Sudan Intensifies Talks to Add More Signatories to Final Agreement

Protesters rally in Khartoum to demand civilian rule on March 14. (AFP)
Protesters rally in Khartoum to demand civilian rule on March 14. (AFP)
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Sudan Intensifies Talks to Add More Signatories to Final Agreement

Protesters rally in Khartoum to demand civilian rule on March 14. (AFP)
Protesters rally in Khartoum to demand civilian rule on March 14. (AFP)

The Sudanese military and civilian parties that signed the framework political agreement are scheduled to finish developing a full-fledged draft of the final political agreement on Wednesday after including the outcomes of the security and military reform workshop into the deal.

Army commanders, members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), retired officers, experts in the security and military fields, and representatives of the civil forces took part in the Khartoum workshop for the third consecutive day.

The army and the Rapid Support Forces each presented during a paper on security and military reform.

All the workshop sessions are closed to the media because of the sensitivity of the security and military issues being discussed.

The political parties stated on their official Facebook page that the participants presented theoretical and practical proposals to reform the police and public intelligence services in line with the prospective democratic system.

The participants, including over 300 civilians and military personnel, are set to discuss the integration of the RSF, headed by the deputy head of the Sovereign Council, Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, into the unified army as agreed upon by all parties.

The workshop, sponsored by the Tripartite Mechanism and the Freedom and Change coalition, will conclude on Wednesday evening and then submit its recommendations to the final agreement drafting committee.

Meanwhile, the signatories of the political framework agreement continued their discussions with the opposing parties affiliated with the Democratic Bloc coalition to persuade them to join the political process and sign the final deal to establish a civil democratic transition.

Some armed movements, such as the Justice and Equality movement led by Gibril Ibrahim, the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Arko Minnawi, and a branch of the Democratic Unionist Party, led by Gaafar al-Mirghani, refuse to engage in the political process without the participation of the rest of the members of their bloc.

The final agreement is based on the Framework Agreement, the Political Declaration, and the recommendations of the five conferences. The recommendations are dismantling the regime of ousted president Omar al-Bashir, the “correction” of the Juba Peace Agreement, reaching a solution to the crisis in the eastern region, and achieving transitional justice, as well as the security and military reform workshop.

The agreement drafting committee delivered on Monday the initial draft of the final political agreement to the military and civilian parties in the presence of the Tripartite Mechanism.

The Tripartite Mechanism facilitates dialogue between Sudanese parties and consists of the African Union (AU), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the UN.

Officials agreed on the final dates for the political process, starting with the signing of the final agreement on Apr. 1, the signing of the constitution on Apr. 6, and the formation of the institutions of the transitional authority on Apr. 11.



Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
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Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war.

The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on the cities of Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP it was "deliberately hit by Israeli shelling for the second day" Friday and that "one doctor and some patients were injured".

Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt."

He said that for more than six weeks, Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has hit aid convoys.

Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies".

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.