Sudan’s People Await Cabinet Formation

Protests in Khartoum call for civilian rule. AFP file photo
Protests in Khartoum call for civilian rule. AFP file photo
TT

Sudan’s People Await Cabinet Formation

Protests in Khartoum call for civilian rule. AFP file photo
Protests in Khartoum call for civilian rule. AFP file photo

The Sudanese are eagerly awaiting the first of April, for the signing of the final political agreement between civilians and the military, with international and regional support.

However, the political process faces resistance from the Islamist supporters of the former regime and their followers, who “threatened to bring down the prospective government peacefully or by force.”

The Communist Party and other leftist parties describe the upcoming civilian government as “a Western creation and an attempt to circumvent the Sudanese revolution.”

On the other hand, the forces that signed the “framework agreement” on Dec. 5 insist on proceeding to complete the requirements for signing the final agreement at the beginning of April.

The spokesman for the political process, Khaled Omar Youssef, announced that the committee drafting the final agreement was working to complete its mission within the specified deadline.

A security and military reform workshop, which was scheduled to be held last Thursday, was postponed to Sunday, according to a spokesman for the Freedom and Change coalition. The workshop will discuss reforming the security and military apparatus, and integrating the armies of the armed movements into a unified army, including the Rapid Support Forces.

Meanwhile, the Justice and Equality Movement renewed its rejection of the political process, and considered it a commitment to “exclusion and tutelage in its worst forms,” according to its statement.

The Justice and Equality and Sudan Liberation movements, which are signatories to the Juba Peace Agreement, reject the framework agreement, and stipulate that it be signed with the rest of their partners in the Democratic Bloc coalition, an alliance that the Freedom and Change forces accuse of supporting the coup.

The Sudan Liberation Movement vowed to hold demonstrations rejecting the signing of the final agreement and the announcement of the government, and threatened to arrange mass rallies across the country to overthrow any government that is far from what it called “the will of the Sudanese people.”



Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
TT

Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.