Sudan’s New Cabinet is Delayed by Consultations on Political Declaration: Hamdok

December 14, 2021 (KHARTOUM) – Consultations on new political declaration delayed the formation of the third transitional government in Sudan, says Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Tuesday.

On November 21, Hamdok signed an agreement with the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army, Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, accordingly the latter reinstated him as prime minister after he was overthrown and detained on October 25.

The government has not yet been formed because the “Political forces supporting the revolution and the democratic civil transition are engaged in a serious and deep dialogue in order to agree on a national charter establishing a broad front to achieve and consolidate the democratic civil transition,” he said in a tweet posted on Tuesday.

He stressed that this declaration will serve as a basis for the formation of a government of technocrats, and to complete the structures of the transitional authority including the legislative council.

The Prime Minister added that the priorities of his government will be implementing the Juba Peace Agreement, completing the peace process, achieving stability and economic recovery, strengthening the security situation, and finalising the democratic transition process through free and fair elections.

The Hamdok-Burhan agreement provides to adopt a political declaration that defines the framework of the civil-military partnership, after emphasising on the military council’s supervision of the transition.

Some Darfur armed groups and allies that backed the coup d’état on Tuesday issued a statement saying they are drafting a political declaration based on the 21-November agreement. They added that plan to discuss it with other forces to achieve national reconciliation.

The FFC National Consensus led by Minni Minnawi further distanced itself from a two-page draft political declaration released on Monday with a call for a press conference the headquarters of the National Umma Party on Wednesday.

The main forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) Central Council, which rejects the Hamdok-Burhan agreement, says no to this new declaration stressing that it legitimizes the coup of October 25.

Also, the FFC points out that the agreement between the coup leader and the prime minister recognises the supervision of the military component over the transitional period.

The Hamdok-Burhan agreement refers to the Constitutional Document of August 2019 but does not insist on the reforms of the security sector including the integration of RSF in the national army and the government control over their economic activities.

(ST)