Sudan: Military Sign Deal to Reinstate Ousted PM Hamdok

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is set to return to power in Sudan just weeks after being ousted by the country’s military. The military also pledged to free all political detainees.

After weeks of negotiations, Sudan’s military leaders accepted a deal to reinstate Abdalla Hamdok as prime minister on Sunday.

Hamdok, who was removed from power on October 25, will now return to lead an technocratic government for a “transitional period” until elections can be held. It was not immediately clear how much power will the civilian government truly have.

The politician said he accepted the deal to avoid further bloodshed. The move comes after the military violently clamped down on anti-coup protests.

“Sudanese blood is precious, let us stop the bloodshed and direct the youth’s energy into building and development,” Hamdok said on Sunday.

The country’s top military leader, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, thanked Hamdok for his service and said the prime minister “was patient with us until we reached this moment.”

The 14-point deal also includes a pledge from the military that all political detainees would be released.

Burhan and other top military leaders have clashed with the country’s civilian leadership since the military coup that ousted longtime leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019. But Burhan has insisted his more recent move against Hamdok was not a coup, describing it instead as an attempt to “rectify the transition.”

Protest continue despite deal

Burhan previously pledged to hold a new election in 2023.

However, many pro-democracy factions rejected the Sunday deal between Hamdok and the military — saying they would continue their protests.

The Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, the group that spearheaded the uprising that culminated in al-Bashir’s ouster, said the perpetrators of the coup should be brought to justice.

“We affirm our clear and previously declared position that there is no negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy for the coup,” the faction said in a statement.

“We are not concerned with any agreements with this brute junta and we are employing all peaceful and creative methods to bring it down.|

The Umma Party also released a statement stressing its opposition to any deal that fails to “meet the aspirations of all revolutionaries and the Sudanese people.”

“The party expresses its faith in the victorious and rebellious resistance and reaffirms that it shall always stand by the people to protect justice,” it said.

Since the news of the deal to reinstate Hamdok, witnesses have reported seeing protesters again rallying against the military in downtown Khartoum, in the state of Kassala and the city of Atbara.

Reuters news agency meanwhile reported that according to a witness, thousands have marched towards the presidential palace in Khartoum ahead of the meeting with Burhan and Hamdok. Security forces used tear gas to disperse groups approaching the presidential palace, with some of the protesters shouting that Hamdok had “sold the revolution.”

Young people ‘dying in the streets every day’

Kholood Khair, managing partner at the Insight Strategy Partners think tank, told DW that not many are in favor of the deal.

“I think it’s important to note that very few people are in favor of this new agreement for the FFC, this body that you mentioned. They’ve been completely sort of left behind… Their stance has been not to negotiate in the first place with the military because they know that any agreements arising from negotiations with the military at the moment will result in senior military leadership remaining in power.”

Khair said the Sudanese youth were ultimately the ones to lose out as the power struggle appears to continue.

“The whole country, I suppose, is a loser in some sense, because the crisis is having manifold impact on different facets of society, particularly the young people who are dying in the streets every day through regime violence.”

Coup slammed abroad

Earlier on Sunday Hamdok was freed from house arrest after a member of his office gave confirmation to news agency AFP. Hamdok has been under armed guard since the Burhan’s declared state of emergency in October.

“The house arrest of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has been lifted and the forces guarding his house have been withdrawn,” the official is reported to have told AFP.

The deal was reached after weeks of talks that included political factions, former rebel groups as well as military figures.

Despite Burhan avoid the term “coup”, the takeover saw the military tightened its grip on power, appointing a new military-run Sovereign Council, chaired by Burhan.

The council also included a paramilitary commander, three senior military figures, three ex-rebel leaders and one civilian.

The coup was slammed widely, both inside the country and internationally. The African Union suspended the country’s membership following the military takeover, with the US also demanding that military leaders step aside and return the country to civilian rule.

Earlier this month, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on the military leaders to “step back in order to allow the country to return to the path of progress” after the coup on October 25.

kb, see,dj/sri (Reuters, AFP, AP)