This agreement supposed to relaunch the transition and hand over power to civilians was to be signed this Saturday between civil and military representatives. According to the spokesperson for the process, the various players have agreed to allow themselves five additional days. At issue: an unresolved dispute over security issues.
Discussions stumble over the question of the future of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The FSR are made up mainly of former Janjawid militiamen, accused of atrocities in Darfur and of being involved in the suppression of the revolt against Omar al-Bashir, the former leader ousted in 2019.
How to integrate them into government forces and in what time frame, over how many years? General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, nicknamed Hemedti, boss of the FSR, did not reach an agreement on these terms. Another sticking point is the future of certain Islamist officers.
After four days of discussions that stretched into the early hours of this morning, the hurdles were not overcome.
Without consensus on the reform of the security forces to achieve a unified national army in Sudan, it is the whole process of getting the civilian transition back on track that is hampered.
Sudanese soldiers, paramilitaries and civilians have been talking for weeks to reach a global political agreement.
Before questions relating to the army, there was that of transitional justice.
Ultimately, the global agreement should make it possible to move towards the adoption of a new Constitution, the formation of a civilian government and the organization of elections.
The protagonists have therefore given themselves five more days, a new deadline announced for the signing of the agreement, on April 6.
After the departure of Omar al-Bashir in 2019, civilians and soldiers were represented in the transitional government. At the end of 2021, the forced passage of General Al-Burhan led to a protest movement which lasted more than a year, and against which the repression left at least 125 dead.