Sudan’s framework groups decide to draft final agreement

March 15, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The civilian and military signatories of the Political Framework Agreement agreed to form a committee to draft the final agreement, as they are approaching the end of the political process on the restoration of a transitional civilian government in Sudan.

All the signatories including the head of the Sovereign Council and his deputy as well as the political and civil society groups met at the headquarters of the Sudanese army three months after the signing of the framework on December 5, 2022.

The meeting was also attended by the tripartite facilitation panel and the ambassadors of the Quad and the EU who support the process.

“The signatories to the Framework Political Agreement agreed to convene a political mechanism, which will begin urgently to draft the final political agreement,” said Khalid Omer Youssif, Spokesman for the Political Process, in a statement released after the meeting.

Youssif added that these parties and the facilitation panel agreed to conclude the conferences on Justice, Transitional Justice and Security and Military Reform before the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is expected to begin on March 23.

The conference on justice and transitional justice is scheduled to start on Thursday, March 16, and continue until March 20.

The framework agreement provides to hold five conferences on the sticky issues in order to reach a consensus on it. These issues are the dismantlement of the former regime, justice and transitional justice, peace, the eastern Sudan crisis and security reform.

The spokesman further said that the meeting requested the Joint Coordinating Committee and the Trilateral Mechanism to set out in the coming days a timetable for the remaining tasks.

These tasks include completing discussions on the remaining sticky issues and the formation of the transitional civilian authority.

Youssif said the signatories reiterated their firm determination to strike a final agreement within a short time, to restore the civil-led transition and overcome the challenges the country is going through.

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, Yasir Arman a leading figure in the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) said the signatories are heading towards the finishing of the political process and called for popular support to protect it from the counter-revolutionary forces.

“The consensus reached, during the meeting, on the foundations and principles of security and military reform put the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the right direction that serves Sudan (…),” he added.

Youssif did not speak about the non-signatories and their continued rejection of the framework agreement.

(ST)