Sudan’s Military Agrees on Transitional Draft Constitution, Voices Some Reservations

Protesters wave a Sudanese national flag during an anti-government protest demanding return to civilian rule in Sudan's capital Khartoum on October 13, 2022. (AFP)
Protesters wave a Sudanese national flag during an anti-government protest demanding return to civilian rule in Sudan's capital Khartoum on October 13, 2022. (AFP)
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Sudan’s Military Agrees on Transitional Draft Constitution, Voices Some Reservations

Protesters wave a Sudanese national flag during an anti-government protest demanding return to civilian rule in Sudan's capital Khartoum on October 13, 2022. (AFP)
Protesters wave a Sudanese national flag during an anti-government protest demanding return to civilian rule in Sudan's capital Khartoum on October 13, 2022. (AFP)

Sudan's opposition Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) revealed that unofficial contacts were underway with army leaders to negotiate a solution to the political crisis in the country.

It revealed in a statement on Wednesday the military’s approval of a constitutional document proposed by the Bar Association but expressed reservations about some of its points. They did not reveal further details.

The draft constitution should act as the basis for their political agreement. The draft transitional constitution aims to restore the course of civilian rule by forming the transitional authority services.

The FFC denied reports that said it had reached a final agreement, stressing it will not agree to any political solution without a broad consensus that includes the forces of the revolution and the democratic transition. The solution must also end the military measures that have been in place since the coup against civilian rule in October last year.

According to the statement, the FFC executive office is working on a document that explains its position on ending military rule and establishing a full democratic civilian-led authority.

The FFC reiterated its firm position of supporting an acceptable political solution that eventually leads to completely ending the military coup, keeping the military out of political affairs, and forming a unified professional and national army through comprehensive reforms.

It further underscored the importance that the agreement address judicial issues in a fair and comprehensive manner, dismantle the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir and lead to free and fair elections at the end of the transitional period.

The coalition urged the anti-coup forces to unite their ranks and achieve the aspirations of the Sudanese people for the establishment of freedom, peace and justice and a civil and democratic state.



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.