Sudanese communists accuse military council of clinging to power
April 25, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) has called on the Transitional Military Council to hand over to civilian rule saying they have realized that they cling to power and delay power transfer to the Freedom and Change forces.
In a statement released in Khartoum on Thursday, the SCP said it reached this conclusion after a meeting to discuss the outcome of the freedom and change forces with the military council on Wednesday
The opposition party said the positive step of the meeting is to agree that the forces of Freedom and Change are the sole representative of the forces of the revolution.
“However, the insistence of the Transitional Military Council to carry out acts of sovereignty confirms its coup d’état. The TMC must yield power and negotiate with the Civilian Sovereign Council on how to represent the regular forces within the institutions of the transition period,” he stressed.
Opposition sources close to the meeting in Khartoum said that the two sides discussed three proposals including the continuation of the military council should continue as a council of sovereignty with limited powers.
Also, they may form a civilian sovereignty council while the military will transform their council into a security and defence council entrusted with the declaration of war and the sovereign issues concerned with army, security and police.
The third option is to form a mixed sovereignty council including militaries and civilians with broader powers, regardless of who heads the council, whether it is Abdel Fattah al-Burhan or another candidate.
To make things easy to understand: the opposition believes that if the military council to continue as such their powers will be limited to the representation of the state but if they accept the idea of a joint council it will have broader powers similar to the presidential regime.
Opposition sources say the military, for the moment, want to keep the situation as it is but they are struggling to make a change.
Also, the TMC spokesperson Shams al-Din Kabbashi Thursday told Reuters that the military council will keep the sovereign authority only while the government will be formed by civilians.
“The Transitional Military Council has the sovereign authority only, while the head of the cabinet, the civilian government and all the executive authority will be completely civilian,” Kabbashi said.
COUP D’ÉTAT
In a related development, the head of the National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq al-Mahdi warned that the continuation of the dispute between the military council and the opposition may pave the way for the partisans of the former regime to attempt a military coup.
“For them to attempt a counter-coup is most probable. All the time they are conspiring,” Mahdi, told Reuters.
However, he adopted a reconciliatory tone when he said that the militaries have good intentions and do not to establish a military rule in Sudan.
“They are not interested in a military government,” he said.
(ST)