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Sudan’s army chief accused the council tasked with overseeing the transition to a civilian government of failure on Wednesday, just over a year after it was formed following the ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
“One year after its creation, I say that the transitional council has not responded to the aspirations of the people and the revolution,” General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said, addressing an army unit stationed south of Khartoum.
The country’s transitional power structure, which comprises a sovereign council, Sudan’s highest executive authority and a cabinet, is made up of military and civilian figures, the latter forming a general majority.
It was agreed upon by the army and protest leaders in August 2019, four months after Bashir’s military removal during months of street demonstrations against the dictator’s long rule.
Burhan heads the sovereign council, while Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok heads the cabinet.
In addition to accusing the transitional bodies of “deepening the suffering of the people,” Burhan praised the Sudanese armed forces.
The army, he promised, “will remain the first force in the defense of the people, (and will protect) their achievements and (also) will work to protect the glorious revolution.”
Burhan also asked “transitional partners to create the legislative council,” a 300-member interim parliament that was due to be established three months after the 2019 agreement, but has yet to be formed.
The last deadline to establish that body is at the end of this year.
Relations between the civilian and military components of the country’s three-year transitional government have deteriorated in recent weeks, and Burhan created another body, one with broad powers.
Established by decree, the “Council of transition partners” is “responsible for leading the transition period, resolving differences (between those in power) and having all the necessary prerogatives to exercise their power,” he reported last week. Sudan’s SUNA news agency.
Burhan insisted on Wednesday that the newly created body “will have nothing to do with government institutions … and will never interfere with their work.”
Hamdok has rejected the Council of Transitional Partners, saying that Burhan has exceeded its prerogatives by conferring excessive powers on the new body.
