Sudan: postponement of the declaration of the sovereign council for 48 hours

Sudan’s military junta announced, Monday, a 48-hour postponement of the council’s announcement. This came at the request of the Forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change so that it could settle on its list of the five candidates for the Council.

This came in press statements to the Chairman of the Political Committee in the Military Council, Shamsuddin Kabashi.

Kabashi stressed the keenness of the military junta to fully implement the time matrix attached to the Constitutional Declaration, determining the timing of the formation of the structures of the transitional authority.

He explained that the military council and the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces held a lengthy meeting at the presidential palace on Sunday evening. This was characterised by a shared sense of responsibility and partnership, during which they discussed the procedures of forming the sovereignty council.

Kabashi noted that the two sides have confirmed their commitment to the timing of the formation of the structures of the Transitional Authority announced, as stated, in the matrix attached to the constitutional document.

He added: “Each party handed out the names of the five candidates for the Council of Sovereignty,” pointing out that “the forces of change retreated from the nomination of some of the names that were submitted to the Council membership, and requested a 48-hour deadline to deliver the final list of candidates.”

Earlier on Monday, Taha Osman, the candidate for the Sovereign Council, has announced his apology for running for the Sovereign Council.

Osman pointed out that his apology comes in compliance with the decision of the “Sudanese professional Association” (SPA), the most prominent component of the forces of change, not to participate in the sovereign council and the Council of Ministers. The apology equally comes as a response to the division caused by his candidacy.

Read: Sudan opposition coalition appoints five civilian members of sovereign council

The Forces of Change nominated Taha Osman as a representative of the “Sudanese Professionals Association”. However, several unions finally announced their refusal to be represented in the Sovereign Council, most notably the Sudan Doctors Committee, the Sudanese Journalists Network, and the University Professors’ Association.

On Sunday, the Forces of Change announced that they had submitted their list of five candidates to the Sovereign Council and that the list included a woman.

According to the Sudanese News Agency (Suna), the leader of the Forces of Change, Sataa Hajj, stated that “the list includes Aisha Musa, Tawar Saddiq, Hassan Sheikh Idris, Mohammed Al-Fakih Suleiman, Taha Osman.”

The Sovereignty Council consists of 11 members, five civilians nominated by the Change Forces, five military personnel appointed by the Military Council, in addition to another civilian member agreed upon by the parties.

The Transitional Military Council will be dissolved once the names of candidates for the Council of Sovereignty are announced and once they take the oath before the Chief Justice.

The Sudanese hope that the agreement on the transition will end the unrest that followed the ouster of Omar Al-Bashir from the presidency, on April 11, under the weight of widespread protests against the deterioration of economic conditions.