Sudan’s FFC Strongly Reject Military’s Demand to Participate in New Transition Cabinet: Mariam

Mariam al-Mahdi

June 26, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The military component demands to participate again in the transitional government but the Forces for Freedom and Change are strongly opposed to repeating the past mistakes, said Mariam al-Mahdi Deputy Head of the National Umma Party (NUP).

On June 9, the facilitation panel including the UNITAMS, the IGAD and the African Union suspended a dialogue process after the boycott of the FFC, while the U.S. and Saudi diplomats managed to hold direct talks between them and the military component to ensure the participation of the key political coalition in the political process.

The backchannel talks were slammed by the National Consensus of Darfurian groups allied with the coup leaders. They went to threaten to return to war if their participation in the government is ended.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera TV on Saturday, the FFC leading member stated that the coalition calls for the establishment of a fully civilian government that could include some qualified politicians while the government forces “play their role in protecting the homeland through a Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.”

She added that the military component explicitly proposed to them the re-establishment of a civil-military partnership again, but they rejected it.

“The military component talks about a civil-military partnership as it was before or a formula close to it. But we consider that this partnership was a mistake, weakening the Sudanese army and keeping it away from its duties.”

“The military are saying clearly that they should be part of the government, and we tell them clearly that you should not be part of the government”. She further stressed,

Al-Mahdi who recently met with a delegation from the National Consensus stated that the peace signatory groups aback the demand of the military to participate in the upcoming government.

Further in response to threats by former Darfur groups to return to war, the FFC leading member said that the participation of some Darfur movements in the coup generated bitterness among the Sudanese people.

However, she denied that the aim of the current dialogue is to exclude the signatory groups, despite the participation of some of them in the coup.

Also, she emphasized that issues of the war-affected regions are national issues after the revolution and are not the monopole of a specific political group or an armed movement.

The FFC official pointed out that they are considering the participation of the Resistance Committees in the next step saying “they are the entity that protects the revolution.”

She said that they need the Sudanese to continue to demand the removal of the military component from power.

“Dialogue alone is not enough and the role of the street is important and crucial,” she stressed.