Sudan’s Hemetti admits coup failure to achieve goals

August 1, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council acknowledged the failure of their military coup to achieve its objectives nine months after overthrowing a civilian government in October 2022.

Mohamed Hamdan Daglo ”Hemetti” made his confession in an interview with the BBC TV Arabic Service from the West Darfur capital El Geneina, where he is residing for more than a month.

Hemetti reaffirmed the seriousness of the military component to quit power after the agreement of political parties and armed groups on a transitional government, emphasizing that they prefer to respect the will of the Sudanese people and bring stability to the country.

“We have not succeeded to achieve change for reasons that I will not talk about. When you think about change, you certainly have a goal and a vision to achieve this change. Unfortunately, what was planned was not done and failed. Now we’ve gone worse despite some positives,”

“We did not succeed in changing for reasons that I will not disclose. So, when you think about a change, you certainly have a goal and a vision to achieve through this change. But unfortunately, what was planned was not done and the matter failed,”. he said.

“The situation now is worse than before. True there are some positive aspects but there are also negative results the support of the international community is crucial for Sudan,” he added.

He further pointed to the daily demonstrations, the killing of youth protesters and the “killing of security forces” saying “it is all on us”.

On October 25, 2021, the military component dissolved the civilian government and imposed a state of emergency in the country citing attempts by “minor political groups” to hijack power during the transition and avoid elections.

In response, the international community stopped financial and economic and isolated the military regime, particularly after the bloody repression that led to the killing of over 116 protesters, and continued grave human rights violations.

Running for presidency

However, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) did not exclude running for president in Sudan at the end of the transitional period.

When asked about the growing rumours about his plans to run for president as his entourage promotes, Hemetti left the door ajar.

He started by saying that in the past he had no political ambition in the past.

“I hated politics and politicians. But now, after three years, we see that Sudan is heading towards the abyss”.

“If a responsible government is formed by patriots who preserve Sudan’s integrity, security and independence, and strive for the revival of the country we will not want to run for office,” he said.

“But if Sudan goes towards collapse, we will be present,” he stressed.

This is the first time, the RSF leader divulges his political ambition, despite the negative image Sudanese have of the war crimes and grave human rights violations committed by his militiamen.

Also, he is accused of involving in gold mining and close relations with Moscow and it private mercenary company, Wagner.

RSF merger

With regard to the RSF merger into the national army, he also admitted the principle but spoke about required procedures.

“We have no objection to merging the Rapid Support Forces into the army and having one army, but there are procedures, and if reform is done, as you said, we have no problem,” he said.

Hemetti last year openly rejected calls to disband his RSF and to integrate its forces into the national army.

(ST)