Sudan.. Will changing the leaders of the security services succeed in reforming the relationship with the street?

KHARTOUM -

The recent movement of appointments and exemptions in the ranks of the military apparatus in Sudan has raised wide questions, just days after the signing of the political agreement between the President of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, in an attempt to end the crisis caused by the army’s control of the reins of government, on the morning of October 25 last.

On Saturday, Hamdok issued a decision dismissing the police chief, Lieutenant-General Khaled Mahdi Ibrahim, and his deputy, Lieutenant-General Al-Sadiq Ali Ibrahim, from their positions, in favor of appointing Lieutenant-General Anan Hamid Muhammad Omar, and Major General Muddathir Abdul Rahman Nasr Al-Din, in their place.

In parallel, an informed military source told Al Jazeera - yesterday, Sunday - that the President of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, issued a decision to relieve the Director of the Military Intelligence Authority of the Sudanese Army, Yasser Mohamed Othman, and the Director of General Intelligence Jamal Abdel Majid, and appointed Major General Mohamed Ahmed Saber and Lieutenant-General Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal in their place. (Straight).

The news speaks of a tendency to retire a large number of officers in the various agencies.

The new leaders

Anan Hamed jumped to the police leadership from his previous position as head of the training authority.

During a career of more than 3 decades within the police structures, the man held several positions, most notably his leadership of the Central Reserve Forces, the Anti-Narcotics Department, as well as his command of the South Kordofan State Police (southern of the country).

Academically, Hamed obtained a bachelor's degree in law from Al-Neelain University in 1994, and passed the examination for regulating the legal profession (equivalency) in 1996, before consolidating that with a master's degree from Juba University in 2010.

In a related context, the new police chief hails from the village of Qandto in River Nile State (in the north of the country), the same area to which the head of the Sovereignty Council belongs.

As for the new Director of Military Intelligence, Muhammad Ali Ahmed Saber, he was the deputy director of the authority, and he previously served as the head of the Security Arrangements Committee for the Juba Peace Agreement signed with the armed movements in October 2020, and served for a period as a military attaché at the Sudanese embassy in Juba.

The man hails from the suburb of al-Ailafoun (east of the capital), and is related to Major General Ahmed Hanan Ahmed Saber, the military governor previously assigned to administer the state of al-Jazirah (south of the capital).

In turn, the Director of Intelligence, Muhammad Ibrahim Mufaddal, held several positions, most notably that he was the governor of South Kordofan (in the south of the country) during the popular revolution against the ousted President Omar al-Bashir.

It is noteworthy that Mufaddal completed his education in Egypt in the mid-eighties, and returned to the country to work in the Islamic Agency and the Islamic Dawa Organization, and then joined the Intelligence Service in the mid-nineties of the last century, where he rose in the ladder of jobs and occupied high positions such as the Department of Foreign Intelligence and Economic Security.

New arrangements

The security and military expert, Major General Muhammad Ajeeb, responds to the movement of transfers and referrals for retirement in the ranks of the military forces, for "routine professional reasons."

However, Ajeeb returns and tells Al Jazeera Net that it is related to the army's arrangements to keep abreast of Sudanese developments, or to address the shortcomings that have marred its performance in the recent period.

And he continues, "The dismissal of the director of army intelligence may be a message of reproach to the leaders of the commission, for their failure to thwart the coup attempt led by Major General Abdel Baqi El Bakraoui last September."

Regarding the dismissal of the intelligence director, Ajeeb warns of the growing security dangers both internally and externally, in light of the large accumulation of senior ranks within the apparatus, which calls for a wide organization movement in the ranks of the intelligence services.

Regarding the dismissal of the police chief, he did not rule out that this was due to the failure of its leaders in revealing the third party responsible for killing the demonstrators, as it speaks on more than one side, he said.

The head of the Sovereignty Council had indicated - in an interview with the Financial Times - that some policemen and other gunmen may have been behind the killing of peaceful protesters.

42 Sudanese have fallen during the protests condemning the military coup since last October 25, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors.

Protesters near security forces in Khartoum, amid accusations of police killing dozens of demonstrators recently (Reuters)

Fears

For his part, the security and military expert, Adel Samawi, believes that the recent movement of movements in the ranks of the security services aims to correct the relationship with the street and pour cold water on the protests that increased in frequency after the police forces’ press conference on the events of November 17.

During the processions (demonstrations) last November 17 condemning the "coup", about 15 people were killed, most of them in Khartoum, and the police chief at that time went out in a press conference to announce the death of one person who was not connected to the protests.

In his speech to Al Jazeera Net, Samawi expresses his fear of the emergence of an alliance between the military and the Bashir regime, especially since the Director of Intelligence had previously served as the head of the National Congress Party in South Kordofan State, and he made anti-revolutionary statements.

Observers believe that the wide movements in the ranks of the security forces reflect a tendency to reform these institutions and improve their relationship with the rebellious street.

On the other hand, there are those who believe that the head of the Sovereignty Council and the commander of the army are on the way to extending his full influence over these institutions, especially after his disengagement from the executive body of the isolated government led by the Freedom and Change Alliance.