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Burhan Says Dismantling Security Services Aims at Dividing Sudan

Burhan Says Dismantling Security Services Aims at Dividing Sudan
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Burhan Says Dismantling Security Services Aims at Dividing Sudan

Burhan Says Dismantling Security Services Aims at Dividing Sudan

Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan has pledged to “put things right” in regards to the armed forces.

He said this is one of the military component’s responsibilities in the Council, as stipulated by the constitutional document governing the transitional period in the country.

El-Geneina and Port Sudan cities saw tribal clashes last week, leaving dozens of dead and wounded.

These incidents led to widespread criticism of the security services for not intervening to contain the events before their aggravation.

“Unfortunate events that had taken place over the past few days were intended to divide the country, which can only be achieved by dismantling its security services,” Burhan noted.

Addressing non-commissioned officers and police soldiers in Khartoum on Wednesday, Burhan promised to enact laws that reserve full rights for the police to perform their duties in preserving security in the country and for its citizens.

He called for foiling plots of those seeking to sow rift between official forces and the people.

“Armed forces, police forces, and security services have been patient despite all provocations in order to preserve the country’s security.”

He affirmed that police forces are carrying out their jobs to the fullest, stressing that they are not the people’s enemies. He also highlighted their role in containing the security unrest in Darfur region.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Faisal Mohammad Saleh, also government spokesman, said conflicting parties pointed to the involvement of members of the regular forces in the incidents that had taken place in Geneina city.

They resulted in the death of 64 and the injury of 60 others, according to United Nations statistics.

“Authorities have been working to identify these elements involved to lift immunity off them and bring them to court,” he said, stressing that this method will be used to deal with such conflicts.

In press statements on Wednesday, Saleh said the commission to investigate in Geneina incidents will finish its work soon, and authorities will begin bringing those involved to justice.

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Crisis in French-Algerian Relations Opens the Door to the Unknown

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and French President Emmanuel Macron (Algerian Presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and French President Emmanuel Macron (Algerian Presidency)
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Crisis in French-Algerian Relations Opens the Door to the Unknown

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and French President Emmanuel Macron (Algerian Presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and French President Emmanuel Macron (Algerian Presidency)

Three questions are raised by the decision of French President Emmanuel Macron to adopt the Moroccan approach to the Sahara issue, which is included in the Rabat Plan proposed in 2007: the first is the timing, the second is the reasons and motivations, and the third is the consequences and results.
Macron, along with French diplomacy, are aware of how sensitive the Sahara issue is to Algeria, and they know that the Algerian side will not be able to absorb the radical change in the French position.
French political sources said that the French president wanted to achieve two goals: the first is to take advantage of the occasion of Morocco’s celebration of the ascension of King Mohammed VI to the throne “to offer him a diplomatic and political gift in a file that the latter had made a compass for his country’s foreign policy.” Macron went further than Spain when it largely adopted the Moroccan solution plan in 2022.

The second reason for the timing of Macron’s initiative is linked, according to the political sources, to the internal political situation in France, where the government has resigned, parliament is on vacation and the country is busy with the Olympics.
It is likely that Macron wanted to benefit from the current institutional “vacuum” before forming a new government, which may have a different approach to the Sahara issue, despite the fact that the French Constitution entrusts the President of the Republic with drawing up the country’s foreign and defense policy.
Press reports revealed that French diplomats began working on the new approach in the spring of 2023, and that many meetings were held between diplomatic officials from the two sides.
These reports also referred to the pressure exerted by Moroccan diplomacy on France, and one of the arguments, according to French “L’Opinion”, was to remind Paris that former President Jacques Chirac, who was a great friend of Morocco, was the one who called on Rabat, since 2003, to present its autonomy plan, in order to bypass a Sahrawi referendum that would decide on the fate of the Sahara.
L'Opinion pointed to another factor: the departure of Bernard Emie, the former ambassador to Algeria and director of French foreign intelligence, from the scene last spring. Emie was one of the strongest advocates for the establishment of a special relationship between Paris and Algeria, and his absence left the door open for those who continued to assert that Algeria did not respond to the initiatives of Macron, who during the past three years made major efforts to close the controversial files with Algiers.
Another French political source added that Paris saw today that Algeria’s ability to influence its immediate surroundings, especially in the Sahel region, has declined significantly after its dispute with two neighboring countries, Mali and Niger. On the other hand, Morocco’s return to the African Union could constitute a “platform” for joint French-Moroccan action at the political, economic, and investment levels.
Politics cannot be separated from economic, trade and investment interests. France has major interests in Morocco, which may have played some role in pushing the French authorities to change their approach, and causing a “heavy” crisis with Algeria.
In response to Algeria’s decision to immediately withdraw its ambassador to Paris, Said Makousi, a French diplomatic source said that France “took note of Algeria’s decision, which is a sovereign decision.”
He added: “We are determined to strengthen our bilateral relations with Algeria; we look to the future, and our great ambition is to work for the benefit of our two peoples.”