Sudan delays signing of final political agreement
The signing of a final political agreement in Sudan has been postponed due to the need to resolve differences between the army and paramilitary group, announced a spokesman on Saturday.
The signatories of the framework agreement ended a four-day workshop on March 29 without an agreement on the security and military arrangements to form a single army that fit with democratic norms.
After further discussions until the early hours of Saturday, April 1, the official spokesman of the political Process announced the postponement of the signing ceremony of an agreement paving the way for the formation of a civilian government.
“The civilian and military signatories of the framework agreement and the tripartite mechanism will meet at the Presidential Palace at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, to set a new date for the signing of the final political agreement.” reads a statement issued by Khalid Omer Youssif.
Youssif added that the parties will continue discussions to overcome the last obstacles hindering an agreement t restore the path of civil democratic transition,
The Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) failed on March 29 to agree on some pending issues including the need for time to integrate the second.
Also, the reform of the army, particularly, the purge of Islamist officers is one of the sticky issues.
Al-Burhan seemingly believes that military discipline can allow controlling the contested elements recruited on ideological bases during the former regime, while the RSF fears that the latter would throw them away once they are integrated.
Analysts agree that the discussions of these technical issues reflected a political divergence on the fate of an army that remains one of the bastions of the former regime.
On February 17, the head of the Sovereign Council and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese army made it clear
“If there is clear agreement about integrating the RSF and armed movements into the armed forces, we will proceed with the framework agreement.”
“Anything other than this will not be acceptable to us,” he stressed.
