The United Nations announced that talks to end Sudan’s political impasse have resumed, despite the country’s largest pro-democracy group boycotting them due to a continuous police crackdown on protesters protesting against last October’s military coup.
The UN political mission in Sudan, the African Union, and the eight-nation east African body Intergovernmental Authority in Development are coordinating the unified peace effort, which began on Wednesday (IGAD).
The goal is to bring the generals, as well as a variety of political and protest organisations, to the bargaining table.
Sudan’s short-lived shaky democratic transition was upended by the military takeover, which threw the East African country into chaos.
Sudan was on the verge of becoming a democracy after nearly three decades of persecution and international isolation under President Omar al-Bashir, who was forced to retire in April 2019 following a popular revolt.
A technical meeting comprising military and civilians was held by the UN, AU, and IGAD to kick off the process. It was reached after months of consultations with many organisations, including the military and the pro-democracy movement.
Volker Perthes, the UN ambassador for Sudan, said the meeting will focus on a “transitional programme,” which would include the nomination of a civilian prime minister, provisions for writing a permanent constitution, and elections at the end of the transition.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the coup who also heads the ruling sovereign council, welcomed the talks as a “historic opportunity to complete the transitional phase”.
In a speech to the nation late on Tuesday, he urged all factions to take part in the talks, vowing that the military would implement their outcome.
“We are fully committed to work with everybody to end the transitional period as soon as possible with fair and transparent elections,” he said.
Trust-building measures
The gathering is being boycotted by the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, or FDFC, an alliance of political parties and protest groups. The FDFC was a member of the umbrella organisation that helped to depose al-Bashir in 2019.
According to them, the talks should result in the “end of the coup and the installation of a civilian democratic authority.”
They also slammed the involvement of pro-military and other pro-al-Bashir political organisations.
The alliance also demanded that trust-building measures be implemented, including as the release of coup-related detainees and a stop to violence against protestors.
The negotiations take place as the government’s harsh assault on anti-coup rallies in Khartoum continues.
On Tuesday, a five-year-old girl was killed when a police car following demonstrators ran her over.
According to a medical group tracking the casualties, there have been at least 101 protester deaths since October.
The military coup on October 25 overturned the civilian transitional administration and ruined the country’s brief transition to democracy, eroding civil society organisations’ faith in the national investigation into the death of protestors.
The coup has also sparked near-daily public protests, which have been met with a brutal response by authorities.
Hundreds of people have been detained since the coup, including famous politicians and activists, though many have lately been released as part of trust-building initiatives.
The military takeover was met with considerable international outrage and retaliation, including essential aid cuts by Western nations while the transition to civilian authority was resumed.
Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, is also struggling with an economy in decline due to decades of international isolation and mismanagement under al-Bashir.
Under concerted international pressure, the military leaders late last month lifted the state of emergency they had declared following the coup.
