Sudanese Minister of Cabinet Affairs Khalid Omer Yousif vowed a strict and firm stance against the recent statements made by the Deputy Chairman of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, generally referred to as Hemedti.
Hemedti had said that the general intelligence services and the police were exclusively branches of the TMC, a statement deemed in violation of the constitutional document adopted for the North African country’s transition period.
In an address to Sudanese teachers on Thursday, Hemedti refused to hand over the police and general intelligence services to the civilian authority, as they are military agencies.
“These are military apparatuses that we will only hand over to an elected president,” said Hemedti, accusing the civilian government of wanting to control the two bodies to practice oppression.
He also denied that talks were underway for handing over the TMC’s leadership to civilians.
In a Facebook post, Yousif said that the development and reform of the security and military agencies are essential in determining the country’s success of the civil democratic transition.
Yousif also argued that Hemedti’s statements are a direct threat to fulfilling the obligations and tasks of the constitutional document.
“We will deal with it seriously and firmly,” said Yousif.
He described Hemedti’s statements as a “clear” violation of the constitutional document.
Article 36 of the document stipulates that the police are subject to executive authority. Article 37 states that the intelligence service is subject to the sovereign and executive authorities and does not stipulate any exclusive subordination of these two agencies to the military.
Hemedti had described the authority of the Sovereignty Council as ceremonial and said it does not want to remain in power.
Instead, it is seeking to end the work of the independent investigation committee looking into the killing of peaceful protesters and the practice of atrocities.
