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Sudan: Expectations of Deal with Armed Movements, New Structure for Alliance of Change

Sudanese protesters shout slogans and wave flags during a rally honoring fallen protesters at the Green Square in Khartoum, Sudan July 18, 2019. (Reuters)
Sudanese protesters shout slogans and wave flags during a rally honoring fallen protesters at the Green Square in Khartoum, Sudan July 18, 2019. (Reuters)
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Sudan: Expectations of Deal with Armed Movements, New Structure for Alliance of Change

Sudanese protesters shout slogans and wave flags during a rally honoring fallen protesters at the Green Square in Khartoum, Sudan July 18, 2019. (Reuters)
Sudanese protesters shout slogans and wave flags during a rally honoring fallen protesters at the Green Square in Khartoum, Sudan July 18, 2019. (Reuters)

Sudan’s Declaration of Freedom and Change activists and armed movements meeting in Addis Ababa are expected to sign a draft joint agreement specifying the details of the transitional period and overcoming the complex issue of the representation in both ministerial and sovereignty councils.
 
Since last week, intensive discussions are being held in the Ethiopian capital between the Declaration of Freedom and Change and the armed movements - known as the “Revolutionary Front” - to discuss arrangements for achieving peace during the transitional period.
 
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Freedom and Change members agreed on a “proposal to structure the Coalition institutions”, to form a leadership body and a federal and state regulatory structure that ensures coordination and management of political work during the transitional period.
 
According to the sources, the parties have reached an agreement to allocate “six seats for the Revolutionary Front, five seats for Nidaa al-Sudan, five for the National Consensus forces, five for the Professionals’ Gathering, two for the opposition federal gathering, two for the civil factions and two for the displaced and refugees.”
 
A spokesman for the Revolutionary Front, Mohamed Zakaria, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the consultations held in Addis Ababa last week were not related to the allocation of quotas and the distribution of positions during the transitional government, but stressed that meetings discussed the structure of the transitional period.
 
“We have discussed peace and the final cessation of war… to achieve a democratic civil transition,” he emphasized.
 
Meanwhile, hundreds of students demonstrated in downtown Khartoum on Tuesday, demanding a civilian rule and accountability for the deaths of their colleagues during the months of political turmoil.

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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.

The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.

After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes".

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close".

"Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added.

At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.

Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people".

"We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.

The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.