The final statement of the “removal” conference needs to be “tied up”:

By: Dr. Ahmed Al-Mufti
Translated by The Citizen

Why didn’t the final statement of the roadmap conference renewing the process of removal of the regime of 30 June 1989 include “recommendations, proposals, decisions and roadmap”, which were referred to?

First: The final statement of the roadmap conference for renewing the process of removal of the regime of 30 June 1989, issued yesterday, 12 January 2023, as a kick-off of the activities of the final stage of the political process, held 9-12 January 2023, at the Friendship Hall.

Second: The statement included the following:

“… The conference concluded with recommendations, proposals, and decisions in all axes, and the conferees stressed the continuation of work, support, and assistance, to implement the decisions and the road map.”

Third: We were in the process of publishing that statement, in this publication, but it became clear to us that it did not include the most important topic, which is “recommendations, proposals, decisions, and the road map,” referred to in the text of the paragraph, in the second paragraph above.

Fourth: In addition to that, the statement is not accurate in its references, because that paragraph of the statement contained the phrase “… to implement the decisions and the road map,” and that sentence means that “recommendations and proposals” will not be implemented. Rather, it will only implement “decisions and the roadmap”, which renders it ambiguous.

Fifth: One of the WhatsApp groups send several recommendations, on the basis that they are the recommendations of the conference, but without specifying the source, in addition to that it circulated what it claimed were “recommendations” of the conference only, but it did not submit “proposals and decisions,” which the statement referred to in the final statement, as we explained above, rather it did not convey the “decisions and roadmap” as well, which the final statement stipulated to be implemented. And, those recommendations circulated in the WhatsApp group, are:

Establishing an integrated media center supervised by an advisory board.

2. Establishing a media support network and removing the empowerment structure in the media.

3. Delegate the powers of Supreme Court judges to appeal judges.

4. Exemption of Supreme Court judges.

5. Commitment to the principles of the glorious December revolution, the transitional constitution, and the framework agreement.

6. The decisions issued by the Appeal and Judicial Department that canceled the decisions of the previous committee on the removal shall be canceled.

7. Formation of a special police force for the committee on removal.

8. Formation of a review committee on two levels, federal and state.

9. Imposing deterrent penalties against those convicted of financial or administrative corruption.

10. A comprehensive review of the oil and mining sectors.

11. Liquidation of the religious bodies of the ousted regime.

12. Women represent 40% of all structures of the committee on removal.

13. Prosecuting the aggressors of public money after the October 25 coup.

14. Canceling the unified collection system.

15. Removal of empowerment within the education sector, especially at the administrative level,

Sixth: I agree with the speech of the international expert, Mrs. Greta Werner, thanks to the translation by someone, however, what the expert mentioned was not included in the final statement. His remarks were:

1. You must abide by justice, and the law and avoid shortcuts and easy solutions.

2 . Failure to adhere to the rule of law does not affect the asset recovery process alone but will destroy the entire removal process.

3. Underestimating the rule of law and taking short paths practically means that you are the opposite of what you wish to achieve from the rule of law.

4. The accused must be notified of his accusation, and enabled to fully defend himself or through his lawyer.

5. Any procedures outside the rule of law should be judicially overruled sooner or later.

6. The justice systems in foreign countries, in which funds or assets are expected for the Sudanese people, will not trust or cooperate with any party that is not committed to the rule of law and that fulfills many requirements.

7. I have listened to many recommendations that appear to be deceitful, whose purpose is “satisfaction”, nothing more, nothing less, and I strongly warn against adopting such an approach.

8. One of the biggest mistakes that I warn of is issuing instructions to confiscate property and throw “corrupt” people into prison, simply because it can be challenged legally.

9. The major problem in asset recovery cases is “high expectations.” The return may be much less than the expected value, which leads to frustration.

10. Unless a strong and transparent system is available to recover billions of dollars, the recovery will be useless because that money will go to new corrupt people.

11. There are adequate laws and there is no need for new laws.