Sudan: Burhan Supports Army Return to Barracks, Parties Holding to Elections

The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
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Sudan: Burhan Supports Army Return to Barracks, Parties Holding to Elections

The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)

The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced the final exit of the military establishment from the political process.

Burhan stressed that the political parties would not participate in the transitional period in response to the protesters' demands: "Soldiers belong in the barracks, and parties go to elections."

Sudanese political parties and the military signed a framework deal on Monday that they said would pave the way for the two-year civilian-led transition toward elections.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Burhan said that professional military commitment means military recognition of the civilian-led political leadership, remaining neutral, and limiting the army's mission to maintaining security.

He noted that the agreement is not limited to a specific party or entity but rather a "consensus and compromise to find solutions to national issues" with the participation of civil forces to end conflict and turmoil between civil and military forces and pave the way for a genuine democratic transition.

The army chief also vowed to turn the military into a constitutional institution "that any group or ideology can't politicize."

Burhan stressed that the civil authority is responsible for setting the national security goals and linking them to foreign and military policy, calling on the civilian power to respect the military and refrain from interfering in its affairs.

The official affirmed that the Freedom and Change forces could join the agreement at any time and commit to addressing people's demands to achieve freedom, peace, and justice.

"The army will return to its barracks, but the political parties have to aim for the elections instead of ruling. We are committed to exit from politics and stop interfering in the political life, and we expect the politicians to stop interfering with the army," Burhan asserted.

He renewed his commitment to move forward and work with the civil forces to complete the transition to free and fair elections by the end of the transitional period.

He called on the international community to support the transition in Sudan by lifting all sanctions and removing their effects, renewing Sudan's membership in the African Union (AU), and fulfilling economic support and normalization with international financial institutions to support the transition's requirements.

Burhan thanked Sudan's friends and all regional and international aid and facilitation groups.

For his part, Vice President of the Sovereign Council Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, affirmed his strict and institutional commitment to democratic transformation and the protection of the transitional period until elections.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Hemedti acknowledged that the October 2021 incident was a political mistake due to differences between various components and wrongdoings.

He indicated: "we have worked to address it by communicating with the revolutionary forces," adding that everyone must apologize for the state's violence and mistakes towards societies throughout various eras, which wasted opportunities for national construction.

Hemedti reiterated the importance of establishing transitional justice, redressing grievances, healing wounds, and building a healthy and tolerant society.

He said that the withdrawal of the military establishment from politics was necessary to establish a sustainable democratic system, which required the commitment of political forces and parties.

He stressed the importance of conducting deep reforms in the military institution that lead to building a national, professional, and independent army that protects the democratic system.

Hemedti said that the most prominent current challenges facing the next civil-led government were implementing the Juba agreement, completing the peace agreement with the non-signatory movements, and addressing the issue of eastern Sudan.

The VP addressed the political and youth forces opposing the agreement, saying that the main interest is establishing a civilian-led government capable of running the state and conducting a comprehensive constitutional dialogue to address all issues.

He asserted the youth that the agreement paves the way for their participation in decision-making at the local government level, representing the basis of the democratic system.

Hemedti thanked the international community for its efforts to reach the framework agreement, calling on it to support Sudan in achieving cooperation and shared interests.



Israeli Fire Kills 30 in Gaza, Medics Say, as Attention Shifts to Iran 

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Fire Kills 30 in Gaza, Medics Say, as Attention Shifts to Iran 

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)

Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 30 people across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, local health authorities said, as some Palestinians there said their plight was being forgotten as attention shifted to the air war between Israel and Iran.

The deaths included the latest in near daily killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on Gaza that it had imposed for almost three months.

Medics said separate airstrikes on homes in the Maghazi refugee camp and Zeitoun neighborhood in central and northern Gaza killed at least 14 people, while five others were killed in an airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Eleven others were killed in Israeli fire at crowds of displaced Palestinians awaiting aid trucks brought in by the United Nations along the Salahuddin road in central Gaza, medics said.

The Israel army said it was looking into the reported deaths of people waiting for food. Regarding the other strikes, it said it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities" and "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."

On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said 397 Palestinians among those trying to get food aid had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May.

Some in Gaza expressed concern that the latest escalations in the war between Israel and Hamas that began in October 2023 would be overlooked as the focus moved to Israel's five-day-old conflict with Iran.

"People are being slaughtered in Gaza, day and night, but attention has shifted to the Iran-Israel war. There is little news about Gaza these days," said Adel, a resident of Gaza City.

"Whoever doesn't die from Israeli bombs dies from hunger. People risk their lives every day to get food, and they also get killed and their blood smears the sacks of flour they thought they had won," he told Reuters via a chat app.

'FORGOTTEN'

Israel has been channeling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new US- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.

It has said it will continue to allow aid into Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, while ensuring aid doesn't get into the hands of Hamas. Hamas denies seizing aid, saying Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the population in Gaza.

The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies.

US ally Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, displaced almost all the territory's residents, and caused a severe hunger crisis.

The assault has led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.

Palestinians in Gaza have been closely following Israel's air war with Iran, long a major supporter of Hamas.

"We are maybe happy to see Israel suffer from Iranian rockets, but at the end of the day, one more day in this war costs the lives of tens of innocent people," said 47-year-old Shaban Abed, a father of five from northern Gaza.

"We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten," he said.