Sudanese Military Council: We Have Popular Mandate to Form Government of Technocrats

Deputy Head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council during a press conference held in Khartoum on Saturday, June 15, 2019. (EPA)
Deputy Head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council during a press conference held in Khartoum on Saturday, June 15, 2019. (EPA)
TT

Sudanese Military Council: We Have Popular Mandate to Form Government of Technocrats

Deputy Head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council during a press conference held in Khartoum on Saturday, June 15, 2019. (EPA)
Deputy Head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council during a press conference held in Khartoum on Saturday, June 15, 2019. (EPA)

Deputy Head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council Lieutenant General Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hamidati) said the council enjoys a popular mandate to form a government of technocrats.

Hamidati stressed during a press conference in Khartoum on Saturday that they didn't refuse to negotiate and confirmed they are not clinging to power.

He accused some parties of trying to provoke sedition in Sudan, affirming that the country is currently stable and expressed the Council's willingness to negotiate.

In reference to foreign intervention, he noted that some foreign ambassadors have destructed the country and have returned to Sudan for the time being. He concluded by saying that the Sudanese people contributed to changing the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir.

His remarks come as Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change have put conditions to return to direct negotiations with the Transitional Military Council.

It said it would only agree to negotiate after forming an international committee to oversee the investigation of the sit-in in front of the army headquarters and the subsequent events that resulted in the killing and wounding of dozens of protesters.

They also refused to review previous agreements.

On the other hand, Bashir will stand trial on corruption charges after the one-week period for objections expires, Chief prosecutor Alwaleed Sayed Ahmed Mahmoud said Saturday.

He also said that 41 former officials from Bashir's government are being investigated for suspected graft.

Separately, Mahmoud said the judiciary had not been consulted ahead of a decision to violently disperse a protest camp in the center of the capital in early June. Dozens of people were killed in the crackdown, which undermined talks on a transition to democracy.

The protest camp outside the Defense Ministry became the focal point of protests as demonstrators demanded the military to hand over power to civilians.



UN's Syria Envoy Calls for 'Free And Fair Elections' after Transition

A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP
A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP
TT

UN's Syria Envoy Calls for 'Free And Fair Elections' after Transition

A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP
A man lifts an independence-era Syrian flag as passengers disembark in Aleppo, after the first commercial flight since Assad's ouster - AFP

United Nations special envoy Geir Pedersen called Wednesday for "free and fair elections" in Syria and urged humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country after Bashar al-Assad's ouster this month.

Addressing reporters in Damascus, Pedersen said "there is a lot of hope that we can now see the beginning of a new Syria", which he expressed hope would also include a "political solution" in the Kurdish-held northeast.

The UN envoy called for "a new Syria that, in line with Security Council Resolution 2254, will adopt a new constitution... and that we will have free and fair elections when that time comes, after a transitional period."

Resolution 2254, adopted in 2015 at the height of the civil war, set out a roadmap for a political settlement in Syria, according to AFP.

After opposition factions captured Damascus on December 8 and toppled Assad's rule, Pedersen expressed his hope the Syrians can rebuild their country and that "the process to end sanctions" imposed under the former government could begin.

"We need immediate humanitarian assistance, but we also need to make sure that Syria can be rebuilt, that we can see economic recovery," he said.

Pedersen noted that "one of the biggest challenges is the situation in the northeast", amid fears of a major escalation between the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Türkiye-backed armed groups.

Türkiye accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants at home, whom both Washington and Ankara consider a "terrorist" group.

The United States said on Tuesday it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in the flashpoint town of Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Türkiye.

"I'm very pleased that the truce has been renewed and that it seems to be holding, but hopefully we will see a political solution to that issue," Pedersen said.