August 10, 2019 - Sudan is moving towards a transitional civilian government and a parliament that will govern for three years under the supervision of a joint civilian-military ruling body.
However, the process is facing challenges due to vested interests and parties constantly changing positions. The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Transitional Military Council (TMC) signed an agreement in Addis Ababa, but some political parties and armed groups have back-tracked and rejected the Constitutional Declaration.
Dr. Hassan Abedelati, Secretary General of the Sudanese National Civic Forum, told The EastAfrican that the issue of which posts go where is a matter of concern, but civil society is working on a structured dialogue to calm tensions and negative attitudes.
The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), led by Malik Agar, Minni Minawi, and Jibril Ibrahim, rejected the Constitutional Declaration, citing that it and the political agreement were signed without including the vision of complete peace in the documents and without full compliance with what was agreed upon in the Addis Ababa consultations.
According to the agreement, 67% of the seats in parliament will go to the FCC, while the remaining 33% will be allocated to opposition groups that are not members of the opposition coalition but took part in the revolution that toppled al-Bashir's government in April.
The National Umma Party (NUP) has to amend the Constitutional Declaration to incorporate what was agreed with the SRF. The deal will be formally signed on August 17, with a prime minister to be named on August 20 and cabinet members on August 28.
