{"id":20029155,"date":"2023-02-10T15:36:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20029155"},"modified":"2023-02-10T15:36:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:36:34","slug":"intl-envoys-conclude-sudan-visit-call-for-civilian-leadership-but-discouraging-parallel-processes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/intl-envoys-conclude-sudan-visit-call-for-civilian-leadership-but-discouraging-parallel-processes","title":{"rendered":"Int’l envoys conclude Sudan visit: call for civilian leadership but discouraging ‘parallel processes’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KHARTOUM – February 10, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Special envoys from the United States of America, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, and Germany concluded a joint visit to Khartoum with a call to resume civilian leadership for the transition to democracy and a reiteration of their support for the Framework Agreement.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The special envoys arrived on Tuesday<\/a> and met with a range of Sudanese actors, including civilian signatories to the Framework Agreement, representatives from civil society organisations and resistance committees, signatories to the Juba Peace Agreement, and the military leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a press conference in Khartoum yesterday, they urged the Sudanese parties to conduct a comprehensive dialogue on the basis of the Framework Agreement, work to address the root causes of the conflict, and build a stable and prosperous Sudan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe urge the parties to deepen and expand their commitment to inclusivity and bring together women, youth, and representatives from all over Sudan to participate in shaping their country\u2019s future,\u201d the envoys said in their joint statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The special envoys reiterated their support for the Framework Agreement, which caused resistance committees to demonstrate during the envoys\u2019 visit<\/a>. \u201cThe Framework Political Agreement process remains in our view the best basis on which to form a civilian-led transitional government and establish constitutional arrangements for a transitional period that culminates in elections,\u201d the statement read.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘The Framework Political Agreement process remains in our view the best basis on which to form a civilian-led transitional government’<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Framework Agreement signed last year has been the result of negotiations between Sudan\u2019s military authorities, who took power in a coup, and a civilian coalition led by the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parties are still negotiating on some \u2019thorny\u2019 issues<\/a> that will be included in a Final Agreement. Possible impunity for military leaders has been a very\u00a0contentious issue<\/a>\u00a0in the ongoing negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is our strong hope that the parties will make a concerted effort to finalise negotiations and reach Final Agreement quickly to form a civilian-led transitional government to address Sudan\u2019s urgent political, economic, security, and humanitarian challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecognising the fragility of democratic transitions, we stand united in promoting accountability for those, including either military, armed group, or civilian actors, who attempt to undermine or delay Sudan\u2019s transition to democracy,\u201d the statement read as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No parallel processes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Special Envoys and representatives strongly discouraged parallel processes,\u201d the statement continued, referring to the Egyptian initiative<\/a> for an inter-Sudanese dialogue that has the support<\/a> of groups who are unhappy about the Framework Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘The Special Envoys and representatives strongly discouraged parallel processes’<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

At the conclusion of the six-day Cairo dialogue conference initiated by the Egyptian government, the participants signed the Political Accordance Document which is to be the governing document for the upcoming transitional period, instead of the Final Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convince holdout parties<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaled Omar Yousef, who was Minister of Cabinet Affairs during the government of PM Abdallah Hamdok (2019-2021) and is currently the official spokesman for the political process that is to lead to a new civilian government of technocrats, said in a press statement yesterday that efforts will be exerted to convince important holdout parties to sign the Framework Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sudan Quartet (USA, UK, Saudi Arabia and UAE) have proposed to hold a meeting between Sudan\u2019s military government leaders, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan \u2018Hemeti\u2019 Dagalo, and representatives of the civilian forces that reject the Framework Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter group includes current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, also the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), leader of a Sudan Liberation Movement split-off faction (SLM-MM) and Governor of Darfur<\/a> Minni Minawi, and Jaafar El Mirghani, the vice-president of the mainstream Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three parties are members of the Forces for Freedom and Change-Democratic Block<\/a> (FFC-DB) formed in November last year and took part in the Egyptian initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives of the Quartet and the AU-IGAD-UNITAMS Trilateral Mechanism brokering the negotiations between the military junta and the civilian opposition under the leadership of the FFC-CC will attend the meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousef said that the meeting aims to discuss ways for the holdout groups to join the ongoing political process in order to reach a final political agreement together that restores the path of civil democratic transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FFC-CC, however, refuses to accept the FFC-DB as a partner in the Framework Agreement. In a statement two months ago, the FFC-CC said that the Block is not interested in democracy and indicated that the only parties entitled to sign<\/a> from the FFC-DB have been previously agreed upon, namely JEM and SLM-MM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement sparked criticism and the FFC-CC\u2019s Framework Agreement was called \u2018exclusionary and weak\u2019.<\/p>\n