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Cairo Summit Gives Sudan 3 Months for Power Transfer

Handout / Egyptian Presidency / AFP | African leaders at a summit in Cairo on April 23, 2019.
Handout / Egyptian Presidency / AFP | African leaders at a summit in Cairo on April 23, 2019.
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Cairo Summit Gives Sudan 3 Months for Power Transfer

Handout / Egyptian Presidency / AFP | African leaders at a summit in Cairo on April 23, 2019.
Handout / Egyptian Presidency / AFP | African leaders at a summit in Cairo on April 23, 2019.

African Union leaders meeting in Cairo on Tuesday gave Sudan’s transitional military council three months to hand over power to civilians.

The summit, which was chaired by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, saw the attendance of the presidents of Chad, Rwanda, Congo, Somalia, South Africa, and Djibouti in addition to the deputy prime minister of Ethiopia, foreign ministers of Uganda and Kenya, permanent secretary of Nigeria’s foreign ministry, head of the African Union commission and security affairs adviser of South Sudan’s president.

Since the ouster of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir earlier this month, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is leading the transitional military council.

The AU threatened on April 15 to suspend Sudan’s membership if the council didn’t hand out the authority to civilians within 15 days.

The summit statement on Tuesday expressed "the complete support of the African Union and neighboring countries for Sudan as it faces political, security and economic challenges."

The participating countries said they would help Sudan tackle cross-border crime including arms and human trafficking in order to maintain regional stability.

The meeting stressed that the Sudanese authorities and the political parties should work together in good faith to address the current situation in Sudan and to speed up the reestablishment of a constitutional regime.

"The participating countries recognized the need to give more time to the Sudanese authorities and the Sudanese parties to implement these measures, taking into consideration that they will not be lengthy, and recommended that the African Peace and Security Council extend the schedule given to the Sudanese authority for three months," added the statement.

Egyptian Presidential spokesman Ambassador Bassam Radi stated that Sisi, who holds the rotating African Union presidency, asserted during the summit the importance of setting a joint vision for stability in Sudan.

Sisi affirmed Egypt’s “full support for the choices of the Sudanese people, their free will in shaping their country’s future, and what they will agree upon in such crucial and determining phase of their history.”

“Establishing the concept of 'African solutions for African problems' is the only way to deal with joint challenges. The African states are most capable of understanding the complications of their issues, and the uniqueness of their affairs," the Egyptian president told the conference.

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SOHR: Document Reveals Assad Family Smuggled Millions to Moscow

The historic Hotel Ukraina in central Moscow (Wikipedia)
The historic Hotel Ukraina in central Moscow (Wikipedia)
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SOHR: Document Reveals Assad Family Smuggled Millions to Moscow

The historic Hotel Ukraina in central Moscow (Wikipedia)
The historic Hotel Ukraina in central Moscow (Wikipedia)

A confidential document obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has revealed massive money smuggling operations carried out via Syrian Airlines to Moscow.
The operations are described as among the most corrupt financial transfers orchestrated by the now-defunct Syrian regime.
According to the document, the majority of the funds stem from profits made through the production and trade of Captagon, a highly lucrative illicit drug.
The head of SOHR, Rami Abdel Rahman, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the most recent transfer took place just four days before Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow in December of last year.
Rami Abdel Rahman also affirmed that the leaked document underscores the “deep involvement of the former Syrian regime in illegal activities.”
He added that further investigations could uncover a vast network of secret financial operations used to transfer large sums of money from Syria to Russia and other countries under official cover and without oversight.
“The regime, led by the ousted Assad and his brother, spearheaded drug-related investments, particularly through the production, promotion, and export of Captagon,” Abdel Rahman told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He explained that one key route involved a small port near the Afamia chalets on Syria's coast, which previously belonged to Rifaat al-Assad, the brother of late former President Hafez al-Assad.
From there, shipments were sent via smugglers to Italian ports, where collaborating traders distributed the drugs globally.
A Syrian source based in Russia, closely monitoring the regime’s activities and investments there, said the content of the leaked document is not new but that its official confirmation adds weight to prior claims.
“Western media had previously reported on the regime’s money-smuggling operations, which led to some loyalists being added to international sanctions lists, particularly regime-linked businessmen like Mudalal Khouri,” the source, who requested anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Sanctions were also imposed on individuals accused of money laundering for the regime.
The source confirmed that the operations were conducted using Syrian Airlines flights to Moscow.
“There were dozens of such flights, each loaded with hard currency—mostly US dollars and €500 euro notes,” the source said.
The money was reportedly delivered directly from the airport to the Syrian regime's embassy in Moscow, where it was distributed to loyalist businessmen.
These funds were then invested in Russian and Belarusian banks, real estate, and commercial properties. Some of the money was also used to establish companies in both countries.
The operations were allegedly overseen by Mohammed Makhlouf, the maternal uncle of Assad.