Sudanese to celebrate agreement on transitional authority

August 17, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan will celebrate Saturday the signing of the Political Agreement and the Constitutional Declaration on the Transitional Authority that will lead the country for three years and three months before the first democratic general elections after the fall of the al-Bashir regime.

The celebration which will be attended by regional leaders and ministerial delegations will take place at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum at 01:00 PM. Also, a popular celebration and parties will be held in the Freedom Park which is nearby the Hall.

The residents of Atbara where were killed the first protesters in December 2018 will participate in the celebrations, as a train full of people arrived in Khartoum on Friday.

Also, arrived in Khartoum, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa, Djibouti Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Yusuf.

While four regional leaders of South Sudan, Chad, Kenya and the Ethiopian Prime Minister will attend the ceremony, the Egyptian President who is the head of the African Union declined the invitation as will be represented by his Prime Minister Mostafa Kemal Madbouly.

Expected to arrive in Khartoum, Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah-First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kuwait, Adel Al-Jubeir Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa Bahrain’s Foreign Minister and Yousef Al-Othaimeen the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The European Union will be represented by Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.

The official ceremony will be addressed by the head of the military council and a representative of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), besides representatives of the African Union and the IGAD.

To reach these agreements, the negotiations between the junta and the FFC began in April and ended in August 2019.

After, the collapse of the former regime, the army generals initially sought to rule the country for two years before to hand power to an elected government.

However, under the pressures of the Sudanese street, the African Union and the international community, the military council which included some Islamists accepted to hand over power to civilians but stipulated they remain represented in a collective presidency with the civilians.

During the transitional period, the country will be ruled by a technocrat government headed by an independent prime minister and under the control of an appointed legislative council where the FFC have the two-thirds.

While the first task of the government is to end the war and bring peace in the country, three armed groups that are part of the FFC distanced themselves from the deal on the transitional authority and requested some seats in the executive institutions be allocated to their representatives.

Also, the new government which will be formed next week has to deal with the difficult economic situation in the country which is still in the U.S. terror list which prevents the economic support of the international institutions.

(ST)