Sudan constitutional workshop concludes; military to be distanced from politics

The three-day workshop on arrangements for a transitional constitutional framework, launched by the Sudanese Bar Association (SBA) on Monday, concluded with a set of recommendations, including distancing the military from politics.

The workshop aimed to brainstorm about the contents of a transitional constitutional framework and saw widespread participation from members of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The three-day ‘dialogue’ consisted largely of lectures and has described itself as being inclusive of different political and social forces.

One of the key recommendations made by the workshop participants is about distancing the military from politics and removing them from transitional rule with the aim of establishing a full democratic civilian government.

The group also highlighted the importance of transitional justice for Sudan, which would require comprehensive reform of the military system, the security apparatus, and the judiciary, all based on a new transitional constitution document and laws revised “according to the rights of the people which constitute the core of the revolution”.

They also stressed the need to achieve a just and comprehensive peace, including agreements with the two main hold-out rebel movements that have not signed the Juba Peace Agreement

Attack

A group of men in civilian clothes carrying metal polls, stones, and speakers attacked the constitutional workshop on its last day at the premises of the Sudan Bar Association office in El Amarat in Khartoum on Wednesday.

The group reportedly included lawyers affiliated with the ousted regime of dictator Omar Al Bashir and associates of various other right-wing political groups.

At the time, Volker Perthes, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sudan and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), described the attempted storming as unacceptable.  

'Those seeking to disrupt and intimidate the event are not interested in dialogue and consensus-building' – Troika

Yesterday, the Embassies of Troika (Norway, United Kingdom, United States) issued a statement to say that they strongly condemn the “attempts to disrupt through violence the Sudanese Bar Association workshop on a framework for transitional constitutional arrangements”.

“This workshop is an inclusive, Sudanese-led initiative, which brings together a wide range of groups in order to stimulate progress towards an agreed framework for resolving the political crisis.

“Those seeking to disrupt and intimidate the event are not interested in dialogue and consensus-building. Their aim is to prevent progress towards a democratic future for Sudan. They must not be allowed to succeed”, the statement read.