Day: January 4, 2022

Sudanese took to the streets in the capital of Khartoum and other cities on Tuesday in anti-coup protests as the country plunged further into turmoil following the resignation of the prime minister earlier this week.

Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in several locations in the capital, including the area around the presidential palace, which has seen clashes in previous rounds of protests since the October 25 coup. Protesters were also seen in videos hurling stones and spent tear gas canisters at security forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was ousted in the coup, only to be reinstated a month later following a deal with the military meant to calm tensions and anti-coup protests. Hamdok stepped down Sunday amid political deadlock, saying he had failed to find a compromise between the ruling generals and the pro-democracy movement.

Sudan has been politically paralyzed since the coup. The military takeover came more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

The military, under international pressure, reinstated Hamdok in November to lead a technocratic Cabinet. But the deal sidelined the pro-democracy movement behind the uprising against al-Bashir. Since then, Hamdok was unable to form a Cabinet amid relentless protests not only against the coup but also against his deal with the military.

Thousands took part in Tuesday marches in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman, denouncing the coup. Images posted online show young protesters singing, beating drums and waving Sudanese flags. There were similar demonstrations in other cities, including the eastern city of Port Sudan.

Ahead of the protests, authorities closed major roads and streets in Khartoum and Omdurman, according to activists, tactics that have been employed in the past two months to prevent demonstrators from reaching government buildings.

Since the coup, nearly 60 protesters have been killed and hundreds of others injured in a heavy security crackdown, according to a Sudanese medical group. The protests are called by the Sudanese Professionals’ Association and the Resistance Committees, which were the backbone of the uprising against al-Bashir.

Hamdok’s resignation has thrown the country into further uncertainty and “deprived the generals of the fig leaf” they used to continue their military rule, said Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the association

The protest movement insists on a fully civilian government to lead the transition, a demand rejected by the generals who say power will be handed over only to an elected government. Elections are planned in July 2023, in line with a constitutional document governing the transitional period.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “meaningful dialogue” between all Sudanese parties to “reach an inclusive, peaceful and lasting solution,” according to U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

Sudan’s largest Umma party called for the return to the 2019 constitutional document governing the transitional period, which calls for the military to relinquish the leadership of the ruling sovereign council.

“This is the only way for the salvation of the nation, the integrity of the transitional period and the accomplishment of its tasks within the agreed-upon timeframe,” the party said in a statement.

Deliberations have been underway to find “an independent figure” to lead a technocratic Cabinet through elections, according to a military official and a protest leader. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. Among names floated was that of former Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi.

Elbadawi, who resigned in 2020, was not immediately available for comment.

Jibril Ibrahim, a rebel leader who joined Hamdok’s government last year following a peace deal with the transitional administration, urged for a “political compromise” to resolve the crisis.

“Let us agree to work together for the sake of Sudan,” tweeted Ibrahim.

Al-Mustafa, the spokesman, said the association rejects talks with the coup leaders, warning of “deadly” street confrontations between protesters and security forces. He called on the international community to pressure the Sudanese military to allow the establishing of a fully civilian government.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling Sovereign Council, said an independent Cabinet with “specific tasks” would be formed as the executive branch of the transitional government. The military, he said, would “protect the democratic transition” until Sudan is able to hold free and fair elections.

Source: Voice of America

In Mali, a coalition of political parties has rejected the military government’s plan for a five-year transition before elections. Mali has been under pressure from West African governments to hold elections since a May military coup d’etat, the second in less than a year.

Mali’s military leaders recently released a new timetable for the transition period to regional bloc ECOWAS, proposing a five-year plan that calls for the next presidential elections to be held in 2026.

The transition was originally projected to last 18 months, after a military junta headed by current President Assimi Goita first took power in a coup that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August of 2020.

Elections were previously scheduled for this February.

A coalition of major political parties in Mali released a letter rejecting the five-year plan, having also boycotted four days of national meetings, which they say were only held so that the government could propose a longer transition.

The spokesperson for the coalition, Amadou Koita, says that the grouping is calling on current military leaders to respect the transition charter.

He says the main goal of a transition is the end of the transition. It’s to work for a return to constitutional order.

“Those who want to be in power should be candidates and submit to the will of the people. We are a democracy, we are in a country where we have rights, we are a republic. Let’s respect the law,” he said.

One of the reasons given for the extension was the security situation, which has steadily declined for a decade.

Doussouba Konaté, who works for the Mali office of Accountability Lab, a transnational group that promotes good governance, says there is some truth to the claim that elections cannot be held due to insecurity.

“The insecurity argument is an argument that is really, really heavy,” she said. “It’s an argument that is really going to play a part in this, because we’re talking about democracy. What does democracy mean? Democracy means inclusivity, and taking into consideration all of the Malian population. We know very well that because of insecurity, there is a big part of the Malian population who won’t be able to be taken into consideration in the next elections.”

Konaté says that though many people oppose a longer period of military rule, some citizens support a longer transition because they appreciate seeing a Malian president who can confront the international community.

But Mali’s relationship with the international community, whether with its ECOWAS neighbors in ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, or with European countries, remains complicated.

France recently pulled out of all but one of Mali’s northern military bases, a decision French President Emmanuel Macron called a reorganization of its anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane forces, and which came after months of anti-French protests in Bamako.

ECOWAS has threatened further sanctions on Mali if the military government cannot abide by a February election deadline.

Nana Akufo-Addo, the current president of ECOWAS, is due to visit Mali Wednesday to discuss the transition timetable. An ECOWAS summit on Mali is scheduled for this Sunday in Accra.

Source: Voice of America