U.N. envoy: Deal in Sudan ‘is not perfect’

CAIRO — The deal struck in Sudan to reinstate the prime minister after a military coup is imperfect but has saved the country from sliding into civil strife, the U.N. envoy to Sudan said Friday.

Special envoy Volker Perthes was speaking of the agreement between Sudan’s military leaders and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, who was deposed and put under house arrest following the coup last month, which stirred an international outcry.

The military takeover threatened to thwart the democratic transition that the country had embarked on since the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-bashir.

The deal, signed on Sunday, was seen as the biggest concession made by the country’s top military leader, Abdel Fattah al-burhan, since the coup. But the country’s pro-democracy groups have dismissed it as illegitimate and accused Hamdok of allowing himself to serve as a fig leaf for continued military rule.

“The agreement of course is not perfect,” Perthes said. “But it is better than not having an agreement and continuing on a path where the military in the end will be the sole ruler.”

Both signatories felt compelled to make “bitter concessions” to spare the country the risk of more violence, chaos and international isolation, he added.

“It would not have been possible to exclude a scenario which would have brought Sudan to something close to what we have seen in Yemen, Libya or Syria,” Perthes said. He spoke via videoconference from Khartoum.

Sudan has been struggling with its transition to a democratic government since the military overthrow of al-bashir in 2019 after a mass uprising against three decades of his rule.

The deal that Hamdok signed with the military envisions an independent Cabinet of technocrats led by the prime minister until new elections are held. The government will still remain under military oversight, but Hamdok said he will have the power to appoint ministers.

The deal also stipulates that all political detainees arrested following the Oct. 25 coup be released. So far, several ministers and politicians have been freed. The number of those still in detention remains unknown.

Since the takeover, protesters have taken to the streets in some of the largest demonstrations in recent years. Sudanese security forces have cracked down on the rallies and have killed more than 40 protesters, according to activist groups.