Will Sudanese PM Hamdouk resolve civilian-military stand-off in the government?

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Two years after toppling President Omar Bashir, Sudanese military and civilian wings in government, are still unable to blend with each other within a national interim government that has a mandate to lead the country to a free and fair election and full-fledged civilian democracy.

At present the two sides have taken extreme positions: the army and its agile wingers, the Rapid Support Forces, said they are no longer ready to do business with civilians who ceaselessly vilify them in public statements and in gatherings.

They are demanding a public apology and an end to threats by the civilian leaders to call the youth to take to the streets once again and make the country ungovernable.

On their part, the civilians, having witnessed the recent thwarting of a coup attempt, appear suspicious that this was only a prelude for a genuine coup currently brewing.

“Am not honoured in any way to confer with them who think am debasing their political status,” said Lt. Gen. Abdul Fatah Al Burhan, the Commander-in-Chief and President of the Sovereign Council, the collective presidency.

The top military officer in the Sudan was apparently referring to two civilian members of the Sovereign Council who more than once used the term “Asakir”, meaning junta, when they refered to peers in the collective presidency. The accepted name is “the People’s Armed Forces”.

Those civilians also said without the military letting go of all companies and organisations under their grip, the economic difficulties would not ease.

They also say that the apparent challenges in the security situation were intended ploys by the security apparatus to make the cabinet look hapless.

“All the security apparatus is standing against us,” said Wagdi Salih, a leading member of the Committee for Liquidation of the June 30 Regime, a strong arm of the cabinet which is unleashed to get rid of all elements the revolutionary cabinet considers affiliated to the government of deposed President Bashir.

As recently as last week, a paramount tribal leader in eastern Sudan, Al Amin Tirik, called out his supporters in their thousands and they blocked the main roads leading to Port Sudan. They barred transportation of oil, causing the government millions of dollars in lost revenues as oil is exported by South Sudan via Sudanese ports.

The tribal leader said an agreement the cabinet reached with some former rebels in his region did not fully reflect the aspirations of his people and that he wanted it to be revisited.

The army did not intervene to quash such a threat to national and economic security, a clear message to the civilians that without the military the cabinet could do nothing.

After a public outcry and a request by the Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk, the military sent a senior General along with some members of the cabinet and the situation in Port Sudan was resolved in a few hours.

On Sunday the military again sent another strong message: they pulled all guards, security and protection elements that were posted in the offices and working areas of the Liquidation Committee. This action left its members naked before thousands of disgruntled staffers and government employees laid off during the purging operations in the last two years.

In a few hours the residence of one of the leading members was burned down, though he was not harmed.

A member of the committee cried out for help and hundreds of youth came to the offices and working place of the committee to protect them. This was another strong message by the army to the civilians that without them nothing could be achieved.

Gen. Burhan, addressing the inauguration of the new extension of Sudan Heart Centre in Khartoum on Sunday, was quoted by the official media as hailing endeavours of the Armed Forces.

He stressed the keenness of the military establishment on smooth democratic transition and its categorical commitment to the change that took place in the Sudan as well as “standing alongside the Sudanese people and their desires until they reach free and fair elections”. 

He was further quoted as expressing “regret over rumours and what have been propagated about the Armed Forces”.

Gen. Burham said that the Armed Forces are a deep-rooted establishment that work for a united Sudan and that they are the “guarantor and protector of unity of the country”. He reaffirmed that nobody would be allowed to undermine or question the patriotism and loyalty of members of the Armed Forces.

He called on political forces and the Forces of Freedom and Change to work together in order to achieve the values and slogans of the revolution as demanded by the people.

To this the Prime Minister Hamdouk, the man trying to navigate his cabinet through the tumultuous situation at present, said the standoff is never between the army and the civilians. Rather the question is between those who work for and support change and those who want the legacy of the ousted regime to continue.  

Relying on his long experience of working his way out in high seas during assignments with international organisations, and the African Union in particular, the Prime Minister has already started delivering soothing statements before bringing the two sides back to working benches.

This he would do with the support of the international community, particularly the US and France.

Hamdouk is equipped with is deep knowledge of the psychology of the Sudanese military establishment which states that throughout their history they “accept no nonsense from civilian elements”.

He is likely to succeed, albeit with "minor injuries" to the civilian pride, an apology and reining in of the some unruly civilian elements.

-0- PANA MO/MA 27Sept2021