Sudan’s Government Faces Challenges of Transition

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Reuters file photo
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Reuters file photo
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Sudan’s Government Faces Challenges of Transition

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Reuters file photo
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Reuters file photo

Sudanese observers and politicians link the sudden and sharp decline in the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound to intelligence agency officers attempting mutiny and protests held by the supporters of Omar al-Bashir’s former regime.

The dollar was selling for 100 Sudanese pounds in cash transactions on Monday compared with 88 pounds a week ago, as the gap with the official rate of 45 to the dollar continues to widen.

Observers and analysts believe that the defectors and protesters are part of an evil Muslim Brotherhood plan that seeks to destabilize security and provoke sedition.

Information Minister Faisal Saleh said that although the mutiny is regrettable, it was not surprising.

Firefights rocked Sudan’s capital on January 14, as members of the General Intelligence Service mutinied against the government.

The rebellion prompted the closure of Khartoum’s airport and raised fears about a coup that could overturn the democratic progress the country has made since a revolution overthrew Bashir last year.

These developments triggered a flurry of speculation about the motives of the mutineers.

Sudan is negotiating a perilous political transition, in which civilians representing the opposition to Bashir share power with representatives of the military junta that overthrew him.

Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan currently heads the Sovereign Council, Sudan’s transitional governance body, pending national elections that are expected to take place in late 2022.

The Sudanese transitional government, headed by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, faces many challenges among which are achieving peace, stopping war, providing security and stability, rebuilding the economy, and ending the living hardships.

Hamdok, in an interview broadcast on state television on Tuesday, said that his government had plans and programs to address crises facing the country.

He also pledged to provide a unique Sudanese experience for national recovery.

Speaking about the mutiny, Hamdok said it was quashed by joint work between the civil and military components of the government.

Sudan-based political analyst Khalaf Allah told Asharq Al-Awsat that the toughest challenge facing the people of Sudan post deposing one of the fiercest known dictatorships is finding the requirements for transition.

Khalaf Allah believes that the economy and peace are, at the moment, the most prominent challenges facing the transitional authority.



UK Police Ban Palestine Action Protest Outside Parliament

File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025.  EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI
File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025. EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI
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UK Police Ban Palestine Action Protest Outside Parliament

File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025.  EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI
File photo: People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people and against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Rabat, Morocco, 22 June 2025. EPA/JALAL MORCHIDI

British police have banned campaign group Palestine Action from protesting outside parliament on Monday, a rare move that comes after two of its members broke into a military base last week and as the government considers banning the organization.

The group said in response that it had changed the location of its protest on Monday to Trafalgar Square, which lies just outside the police exclusion zone, reported Reuters.

The pro-Palestinian organization is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

British media have reported that the government is considering proscribing, or effectively banning, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organization, putting it on a par with al-Qaeda or ISIS.

London's Metropolitan Police said late on Sunday that it would impose an exclusion zone for a protest planned by Palestine Action outside the Houses of Parliament - a popular location for protests in support of a range of causes.

"The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest," Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

"We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group."

Palestine Action's members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and, in the incident last week, damaged two military aircraft, Rowley added.