or waved the white flag,” said Nagi Al Asaam, a senior protest leader. He vowed not to exact revenge on cronies or officials associated with Mr Al Bashir’s regime, calling on those who did not commit crimes to join in what he called the journey to rebuild the nation.
“We will not do what you did,” he said, alluding to years of human rights abuses, suppression of freedoms and corruption under Mr Al Bashir’s rule.
He also held an olive branch to rebels in regions in western and southern Sudan, asking them to lay down their arms and enter negotiations.
Rebel leaders there have criticised the power-sharing agreement and complain that they have been excluded from the negotiations to draft the document.
“Peace is the choice of every rational man,” said Mr Al Asaam.
The 18-page document spelling out how Sudan would be ruled until November 2022 was signed by protest leader Ahmed Rabia, a 42-year-old secondary school maths and physics teacher.
Mr Rabia is also one of the co-founders of an alliance of professional unions that orchestrated the revolt against Mr Al Bashir’s rule.
The other signatory was Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy chairman of the Transitional Military Council and commander of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary outfit whose genesis is in a tribal militia that fought rebels in the western Darfur region in the 2000s.
The two men signed the document as leaders and senior officials from several Arab and African nations looked on, including UAE Minister of State Dr Sultan Al Jaber.
After the ceremony, Dr Sultan said: “The peaceful transition of power through dialogue is the most effective guarantee for the development and progress of nations, particularly [as] chaotic experiments have produced disastrous results on many peoples in the region.”
In the United Arab Emirates, a key regional player and a major
backer of Sudan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash said he was encouraged by the latest developments and vowed to help the country towards stability and prosperity.
“Lots more to do to help following decades of Basheer/ MB rule,” he wrote in a tweet, alluding to the former Sudanese leader’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist group outlawed by the UAE government as well as Egypt.
Among the guests at the signing, the prime ministers of Ethiopia and Egypt were invited to sign the document as witnesses.
Mr Rabia and the chairman of the Transitional Military Council, Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, jointly held the document and triumphantly raised it above their heads, a gesture met with thunderous applause.
Outside the Friendship hall, thousands of people gathered by its walls, waving Sudan’s red, green and black flag and chanting slogans welcoming the agreement as a prelude to democratic rule.
Held under tight security and dubbed the “Joy of Sudan”, the ceremony kicked off with many of the estimated 1,000 people packing a large conference room enthusiastically singing the national anthem of Sudan which was played by a military band.
They screamed “madaniyah” – Arabic for civilian – a popular chant first used to press demands for civilian rule after the military removed Mr Al Bashir on April 11.
The constitutional documents carry the potential to put Sudan on the path to enduring stability, but the road is fraught with challenges that range from a battered economy, institutional corruption and a “deep state” of Mr Al Bashir loyalists who would be keen to sabotage attempts at reform.
The 18-page document signed yesterday has a distinctly progressive tone, emphasising that the pillars of the “new” Sudan are justice, equality and diversity. It also guarantees freedoms and human rights.
The 11-member council will act as a collective presidency.
The document was arrived at after months of difficult negotiations marred by bouts of deadly violence by security forces against protesters pressing for civilian rule.
A general, most likely Gen El Burhan, will head the council for 21 months followed by a civilian for the remaining 18 months of the transitional period. The army heads will nominate Gen Al Burhan, his deputy Gen Dagalo and Lt Gen Yasser Al Atta, the military council spokesperson yesterday told Sky News Arabia.