Al-Burhan: Ready for settlement with opposition for the best of Sudan

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Head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, confirmed on Wednesday that no bilateral agreement had been reached with the political opposition.

At the same time, Al-Burhan indicated "the military's readiness to accept any consensual formula from the political parties, that guarantees the cohesion of the country and preserves the dignity and independence of the armed forces, so that they can perform their basic roles."

During his meeting with senior leaders and officers of the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, Al-Burhan said that "any formula that guarantees the cohesion of the country, preserves the dignity of the regular forces so that they can carry out their national duties, and brings an independent, non-partisan government, and the political forces agree on it, will be acceptable to us."

Al-Burhan renewed the military leadership's pledge to withdraw from the political scene in the event that political forces agree, "so that the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces would devote themselves to following up on arranging their ranks, reviewing their organizations, and preparing for future challenges," stressing that "the unity of the military institution, including the Rapid Support Forces."

This comes after Freedom and Change Forces announced they had reached a framework agreement with the military component in the country regarding a document for the transitional period.

Dialogue sessions started last May between Sudanese Parties under the sponsorship of the trilateral mechanism (United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)) in order to resolve the political crisis in the country.

The main opposition forces in Sudan, including the Communist Party, the Freedom and Change Forces, and the Umma Party, boycotted the opening session of the dialogue.

It is worth noting that Sudan has been in turmoil since October 25, 2021, after Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government was dismissed and a state of emergency was declared in the country. Before the takeover by the military forces, Sudan was ruled by a sovereign council of the military, and civilian officials were tasked with overseeing the transition period until elections in 2023. Then-Army General Al-Burhan spearheaded a military coup that halted a collaboration between the army and civilian parties that were supposed to lead to democratic elections, igniting months of protests and international condemnation. 

Since the military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, when he overthrew the civilians who shared power with the army following the fall of former President Omar Al-Bashir, Sudan has seen continuous protests punctuated by unrest and violence.