Power-sharing deal signed in Sudan
Sudan’s military and civilian leaders signed a landmark power-sharing deal at a joyous ceremony in the capital, Khartoum, on Saturday, signaling a new chapter in the life of the sprawling African country, which has been rocked by eight months of popular protests, a coup and a bloody military crackdown.
Few Sudanese could have imagined only a year ago that Omar al-Bashir, their despised ruler of 30 years, would be languishing in Sudan’s most notorious prison awaiting a trial on corruption charges that is expected to start Monday. Street celebrations, with music, poetry and fireworks, were held across the country Saturday.
In a region where numerous revolutions have failed or horribly backfired in recent years, the Sudanese hope to be an exception.
But for many, the euphoria was tempered by the painful realities of the country’s economic collapse and the tough compromises of a power-sharing deal that ensures the military, led by some of Mr. al-Bashir’s closest deputies, will retain its grip on power.
“We’re putting everything on this,” said Mohamed Azhary, one of many young doctors who took to the streets to oust Mr. alBashir. “People are feeling optimistic, but there’s a lot of mixed feelings, too. We are praying for the best.”
The extent of the concessions agreed to by Sudan’s revolutionaries was evident at the ceremony Saturday when Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a paramilitary commander whose forces led a brutal crackdown on protesters in central Khartoum on June 3, signed the agreement on behalf of the military junta.
Ahmed al-Rabia signed on behalf of the main opposition coalition, the Forces of Freedom and Change. Foreign dignitaries included Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, who helped rescue the powersharing talks after a crackdown in June in which at least 128 people were killed.
The agreement signed Saturday paves the way for a transitional government led by Abdalla Hamdok, an economist, to take power Sept. 1. The new administration replaces the military junta that ousted Mr. al-Bashir in April and is expected to govern for just over three years, until elections can be held.
The military, which has dominated Sudan since it gained independence from Britain in 1956, retains the upper hand in the new administration. While Mr. Hamdok will head a technocratic administration, overall power will lie with a sovereign council led for the first 21 months by a military officer, Lt. Gen. AbdelFattah Burhan.
Additionally, the military will control the defense and interior ministries, which account for a large part of national spending and were responsible for some of the worst abuses under Mr. al-Bashir.
“It’s a very tough compromise,” said Sara Abdelgalil of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which played a key role in the protest movement. “We just hope that we will achieve a civilian-led government at the end of the three years. And if we fail, we will go back to the street.”
On Saturday, though, many Sudanese were ready to celebrate at least the possibility of a new beginning in a country that endured decades of famine, conflict and international isolation under Mr. al-Bashir.
The uprising that culminated in his ouster April 11 excited the hopes of young people, especially women, who yearned to end his system of harsh Islamist rule. It nursed the hopes of rebels in restive areas such as Darfur and the Nuba Mountains that they might finally reach a settlement with the central government.
But the terms of the power-sharing deal itself were set in blood after the crackdown June 3 led by Lt. Gen. Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces, a notorious paramilitary unit that rampaged through central Khartoum in a storm of shooting and rape.