Aborted coup was natural result of failure to dismantle pillars of Sudan’s former regime: opposition
July 25, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Yasir Arman, deputy SPLM-North leader and leading members of the Forces for Freedom and Change said the failed coup was a natural result of the failure of the military council to dismantle military and security pillars of the ousted regime.
The Transitional Military Council (TMC) said on Wednesday that it had thwarted a coup attempt and arrested a number of senior military officers and dignitaries of the former regime in connection with the coup.
In comments about the failed coup, Arman blamed the ruling TMC for keeping intact all the components of the former regime despite the repeated calls to clean the state institutions from the partisans of the former Islamist regime.
“The pillars of the former regime that dominate the security sector and penetrate all its components, control the economic sector and the other vital organs of the state will not stop attempts to return to power and to restore the ousted regime,” he said in statements to Sudan Tribune.
“The repetition of coup attempts is due to the indulgence of the military council with the putschists and its failure to dismantle the pillars of empowerment of the ousted regime which are the material basis of the coups,” he further said.
After the power takeover on 11 April by the former security committee of the former regime following months of nationwide protests, the transitional military council refused to purge the army, vital security and economic institutions from the elements of the regime.
The arrested military commanders like chief of staff Lt General, Hashim Abdel Muttalib Ahmed and Commander of the Khartoum Central Military District Major General Bahr Ahmed Bahr both have made public statements on 31 May denouncing the pro-democracy sit-in and called for its removal.
Arman asserted that the forces of the former regime surrounded the military council and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and sought to drive a wedge between them and the forces of the revolution. He further said that the slow transition to civilian rule and the achievement of comprehensive peace was in the interests of the forces of the former regime.
Accordingly, he advised the TMC to try the military responsible for the aborted coup and to speed up the power transfer process to a civilian administration.
“Political stability and democracy require the restructuring of the Sudanese army, eliminating the influence of the forces of the former regime in the security sector and outside it. In addition, there is a need to find new security arrangements to include the forces of the armed groups, the RSF and the old army in one professional Sudanese army that reflects the composition and diversity of Sudan and protects the citizen and democracy,” he emphasized.
The opposition FFC and the TMC will resume talks on the constitutional declaration on Saturday amid hopes that the failed coup will help to restore confidence between the two parties and accelerate the formation of a civilian-led government.
(ST)