KHARTOUM: Sudantook further steps in its transition towards civilian rule yesterday with theswearing in of a new sovereign council, to be followed by the appointment of aprime minister. The body replaces the Transitional Military Council (TMC) thattook charge after months of deadly street protests brought down longtime rulerOmar Al-Bashir in April. As a result of yesterday's move, it was the first timethat Sudan was not under full military rule since Bashir's coup d'etat in 1989.
The first stepsof the transition after the mass celebrations that marked the Aug 17 adoptionof a transitional constitution proved difficult however. The names of the jointcivilian-military sovereign council's 11 members were eventually announced lateTuesday after differences within the opposition camp held up the process fortwo days. General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who already headed the TMC, was swornin as the chairman of the new sovereign council in the morning.
Wearing his usualgreen beret and camouflage uniform, Burhan took the oath in a short ceremony,one hand on the Koran and the other holding a military baton under his arm. Hewill be Sudan's head of state for the first 21 months of the 39-month transitionperiod, until a civilian takes over for the remainder. The council's 10 othermembers were sworn in shortly afterwards and Abdalla Hamdok, who was chosen bythe opposition last week to be prime minister, was due to be sworn in lateryesterday.
HH the Amir ofKuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah yesterday sent a cable ofcongratulations to Burhan. In the cable, the Amir congratulated him on formingthe new sovereign council and on being sworn in as its chairman, wishing himbest of luck and to Sudan and its people more progress. HH the Crown PrinceSheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh JaberAl-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables to the Sudanese leader.
The sovereigncouncil includes two women, including a member of Sudan's Christian minority,and it will oversee the formation of a government and of a legislative body.The inauguration of the civilian-dominated ruling council, which held its firstmeeting in the afternoon, was widely welcomed but some Khartoum residentswarned they would keep their new rulers in check. "If this council doesnot meet our aspirations and cannot serve our interests, we will never hesitateto have another revolution," said Ramzi Al-Taqi, a fruit peddler. "Wewould topple the council just like we did the former regime," he said.
The transition'skey documents were signed on Saturday at a ceremony attended by a host offoreign dignitaries, signalling that Sudan could be on its way to shedding itspariah status. Sudan's new rulers are expected to push for the lifting of thesuspension from the African Union that followed a deadly crackdown on a sit-inin June. The ruling council will also seek to have the country removed from theUS list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Bashir is wantedby the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his role in massacres inthe Darfur region, where a rebellion broke out in 2003. He appeared in court onMonday - but only on charges of corruption for the opening of a trial in which aninvestigator said the deposed leader admitted to receiving millions in cash.Pictures of the 75-year-old autocrat sitting in a cage during the hearinginstantly became a symbol of his Islamist military regime's downfall.
The sight oftheir former tormentor in the dock was overwhelmingly welcomed by the Sudanesebut many warned the graft trial should not distract from the more seriousindictments he faces before the ICC. "The evidence he committed genocideshould come forward... Many civilians inside and outside Sudan have diedbecause of him and he should face justice," one resident, Alhaj Adam, toldAFP.
Sudan'stransitional authorities would need to ratify the ICC's Rome Statute to allowfor the transfer of the former military ruler to The Hague. Amidst the euphoriacelebrating the promise of civilian rule, unease was palpable within theprotest camp that brought about one of the most significant moments in Sudan'smodern history. One reason is the omnipresence in the transition of MohamedHamdan Daglo, a member of the sovereign council and a paramilitary commanderwhose forces are blamed for the deadly repression of the protests. His RapidSupport Forces sprang out of the Janjaweed militia notorious for alleged crimesin Darfur.
Pacifying a countrystill plagued by deadly unrest in the regions of Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nilewill be one of the most urgent tasks of Sudan's transitional institutions. Theother daunting challenge that awaits the fragile civilian-military alliance isthe rescue of an economy that has all but collapsed in recent years. It was thesudden tripling of bread prices in Dec 2018 that sparked the wave of protestsfatal to Bashir's regime. Premier-designate Hamdok was flying in from AddisAbaba, where he served as a senior economist with the United Nations. -Agencies