Day: January 2, 2023

The head of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, warned that exclusion, minimising the role of others, not listening to their demands, and imposing the will of specific groups will lead to wasting the current opportunity, and will put the unity and security of the country in great danger.

In a speech on the occasion of the anniversary of Sudan’s Independence (January 1, 1956), he said, “We look forward to broadening the base of political consensus in preparation for discussing and resolving the core issues identified by the framework agreement.”

He renewed the military institution’s commitment to the final exit from the political process and the protection of the transition, and expressed his hope that the transitional government would be formed from independent national competencies. He stressed the importance of focusing the government’s basic programs on the economy, peace, and security, and preparing for the elections.

The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) say that the workshops and conferences on the five deferred issues will start simultaneously on January 9.

Jaafar Hasan, spokesperson for the FFC, said in a workshop organised by the El Nilein University lecturers’ initiative on the Framework Agreement on Saturday that they refuse to drown the political process, stressing that the discussions are limited to agreed-upon parties and are not open to all.

He explained that the resistance committees are not required to support the Framework Agreement, indicating that the unity of the committees towards rejecting the agreement is better than their being divided between supporters and opponents.

Hasan warned that the Framework Agreement will become a dead letter in the event that the civil front did not reach cohesion. He pointed out that there is no clear vision for a new Legislative Council.

Challenges facing the agreement

Fadlallah Burma Nasir, the acting head of the National Umma Party, confirmed that the Framework Agreement faces great challenges.

During his address to the El Nilein University workshop, he called on the signatories to the Framework Agreement to open the hearts and minds of all those who did not sign. He also called on the non-signatories to catch up with the agreement, calling for moving away from personal and partisan interests.

He warned of the dangers of the conflicts taking place in various parts of the country, which he said threaten the country’s identity and may lead to its fragmentation. He also warned of the dire consequences of the spread of hate speech, disagreements among the civil parties, and within the military forces.

Jibril Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan’s Minister of Finance, said that the Framework Agreement will not succeed and remain in the event that the signatories do not return to all components of society and reform the path with the participation of all. At the same time, he promised to reach an imminent agreement to form a government.

He said, during his address to a mass gathering of farmers in El Gezira on Saturday, that the forces that signed the agreement are a small group of freedom and change, stressing that no one has the right to exclusion, calling for the participation of all.

He stressed that the differences between the parties are not great, accusing the parties of seeking to monopolise the decision and power and unilaterally determine the fate of the country. He warned of what he described as tampering with the Juba Peace Agreement, expressing his fears that it would lead to a similar fate for the south in the event of breaking the covenants.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The head of the High Council of Beja Nazirs and Independent Chieftains, Sayed Tirik, has again threatened to announce self-determination for Red Sea state, Kassala, and El Gedaref, if the government in Khartoum does not respond to their demands for a separate platform on governance and development in eastern Sudan.

In his address to supporters in the area of Moweeta, north of Kassala, on Sunday, Nazir* Tirik described the Framework Agreement signed by the military junta and a number of civilian opposition groups last month, as a setback for Sudan’s independence.

The agreement was imposed on the Sudanese by foreign stakeholders, he said, and called for “a round table for all Sudanese to reach an agreement on which all the people of Sudan will agree”.

Tirik further said he refuses to join dialogue workshops organised by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) in the name of eastern Sudan to reach a final agreement with the military, and threatened again to announce self-rule for eastern Sudan.

He announced that he plans “to lead a broad alliance that will bring together the north, the centre, and the south of Sudan, and all the oppressed in the country”, with the purpose of establishing “a genuine Sudanese federation” and added that “We reject any rule coming from Khartoum”.

The Beja leader further affirmed his support for “the armed forces and other regular forces”.

Framework agreement

On December 5, more than 40 parties, movements, and professional groups signed the Framework Agreement with the military at the Republican Palace in Khartoum. The agreement stipulates full civilian authority at all levels, and a Security and Defence Council headed by the Prime Minister.

This agreement is to be followed by a Final Agreement, after which a civilian government of technocrats will be formed to govern the country until general elections are held.

Five important though thorny issues still have to be discussed before this final agreement can be reached: justice and transitional justice, security and military reform, empowerment** removal, possible amendments to the Juba Peace Agreement, and governance issues regarding eastern Sudan.

On Friday, the mainstream High Council of Beja Nazirs and Independent Chieftains, headed by Tirik, and the Eastern Sudan Coordination Council announced that they will escalate their protests against the Framework Agreement in Kassala and Red Sea state.

In a press statement after a meeting of the Beja Council and the Coordination Council on Thursday, Tirik announced “mass mobilisation throughout the region, starting from Sunday, in protest against the Framework Agreement and to demand self-determination for eastern Sudan.

Split

The High Council of Beja Nazirs and Independent Chieftains witnessed a rift this summer when a faction opposed to Sayed Tirik made its own plans under the leadership of Abdallah Obshar, and announced the formation of committees to prepare for the right to self-determination, according to the stipulations of the Sinkat conference. Ibrahim Adarob became the chair of the new split-off faction, Obshar the spokesperson.

In mid-December, the AU-IGAD-UN Trilateral Mechanism mediating between the military and the opposition, invited the Adarob faction to participate in the upcoming Final Agreement negotiations. The Beja group refused as they had not been included in the previous stages.

Obshar told Radio Dabanga on December 23 that they instead demanded the implementation of agreements made with a UNITAMS delegation in October last year, which include the cancellation of the Eastern Sudan Protocol of the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, the establishment of a negotiating platform on governance issues of eastern Sudan with the guaranteed involvement of the international community.

Source: Radio Dabanga

According to economist Awadallah Mousa the statements of the Minister of Finance about the Sudanese economy on Saturday “are nothing more than a public political speech”.

Mousa considers the statements of Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim on the Sudanese economy during his address to a crowd in Hasaheisa in El Gezira on Saturday, as an attempt “to raise the morale, but they are imperceptible”.

In his speech, the Minister acknowledged the suffering of the Sudanese caused by repeated increases in the prices of consumer goods, though the government succeeded in stabilising the exchange rate of the Sudanese Pound and in reducing inflation rates.

He further explained that the funds gained by lifting subsidies on consumer goods have been used to increase the budgets for health, social development, education, and the provision of drinking water. The 2023 budget contains increased budgets for education and drinking water.

“The government is in the process of constructing huge projects, including the construction of a $6 billion port [in Red Sea state] and the construction of a railway that will connect Port Sudan with all the landlocked neighbouring countries – which will accommodate tens of thousands of workers,” he added, and pointed out that “we have been able to persuade the Arab and African world to invest in food and support agriculture in Sudan”.

The Finance Minister and leader of the Justice and Equality Movement that supported the October 2021 coup d’état, further called on the farmers of El Gezira “not to believe rumours about the expropriation of their lands. The ministry is seeking partnerships with advanced parties to increase production.”

Stagflation

Economist Awadallah Mousa however contradicted Ibrahim’s optimism in an interview with Radio Dabanga on Sunday.

Regarding the stability of the exchange rate of the Sudanese Pound, Mousa said that the reason “probably lies in the economic negatives related to the recession and the imbalance in demand and supply”. The rate of development is almost zero.

As for the inflation in the country, the economist said that it “has increased significantly, in particular the prices of fuel and electricity, have witnessed unprecedented increases, to the extent that the workers’ monthly salaries have become too low to even cover their transportation costs”.

Mousa further pointed out that the payment of salaries is not an achievement, but the duty of the state.

In December, economist Kamal Karrar questioned reports of the Sudanese Central Bureau for Statistics regarding the decrease in inflation in November to 88.83 per cent. “Contrary to what the Central Bureau for Statistics reported, the prices of consumer goods and various services are still rising. Any Sudanese can tell you that,” he said.

“Semi-independent reports on the inflation in Sudan this year until now say that the price increases exceed 1,000 per cent,” he explained. “It is likely that the purpose of these reports is to deliver a message to the Sudanese and foreign public opinion, showing that the economic policy based on the specifications of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has positive results, as evidenced by the drop in inflation.”

Professor Esam Abdelwahab Bob does not believe the inflation figures, because they “aren’t grounded in authentic statistical surveys and given the stormy political climate they may not be true”. He explained to Sudan Tribune in October that inflation was traditionally known to be the diminishing ability of a unit of currency to buy goods and services, but that it it may occur while the economy is still growing. However, these days and globally there is increasing talk of stagflation, which is inflation coupled with low growth rates, high unemployment, depressed wages, and a growing deficit in the balance of payments.

Source: Radio Dabanga