Ousted Sudan PM to Return to Government

New deal clears way for Hamdok to reclaim position, release detainees

By AFP

Photo taken on Nov. 1, 2021 shows road blocked with makeshift brick barricades by demonstrators in Khartoum, Sudan. On Oct. 25, the Sudanese Army took measures ending the partnership between the military and civilian coalition ruling during the transitional period in Sudan. Meanwhile, General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency across the country and dissolved the sovereign council and government.(Photo: Xinhua)

Sudan's top military leader and the prime minister ousted in October have reached a deal for the premier's return to government and the release of detained civilian leaders, mediators said Sunday.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on October 25 declared a state of emergency and ousted the government in a move that upended a two-year transition to civilian rule and sparked international condemnation. 

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok had been under effective house arrest since the power grab that triggered a wave of mass street protests in which 40 demonstrators have been killed according to medical sources.

"A political agreement has been reached between General Burhan, Abdalla Hamdok, political forces and civil society organizations for Hamdok's return to his position, and the release of political detainees," senior Sudanese mediator Fadlallah Burma, acting head of the Umma party, told AFP.

The statement raised hopes the strife-torn northeast African country will be able to return to its fragile transition process toward full democracy that started after the 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir following mass protests.

A group of Sudanese mediators including politicians, academics and journalists who have been locked in crisis talks in recent weeks, released a statement outlining the main points of the deal.

It included the restoration of Hamdok as prime minister, the release of all detainees and what it said was the resumption of the constitutional, legal and political consensus governing the transitional period.

However, the main civilian bloc which spearheaded the anti-Bashir protests and signed a 2019 power-sharing deal with the military, rejected Sunday's deal.

"We affirm our clear and previously declared position, that there is no negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy for the coup," said the mainstream faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change in a statement.

The group also demanded the coup leaders be tried over undermining the legitimacy of the transition process.

The return of Hamdok, a British-educated economist who has worked for the United Nations and African organizations, has been a key demand of international community.

Mediators said the deal was reached following talks among political factions, ex-rebel groups and military figures.

Sunday's deal announcement came as pro-democracy activists geared up for the latest in a wave of mass protests to denounce the coup and the ensuing crackdown, in which medics say 16 people were killed on Wednesday alone.

AFP