The Sudanese military will step down after the elections scheduled for 2023, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan stated over the weekend adding that the exiled former ruling party would not play any role in the transition.
A deal was struck on November 21 reinstating Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok as leader of a technocratic Cabinet until elections in July 2023 following the military takeover led by General Al-Burhan in late October.
“When a government is elected, I don’t think the army, the armed forces, or any of the security forces will participate in politics. This is what we agreed on and this is the natural situation,” Burhan said.
International condemnation was sparked by the detentions of key officials and crackdowns on protesters following the coup, which ended a partnership with civilian parties after the ouster of Omar al-Bashir.
Political parties and neighbourhood resistance committees have called on the military to leave politics immediately and rejected any compromise including Hamdok’s proposal.
Doctors have reported at least 44 deaths during demonstrations, many caused by gunshots fired by security forces.
Burhan said investigations into the victims of the protests have begun to identify and punish the perpetrators, adding that security forces had only dispersed non-peaceful protests.
Since his overthrow, Bashir has been jailed on corruption charges and other charges. In addition to several other Sudanese suspects, he is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Darfur.