KHARTOUM
- As
soon as Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok named members of the mechanism for implementing his initiative "National Crisis and Transition Issues - The Way Forward", apologies for membership rolled in, which raised several questions, especially as political forces rejected it since its announcement last June. .
With the first meeting of the mechanism for implementing the initiative on Wednesday, the apology of the names nominated for its membership, named by Hamdok, continued, and among the apologies was a member of the Communist Party, Muhammad Mahjoub, whose party and the resistance committee to which he belongs rejected the initiative.
Hamdok put forward the "Road Forward" initiative on June 22, which included reforming the security and military sector, the justice system, the economy and peace, dismantling the Omar al-Bashir regime, fighting corruption, foreign policy, national sovereignty, and the formation of the Legislative Council.
The initiative stipulated achieving a comprehensive settlement that includes unifying the transitional bloc, achieving the largest possible consensus within it on the tasks of the transition, and unifying decision centers in the state governed by a turbulent partnership between civilians and military personnel.
But parties announced their reservation and rejection of the initiative, and when Hamdok named its implementation mechanism, the apologies started by the governor of the Darfur region, Minni Arko Minawi, who declared on his Twitter account that he would not be part of an “initiative that came at the whim of Hamdok’s political advisor,” referring to Yasser Arman.
Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minawi is one of the first to apologize for the initiative’s membership (Al-Jazeera)
Contradictory apologies
After Minawi, prominent leaders repeatedly apologized for this mechanism, including the headmaster of the Hadandawa tribe in eastern Sudan, Muhammad Al-Amin Turk, and the head of the Bani tribe Amer Ali Daql, although the two men are on opposite sides because of the eastern path included in the peace agreement in Juba signed in October 2020.
Nazer Al-Bunni Amer told Al-Jazeera Net that his apology was not for a negative opinion of the initiative, while the beholder Ali Daqal spoke about "emergent matters" that forced him to apologize, including the repercussions of relieving Saleh Ammar, the governor of Kassala in eastern Sudan, after protests of a tribal nature, and the dismissal of Suleiman Ali Wali. Gedaref State (east) for accusations related to his relationship with the dissolved National Congress Party.
The two dismissed governors belong to the Bani Amer tribe, which is scattered in eastern Sudan, and according to Dakil, "Sudan needs the initiative of the prime minister, and the Native Administration men are originally tasked with solving problems, but what happened prompted us to reserve."
East disputes
In the same vein, the overseer of the "Handandwa", Muhammad Al-Amin Turk, confirms that he did not apologize for being a member of the initiative's implementation mechanism for reasons related to its rejection, but rather for its success "and to avoid differences, after he found among the members of the mechanism a large number of supporters of the East track."
Turk leads a broad tribal alliance against the eastern path included in the peace agreement signed in Juba between the Sudanese government and armed factions.
"I thought it better to withdraw, for fear of the failure of an initiative that concerns all Sudanese, because of the differences in the east," he says.
Turk admits that the Prime Minister’s office consulted with him regarding his inclusion in the initiative’s membership, and agreed that membership would be limited to the leaders of the native administration and the sheikhs of Sufi orders, but then he was surprised that it included politicians signed on the East track.
remove reservations
Regarding the proposals that he can make to remove his reservations about the initiative, Turk says that the slogans of the revolution are sufficient if all parties, civilians and military, agree on them, as well as the selection of competencies in the management of the state.
He advised that the parties work on a sound organizational structure, review the electoral law and civil registry, establish an anti-corruption commission, and guarantee the freedom that the revolution called for to make the transitional period a success.
Fadlallah Barama Nasser: Apologies are a natural act in political work (Al-Jazeera)
On the other hand, the head of the National Transition Initiative mechanism, Fadlallah Barama Nasser, defended the initiative, describing it as a national issue, not a narrow partisan or personal initiative, and "we call on all the people of the country to reflect, consult and dialogue in order to bring it to safety."
He said that there are apologies and not resignations, and considered apologies a normal and usual thing in political work.
He added in an interview, "We appreciate the circumstance in which these people apologized, and I believe that apology is a civilized behavior, and we do not blame them or reprimand them, and perhaps there are circumstances that prompted them to apologize, which we do not know."
The mechanism announced by Hamdok included 71 names, including a number of members of the Sovereignty Council, namely Al-Hadi Idris, Malik Agar and Al-Taher Hajar, in addition to the Minister of Finance, Jibril Ibrahim.
The mechanism also includes the Dean of the Sudanese press, Mahjoub Muhammad Salih, and the historian Abdullah Ali Ibrahim, in addition to politicians from "Freedom and Change", and clerics and leaders in the civil administrations.
Hamdok (center) during his meeting with the leadership of the Communist Party regarding the initiative and other controversial issues (Prime Minister's Office)
'Unfair representation'
At the level of political forces, the Technical Committee of the Freedom and Change Forces Reform Initiative, a dissident faction of the ruling coalition, stands with those who reject the mechanism announced by Hamdok to implement his initiative.
According to one of its founders - Mohamed Wada'a - the technical committee, including the governor of the Darfur region, Minni Arko Minawi, handed the prime minister a list of its candidates for the mechanism, but only one person was chosen, Kamal Ismail.
And a farewell told Al Jazeera Net that the reformist forces included 23 factions and were not represented equitably, as Minawi was chosen within the mechanism as the leader of the movement, and Bushra Al-Saim as a civil administration.
The official in the committee described Hamdok's initiative as a "kidnapping fence" and is unacceptable in this way, and does not respond to reforms, because the origin of the crisis is political within the forces of change.
"All the crowds of the native administration, Sufi orders, and artists are not interested in reforming the political situation, but rather the prime minister and the ruling coalition," he said. Therefore, Wadaa believes that the initiative "was born dead, and the implementation mechanism finished off the rest of it and exposed the intentions that it was for consumption," as well as the lack of representation of the army in The mechanism, although “ending conflicts between civilians and the military” is one of the most prominent provisions of Hamdok’s initiative.
According to a member of the implementation mechanism, Rasha Awad, the inauguration of the work of the mechanism is expected at a meeting on Wednesday in Khartoum that will include the prime minister.
Regarding filling the vacancies of those who apologize for the membership of the mechanism, Awad said that the mechanism will discuss this, along with another agenda related to launching its activities, at Wednesday's meeting.
Tasks that need to be performed
A member of the Technical Committee of the Freedom and Change Forces Reform Initiative, Mohamed Wadaa, revealed that his "Sudanese Baath party" will request a meeting with Hamdok to convey his reservations to him, after the committee met earlier with the head of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
He believes that the terms of the initiative are merely tasks from the powers of the Prime Minister, and all that is needed is executive decisions only, referring to previous initiatives that were put forward by their committee and the professors of the University of Khartoum, and the Return Group to the platform for establishing the forces of freedom and change, "but Hamdok's initiative came far from all of that," he said. saying.