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)
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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 Refugee Agency Expects 1 Million Syrians to Return

Trucks carrying the belongings of Syrian refugees move along a road from a camp in Arsal in eastern Lebanon on their way back to Syria on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Nidal SOLH / AFP)
Trucks carrying the belongings of Syrian refugees move along a road from a camp in Arsal in eastern Lebanon on their way back to Syria on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Nidal SOLH / AFP)
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UN Refugee Agency Expects 1 Million Syrians to Return

Trucks carrying the belongings of Syrian refugees move along a road from a camp in Arsal in eastern Lebanon on their way back to Syria on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Nidal SOLH / AFP)
Trucks carrying the belongings of Syrian refugees move along a road from a camp in Arsal in eastern Lebanon on their way back to Syria on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Nidal SOLH / AFP)

A UN refugee agency official said on Tuesday that some 1 million Syrian refugees are expected to return to the country in the first six months of 2025, asking countries to refrain from forced returns.

"Now we have forecasted that we hope to see somewhere in the order of 1 million Syrians returning between January and June next year so we shared this plan with donors, asking for their support," said Rema Jamous Imseis, UNHCR Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

She said that thousands of people had fled Syria this month as opposition fighters seized power from President Bashar al-Assad, while thousands had also returned to the country mostly from Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan.