Sudanese minister says world ‘will move on’ from army takeover

The international community and financial institutions that have suspended assistance to Sudan will deal with a new government even if ousted prime minister Abdalla Hamdok does not return to power, the country’s finance minister has said.

In an exclusive interview, Jibril Ibrahim, one of the few ministers to keep his job after the military seized power last month, told The National the world “will move on” from the events of October 25.

The army dissolved Cabinet, declared a state of emergency and arrested dozens of politicians and activists, including advisers to Mr Hamdok.

“Sudan is a big and vital country with lots of potential and resources,” Mr Ibrahim said.

“We are heading towards a new government of technocrats and will expand political participation and have an inclusive Parliament that will protect our democracy and hold the government accountable.”

Mr Ibrahim confirmed that all bids for new foreign investment have been paused since October 25, posing a serious challenge to the North African country’s struggling economy.

He is one of nine ministers to have retained their posts, in line with a quota of portfolios given to representatives of opposition groups.

At least one of them, the minister of urban development, resigned in protest at the military intervention. The takeover has drawn international criticism, sparked widespread protests in the streets of the capital Khartoum and elsewhere, and proved costly to young entrepreneurs and the emerging business community.

The World Bank has paused economic aid, and some major multinational companies have backtracked on signing lucrative contracts there.

Western powers have also put economic assistance to Sudan on hold, saying that relief for tens of billions of dollars of foreign debt is at risk unless there is a return to a democratic transition. Mr Ibrahim said that Mr Hamdok had made unrealistic demands in negotiations to end the current political

stalemate, and he blamed what he called the intransigence of the Hamdok camp for hardening attitudes on both sides of the table.

“Preconditions have complicated the negotiations,” he said.

The Forces of Freedom and Change group that led the 2019 uprising against president Omar Al Bashir and forms the base of Mr Hamdok’s support “muddied the mediation waters” by setting conditions before talks began, he said.

An FCC spokesman told The National that accusations of a power monopoly were merely an “excuse” for the army and its supporters to take over.

But Mr Ibrahim said some parties in the FFC wanted to negate the army completely. “This was wrong, as it’s part and parcel of society in Sudan. We need a balance of power without excluding anyone.”

The finance minister is the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement in Darfur, which played a major role in the conflict that broke out in 2003.

The UN estimates 300,000 people were killed and nearly 3 million displaced in the war.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity for Al Bashir and several Sudanese military officials.

Last year, the movement, along with other groups, signed an agreement to end the conflict and bring rebel forces and officials into the government.

The peace deal was negotiated by Mr Hamdok’s transitional government.

In the week before the takeover, Mr Ibrahim supported protests and a sit-in outside the presidential palace in Khartoum to demand the sacking of the Hamdok government.

Mr Ibrahim said Mr Hamdok had unique capabilities, especially as an economist, but the task of governing Sudan was more complicated than leading an economic campaign.

“There are many candidates and competitors to Mr Hamdok, whom I highly respect,” he said. “But we don’t want to have a country that centres on one person, whether from the civilian or the military camps.

“We want to have a solid state with functioning establishments and are totally against any form of dictatorship.”

Mr Ibrahim’s JEM has joined forces with another former rebel group in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement, as well as a group of political parties to form a coalition opposed to the main FFC.

In spite of continuing protests against the military takeover, the finance minister said he did not believe that people in Sudan were as angry as media coverage suggested.

He said future large-scale demonstrations were unlikely.

“I don’t foresee demonstrations of millions of people and I don’t see an enraged public,” he said.

“But this does not mean that there aren’t some people who object to what we are living through. There are some opposition forces who [put up] barricades on the streets. These have diminished to a great extent.”

Pro-democracy groups have launched civil disobedience campaigns since the takeover.

Local resistance committees and the Sudanese Professionals Association, who led demonstrations in the uprising that toppled Al Bashir, are organising a campaign of protests and barricades in an attempt to reverse the military takeover.

Internet services have been almost completely disrupted since the October 25 coup and phone coverage remains patchy.