al-Burhan’s proposed military council includes sovereign tasks: Arman
July 5, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Yasir Arman a leading member of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) Tuesday revealed that the coup leaders want the proposed higher military council to perform the sovereign tasks.
Al-Burhan on Monday announced the withdrawal of the military component from the dialogue process saying that they would dissolve the Sovereign Council after the formation of civilian government and form a military council responsible for the country’s security and defence in addition to” other related tasks”.
In an opinion paper released on Tuesday morning, Arman said that the announced withdrawal of the military component from the dialogue facilitated by the Trilateral Mechanism does not mean that the coup leaders accept to hand over power to civilians.
He added that the announced withdrawal is consistent with a confidential note the military component sent to the Trilateral Mechanism and parties from the international community a few days ago.
The confidential note “clearly describes the functions of the Higher Military Council of the Armed Forces, notably the exercise of sovereignty functions, aspects of foreign policy, (control of) the Bank of Sudan and other tasks,” Arman wrote.
The FFC and the Resistance Committees as well as other anti-coup groups call for the withdrawal of the Sudanese military from the transitional authority saying their role would be limited to participating in a national security council to be chaired by the prime minister.
While the formerly ruling coalition accepted to negotiate with the military component in backchannel talks mediated by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the other anti-coup political and civilian forces reject any contact with them.
General al-Burhan made his speech on Monday just before heading to Nairobi to participate in a regional summit of the IGAD leaders.
No official response has been yet issued by the FFC coalition but several Resistance Committees quickly rejected al-Burhan statements about the higher military council.
Siddiq Sadiq al-Mahdi, a leading member of the National Umma Party and FFC stated on Monday evening that this new body increases the powers of the military component.
In return, al-Burhan’s speech was welcomed by the Unionist Democratic Party of Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani and the Umma Party of Mubarak al-Mahdi who leads a splinter faction from the National Umma Party.
The National Consensus groups that back the coup are expected to declare their position on Tuesday.
For their part, the FFC leaders called for a press conference on Tuesday after a meeting held on Monday night.
(ST)