Khartoum -

hour after hour, the Sudanese scene is opening up to escalating developments that will cast a thick shadow over the entire transitional period, which is facing severe challenges, in light of polarization and counter-polarization processes between civilians and military partners in governance.

During a lengthy meeting held on Thursday between Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok and the President of the Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the third of its kind between the two men during the past ten days, Al-Burhan put before Hamdok his declared demand that the current government should be dissolved and the expansion base of participation in forming a new government, but the surprise for many was Hamdok’s response By refusal and reminding that his government is the industry of the Alliance for Freedom and Change - the ruling coalition - and it is he who appointed him to the position and nominated the current ministers, according to the "Sudan Tribune" news website.

Jeffrey Feltman spoke by phone with Al-Burhan and Hamdok, stressing the importance of commitment to the transitional phase in accordance with the constitutional declaration (Reuters)

According to observers, this development came after two calls from the US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, in which he spoke to Hamdok and Al-Burhan on October 12 and 13, stressing the importance of the commitment of the Council of Ministers and the Sovereignty Council to the transitional phase as stipulated in the constitutional declaration in 2019 and the Juba Peace Agreement for the year 2020, according to a statement from the US State Department issued Thursday.

The envoy reiterated that all components of the transitional period, including members of the Sovereignty Council, the Council of Ministers, and the Forces of Freedom and Change, must avoid the brinkmanship and mutual accusations, and work together to resolve differences through dialogue without preconditions.

However, calls are intensifying among the "Freedom and Change Movement - National Accord" group, which enjoys the support of the military, to go out in a mass procession on Saturday to demand the dissolution of the government and the expansion of power participation without prejudice to the shares of the peace agreement, which is objected to by the components of the Central Council accused of controlling the ruling coalition's decision.

On Thursday, hundreds of jurists supporting Hamdok's government organized a procession to the presidential palace to demand the military transfer the presidency to the civilian side next November, which reflected the scale of mobilization and intense polarization before the Saturday gathering, which will be followed by another on October 21, in support of the civilian authority.


What is meant by the expansion of the government?

A question arises about the forces that Al-Burhan and his supporters from among the armed movements and some parties wish to include to replace the current government, especially since all the parties and movements that signed the peace agreement are partners in the government, with the exception of the Communist Party, which is known to be hostile to the military in a way that expansionists cannot care.

The leader of the Central Council of the Forces of Freedom and Change, Moataz Saleh, believes that the forces required to join the government are the forces that allied themselves earlier with the dissolved National Congress Party, but he did not dare to name them explicitly.

He told Al Jazeera Net, "Al-Burhan cannot ask us to include them because he realizes that the constitutional document prevented the participation of those who participated in the previous regime in the transition period."

Despite this, Saleh says that Al-Burhan and others want to join the remnants and party groups affiliated with the previous regime.

Lawyers demonstrated in Khartoum to demand the transfer of power to civilians next November (communication sites)

Maneuver or necessity?

On the other hand, the Political Secretary of the Justice and Equality Movement, Suleiman Sandal, justifies the reasons for the demand to expand participation in the kidnapping of the broad coalition carried out by 4 parties (the National Umma Party, the Unionist Gathering, the Sudanese Congress, and the Arab Socialist Baath Party), although 79 parties signed the Charter for Freedom and Change are now absent and limited. The matter is in the hands of a small group that controls matters, which imposes, according to the sandal of the return to the founding platform, that all these forces meet and agree on the structure of freedom and change, after which the form of decision-making, management, and others are agreed upon.

He tells Al Jazeera Net that the call for expansion is also imposed by the presence of political forces that had a clear contribution to change, in what can be attached to Parliament to save the transitional period from the quarrelsome and involve everyone in resolving crises before stressing the need for this participation not to include the dissolved National Congress Party.

The leader is very convinced that the proposed additions to the ruling coalition and the change of government will address the current division in the street and that agreeing on a government with a large base alleviates the problems, wondering why one party gives 6 ministers, in reference to the National Umma Party, whose employees occupy 6 positions.

Moataz Salih describes this hadith as a mere maneuver and an attempt to exploit the organizational differences between some of the parties to freedom and change, especially since most political forces participate in the government and there are no major parties outside freedom and change. to accommodate everyone.

From the point of view of the editor-in-chief of Al-Jamahir newspaper, Abdullah Rizk, Al-Burhan's call to expand participation is suspicious in light of not naming it what is likely to mean Islamists, a description according to what he said is broader than the National Congress, which is prohibited by law.

Rizk indicates in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the head of the Justice and Equality Movement, Jibril Ibrahim, was more clear in defining these forces. Besides the People's Congress, there is the Reform Movement now led by Ghazi Salah al-Din, and other Islamic parties, which came out of the mother's umbrella.

And he continues, "However, Al-Burhan may also mean groups from the Umma Party and the Democratic Unionist in origin, and some parties that participated in the previous regime to create a new political fanaticism for the rule, on the basis of dissolving the current government, and reconfiguring it to accommodate those coming from the new incubator, and to create a new balance of forces, within the government. , between those who are from the forces of the revolution, and those who are affiliated with, from the forces of the counter-revolution.


government solution

Suleiman Sandal stresses that there is no choice but to dissolve the government because the root of the problem is political. He also holds the Central Council for Freedom and Change responsible for what he called the current strange situation by refusing to reform and insisting on signing a political declaration despite realizing that there are many forces outside it.

According to political analyst Amir Babiker, the prime minister's refusal to dissolve the government is a right guaranteed to him by the constitutional document signed by the parties to the transitional authority. The right to nominate the Prime Minister.

According to the constitutional document, the proof cannot dissolve the government, and if it does so, it will be considered an outright coup, and whoever can dissolve the government is Hamdok. In finding an alternative political incubator for freedom and change, or trying to penetrate it under the pretext of national consensus and expanding its umbrella.

The analyst continues by saying, "Who has the right to dissolve the government is Hamdok, but who has the right to appoint the ministerial staff are Freedom and Change and the movements that signed the Juba Peace Agreement. Since some of the main Juba peace movements are in agreement with Al-Burhan, the purpose of the request is a cabinet reshuffle in the share of the government." Freedom and change after the success of its penetration scheme.

And he asserts that the proof cannot bypass Hamdok, who is backed internally by important achievements, and is also supported externally, especially since the international community has become betting on the civil democratic transformation under his leadership in the transitional period up to the elections stage according to the agreed time matrix (timetables).

In the midst of this state of tension, the media advisor to Al-Burhan, Brigadier-General Al-Taher Abu Haja, wrote a letter in which he said that the government had dissolved itself when the rope connecting it to the people was dissolved, and it was dissolved, and it became in another neighborhood, in reference to its failure to resolve crises.

He adds, "What was asked of them, other than to gather their ranks without exclusion, to respect their document without deception, to work for the country, not for parties, and to serve the people, not to fight over positions."

And he repeats, "It (the government) has already dissolved itself because it has since become a solution to the people's pension, their concerns and their future. If we do not make the difficult decision today, it will be disobedient tomorrow."