Khartoum -

After a long period of secret disputes between the civilian and military components of the transitional government in Sudan;

The dispute developed dramatically and surfaced after the army thwarted a coup attempt last Tuesday.

In two fiery speeches simultaneously in front of their forces, the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, and his deputy, the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, "Hemedti" attacked the Forces of Freedom and Change (the ruling coalition), in a development that demonstrates the exacerbation of political, economic and military differences between the two ruling partners. .

The response of the civilian component was not long in coming. The Coalition of Forces for Freedom and Change in Sudan denounced the statements of Al-Burhan and Hemedti, and considered them an attempt to create a rift between the forces of the civil revolution and the armed forces, and a setback for the democratic transition.

While the Sudanese Professionals Association criticized the partnership between the civilian and military components of the transitional government, describing it as “a partnership of subservience and circumvention of the goals of the glorious December revolution,” in reference to the demonstrations that erupted in late 2019 and ended with the overthrow of the Omar al-Bashir regime.

The following report monitors the most prominent points of contention between the civilian and military components of the transitional government, and the repercussions of this dispute on the political and economic situation in the country.

Who controls the political incubator of the government?

Influential people in the transitional government say that the political dispute related to the political incubator (the Alliance of Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change) is the main driver of the political disputes between the military and civilians reaching the stage of danger, which is close to the dissolution of the partnership.

The political dispute emerged with the signing of more than 30 parties and groups on a new political declaration to unite the forces of freedom and change on the seventh of this September, in a celebration that Al-Burhan, Hemedti and the rest of the military component were deliberately absent from, while Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok attended it.

According to leaders in the Forces for Change, the military failed to include the dissident faction in the Technical Committee for the Reform of the Forces of Freedom and Change among the signatories to the political declaration.

It is noted that in its recent statements, the Technical Committee signed it under the name of the "Forces of Freedom and Change Declaration", while it was previously designated as the "Technical Committee for the Reform of the Forces of Freedom and Change", which led to limited confusion in the press's dealings with the authority issuing the statement.

Reliable sources say to Al Jazeera Net that Al-Burhan, in more than one meeting that included him with the forces of change, told them that he did not know who he was dealing with in the political alliance.

During two speeches to Al-Burhan and Hemedti, the two men sharply criticized the civil government and its political incubator, and said that their struggle over chairs of power had lost the slogans of the revolution.


Will the presidency of the Sovereignty Council be transferred from the military to civilians?

A member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council asserts that the latest military restlessness is one of its drivers due to the necessity of transferring the presidency of the Sovereign Council from the military to the civilians next November.

Sudan will govern a transitional period of 3 years, divided equally between the military, civilians and the armed movements that have signed the peace, and civilians are expected to preside over the second half of the transitional period.

In what appears to be reassurance to the military, the rapporteur of the Central Council of the Forces of Freedom and Change, Kamal Bolad, told the "Darfur 24" website that the date for the transfer of power to civilians will be next July.

Legal expert Nabil Adeeb believes that, according to the amendments to the constitutional document under the peace agreement, power will not be handed over to civilians after two months, saying that the amendments were marred by errors because they did not address the exchange of the presidency of the Sovereignty Council, which requires amending the document again.

What worries the military in the file of justice?

The justice file regarding the massacre of the sit-in dispersal in front of the Army General Command on June 3, 2019 is closely related to the transition of the presidency of the Sovereign Council to civilians.

Members of the military component (they are members of the Military Council that took over the reins of affairs after the overthrow of ousted President Omar al-Bashir) believes that the delay in the investigation committee into the massacre headed by Nabil Adeeb is intentional until power is handed over to civilians.

Civilians in the government are facing criticism from the street that amounts to isolation for their failure to achieve justice for the victims of the sit-in dispersal.

Military forces forcibly dispersed the sit-in in 2019, leaving hundreds dead, wounded and missing.


Who is responsible for the economic crisis?

It was noticeable that the criticisms leveled by Al-Burhan and Hemedti - after their union against the executive government - focused on the economic deterioration and the difficulty of living for the Sudanese, and blamed the government for what they considered an economic failure suffered by the Sudanese.

In contrast, civilians acknowledge the existence of a hardship of living, but they assert that the economy has begun the journey of recovery since last June, and they also hold the activity of the army and security companies some responsibility for the deterioration of the economy.

The government pushed with a package of numbers and indicators that promote the improvement of economic performance;

Such as the decrease in the trade balance deficit from 2.1 billion dollars to 1.2 billion dollars, and the decrease in inflation during the last month by 35%.

After the coup attempt was thwarted, Hamdok stressed - in a speech to the Sudanese - the necessity of achieving the mandate of the Ministry of Finance over the companies and investments of the military and security services.

Last December, the Prime Minister criticized the army and the security services, saying that their investments in the country's productive sectors were "unacceptable."

Before that, Hamdok said that the regular forces, through hundreds of their companies, control 88% of the country's economy.

What is the fate of the reform of the military and security sector?

The file of restructuring the regular forces and integrating the Rapid Support Forces and the armies of armed movements into the government army is the most sensitive and complex file.

According to the peace agreement signed in Juba on October 3, 2020, the movement’s forces must be integrated into the government army through security arrangements that are still faltering and underfunded, resulting in security problems in Khartoum and the Darfur region.

On the other hand, ambiguity surrounds the integration of the Rapid Support Forces - led by Hemedti - into the army, a demand stressed by the United States and the European Union, despite Hemedti's reluctance.

After the coup attempt was thwarted, Hamdok and the leaders of the Forces of Freedom and Change accused the military component of not taking any step to restructure the regular forces and remove the isolated regime elements from them.

Civilians allude to the military's failure to fulfill their mission stipulated in the constitutional document to protect the transitional period, in light of the increasing insecurity and the closure of main roads and strategic facilities such as dams, ports, oil fields and airports by protesters.

Civilians bet on the formation of the Internal Security Agency to deal with the lawlessness, but the draft law of the device was withdrawn after it reached the table of the Council of Ministers and the Sovereignty because of the military's reservations about the document.


How does the military resist the committee to dismantle al-Bashir's regime?

The reservations of the military component about the committee to remove the dismantling of the regime of June 30, 1989 began to float to the public after the head of the committee and member of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant-General Yasser Al-Atta, submitted his resignation from the committee last February.

At that time, many expected the collapse of the committee, but the civilian component firmly adhered to the continuation of the dismantling committee, which it sees as a revolutionary institution that preserves the flame of the revolution at the level of the transitional government.

On the first of last July, the committee concerned with dismantling the economic, political and social facades of the former regime received remarkable support from the Prime Minister, who visited it at its headquarters, confirming his unlimited support for the committee.

What are the absent transitional institutions and commissions?

Civilians and the military exchange accusations of obstructing the establishment of commissions and institutions of the transitional period, especially the Transitional Legislative Council (Parliament).

Although this parliament specified the number of its seats in the constitutional document and divided them between seats for the Forces of Freedom and Change and others that the military chooses to fill, as well as seats for the parties to the peace agreement and other revolutionary forces;

The military is trying to change the equation by including loyal parties within the lion's share allocated to the Forces of Freedom and Change.

The ruling partners also exchange accusations of being responsible for delaying the formation of commissions, national councils and governance structures mentioned in the constitutional document, such as the High Judicial Council and the Anti-Corruption Commission.