A dispute between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary group again forced the delay of signing a deal with politicians to restore the country’s democratic transition, which was derailed by a 2021 coup, a pro-democracy bloc said Wednesday.
The bloc, known as the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, said the military and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Force were still negotiating on a reform for the security and military sector to be included in the final agreement. They are discussing the integration of the Rapid Support Force into the military. According to a draft of the deal obtained by The Associated Press, the military would withdraw from politics and be barred from non-military businesses.
The deal aims at restoring Sudan’s short-lived transition to democracy, which was halted by an October 2021 military coup that removed a Western-supported, power-sharing administration. The coup dashed Sudanese aspirations for democratic government after three decades of autocracy and repression under Islamist-backed strongman Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court over the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, has been imprisoned in Khartoum.
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