Sudan’s military leaders, pro-democracy forces announce delay of signing of agreement to establish civilian government

(MENAFN) Sudan’s military leaders and pro-democracy forces have announced the delay of the signing of an agreement to establish a civilian government, as negotiations on key security reforms appear to have reached a deadlock. The signing was originally scheduled for later on the same day, but the parties involved released a joint statement saying that a meeting will be held on Saturday to set a new date for the signing of the final political agreement. The statement cited a lack of consensus on some outstanding issues as the reason for the postponement.

Following a military coup in October 2021, which removed a Western-backed power-sharing government, Sudan has been thrown into chaos. The coup, led by the country’s top General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, upended the country’s short-lived transition to democracy. However, last December, the military, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and several pro-democracy groups signed a preliminary agreement pledging to restore the transition. Over the past few months, internationally brokered workshops in Khartoum have been seeking to find common ground over the country’s thorniest political issues, with the hope of signing a more inclusive final agreement.

The most significant topics discussed have been security sector reform and the integration of the RSF into the military, which was the subject of this week’s talks. However, the talks ended on Wednesday without any clear outcome. A spokesperson for one of the largest pro-democracy groups, which signed the December agreement, said that the army and the RSF were unable to reach an agreement on the timeline for the integration process. The army wanted a two-year timeline, while the RSF called for a ten-year timeline. There has been no response yet from the Sudanese army or the RSF regarding the postponement.

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