Burhan says ready transfer power to civilians once national consensus is reached
February 2, 2022 (EL-FASHER) – Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Head of the Sovereign Council in Sudan Wednesday said he would only hand over power to an elected government or if a national consensus is forged.
On Wednesday, al-Burhan chaired a meeting held in El-Fashir of North Darfur to discuss the formation of the joint forces tasked with the protection of civilians in Darfur and ways to implement the belated security arrangements with signatory groups.
In a speech delivered at the end of the meeting, he justified the bloody repression of anti-coup protests saying they have the duty and responsibility to maintain security and order and preserve the country.
“Also, this responsibility requires that the power be handed over only to truthful hands. This happens only in two cases, either through elections or through a national charter that brings together all Sudanese,” he said.
“If they agree and sit together, we are ready to join them and dialogue with them. They can even decide to cut our necks and we are ready for that. What matters to us is the agreement of all the Sudanese and then we will transfer them their “entrusted power” through elections or national accord,” he further stressed.
In June 2019 before the signing of the constitutional declaration of August 2019 and after the coup d’état of October 25, 2021, as well as on other occasions, al-Burhan reiterated his rejection to hand over power to civilians during the transition.
In an interview last year, he referred to the one-year transition led by a military council after the April 1985 revolution saying he wanted to reproduce this scenario.
This is the first time he evokes his readiness to transfer power to a civil government agreed to the Sudanese.
On February 1, Bob Menendez Chairman of U.S Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs and Ranking Senator Jim Risch criticized the Biden administration for failing to impose targeted sanctions on the coup leaders in Sudan.
But Molly Phee Assistant Secretary of State for Africa told them that the military leaders want to achieve the transition and there is an opportunity for diplomacy
“Some of them truly would like to effect the transition but they do not know how to do it,” she said alluding to al-Burhan.
The United Nations through its mission to support the transition in Sudan launched a consultations process aiming to bring the Sudanese stakeholders in a national conference to end the ongoing stalemate.
Also, the African Union and IGAD said prepared to launch a mediation to settle the political crisis caused by the coup d’etat.
(ST)