Girbil Ibrahim denies participating in Sudan’s military coup

February 20, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Gibril Ibrahim Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader rejected accusations that his group had participated in the October 25 coup that ended the FFC-led transition and brought chaos and instability in Sudan.

Ibrahim and Minni Minnawi the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) were at odds with the formerly ruling coalition of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC).

The two groups and their allies called for the dissolution of the government of Abdallah Hamdok and to involve more political groups in the transition.

The two former rebel groups refused to condemn the military coup and spoke about “corrective measures” to end the highjack of government by a few political groups.

In a press conference held on Saturday, Gibril who is also the finance minister stressed that the armed groups were not part of the decisions taken by the army commander-in-chief on October 25th.

“Anyone who thinks that we arranged the extraordinary decisions (the coup) or knew that they would lead to these extraordinary decisions, is wrong.

“We did not know it would get to this point. In fact, we were (just) in conflict with the Freedom and Change Forces,” he said.

Gibril further called to appoint a prime minister to fill the constitutional vacuum until a political agreement is reached ending the current crisis, stressing that the current situation is “unacceptable”.

All the signatory groups of the Juba Peace Agreement kept their positions in the transitional government, even after the dissolution of the Hamdok cabinet.

Recently, the Head of the Sovereign council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan appointed acting ministers but he did not appoint a prime minister.

SLM leader Minni Minnawi two days ago called to shorten the transition period and to prepare for general elections.

(ST)