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 Chief Slams US-Backed Gaza Aid Operation: ‘It Is Killing People’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Centre des Expositions conference centre in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Centre des Expositions conference centre in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Chief Slams US-Backed Gaza Aid Operation: ‘It Is Killing People’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Centre des Expositions conference centre in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Centre des Expositions conference centre in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that a US-backed aid operation in Gaza is "inherently unsafe," giving a blunt assessment: "It is killing people."

Israel and the United States want the UN to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.

"Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people," Guterres told reporters.

Guterres said UN-led humanitarian efforts are being "strangled," aid workers themselves are starving and Israel as the occupying power is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout the Palestinian enclave.

"People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence," Guterres told reporters.

"It is time to find the political courage for a ceasefire in Gaza."

Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the UN and GHF operations. A senior UN official said on Sunday that the majority of those people were trying to reach GHF sites.

Responding to Guterres on Friday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Israel’s military never targets civilians and accused the UN of "doing everything it can" to oppose the GHF aid operation.

"In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF’s humanitarian operations," it posted on X.

A GHF spokesperson said there have been no deaths at or near any of the GHF aid distribution sites.

"It is unfortunate the UN continue to push false information regarding our operations," the GHF spokesperson said. "Bottom line, our aid is getting securely delivered. Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome the UN and other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza."

GHF uses private US security and logistics firms to operate. It began operations in Gaza on May 26 and said on Friday so far it has given out more than 48 million meals.

The US State Department said on Thursday it had approved $30 million in funding for the GHF and called on other countries to also support the group.

Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the UN-led operations, which the group denies.