Wake-up call: The Three Blunders

By: Consultant/Engineer Omer Al-Bakri Abu-Haraz

Three unfortunate blunders led to the failure of the transitional period that followed the ousting of the strong Islamic Salvation regime which ruled Sudan for 30 years full of atrocities and unprecedented corruption. The climax of the failure was the coup of October 25th, 2021 which ended the partnership of governance shared by the civilian and military components. Ironically enough the timing of the coup coincided with the end of the tenure of the military component in the transitional governance.
The first blunder was the opting for a long transitional period. Long transitional period magnifies the differences between the civilian elements and enhances the effects of the vested interests of each element,
At the same time it allows the ousted regime supporters to absorb the unexpected shock of losing power and the massive bellicosity of the majority of the citizens, consequently running general elections after a short transitional period narrows their chances of getting seats in the parliament.
In the first year of the transitional period they were dormant and their leaders chose leaving the country to safe havens in Turkey, Qatar, Malaysia and others. Now, after the elapse of more than three years they started resurfacing in hostile rhetoric against the gallant December 2018 revolution.
The started bracing for any coming elections and will definitely get sizeable number of seats in the parliament.
The second blunder was t hybrid civilian-military rule. Military and civilian are too immiscible elements to make a homogenous solution. They have two different densities like water and oil cannot yield a solution how vigorous they are shaken in a glass, Oil always stays on top because it has less density. The hybrid sovereign council was one of the main reasons for the coup of October 2021. This second blunder was aggravated by the inclusion of 4 political parties in the second government of Dr. Hamdok which succeeded the revolutionary cabinet of technocrat ministers.
The third blunder was the hurriedly formed committee of Dismantling and removal of empowerment of the ousted Salvation regime. Incomplete law full of loopholes wad decreed by the Sovereign Council. This led to the revoking of most of its verdicts concerning the confiscations and cleansing of relics of the ousted regime. Any case referred to the judicial system restored the confiscated assets and reinstated the dismissed civil servants of the ousted regime.
In the workshop convened last week about the evaluation of the Dismantling Committee previous performance, the international experts condemned the departure of the committee from the rule of law. They emphasized the necessity of abiding by all laws of justice. The international community believes in the wisdom of , “Injustice anywhere is a threat of justice everywhere”.
So, the above mentioned three blunders led to the prevailing stalemate and dilemma which is threatening the solidarity and coherence of Sudan.
It is good that now two strong mechanisms are working hard to restore peace, security and safe transition to civilian democratic rule. The two are : The tripartite – UNITAMS, AU and IGAD; the quadruple of USA, UAE and KSA. They drafted a Framework Agreement based on the proposed transitional constitution of the Sudanese Bar Association.
The Framework Agreement was signed by the military component and one bloc of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC-1), the Central Council. It is categorically rejected by the other FFC – the Democratic Bloc -.
To avoid early failure of the final agreement the following should be observed and enacted:
Enlarging the signatories by the inclusion of the Arm Struggle factions together with native administrations of East Sudan and the Islamic groups which were against the usted regime.
Revitalization of the Dismantling Committee on new terms of reference to work under the umbrella of Rule of Law of the established judicial system.
Formation of a totally non-partisan government to run governance and conduct general elections after one year for a civilian president, that is to say adopting Presidential System of governance.
Parliamentary system failed in Sudan in 67 years and cannot be repeated.
“Insanity is repeating the Same Mistakes and Expecting Different results” Einstein.