Hamdok reinstated as Sudanese prime minister in deal with Burhan, protest movement rejects deal

Abdalla Hamdok has been reinstated as Sudan’s prime minister after signing an agreement with armed forces head and sovereign council chair General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, nearly a month after he was arrested by the armed forces and Rapid Support Forces in an October 25 coup that ignited mass protests. 

According to the deal, Hamdok will return as prime minister of an ‘independent technocratic government’ until elections can be held.

The agreement — which provides for the release of political prisoners arrested since the start of the coup — was announced in a televised ceremony on Sunday attended by Burhan, the deputy head of the Sovereign Council, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and Hamdok, who had been held under house arrest until his release earlier in the day. 

The deal also stipulates that both sides work to review and amend the constitutional document that provided the framework for a power-sharing arrangement between the military and civilians on a sovereign council to lead Sudan through a transition to democratic elections. The October 25 coup came just weeks before the military was supposed to hand the leadership of the council over to civilians. 

Sunday’s agreement also includes a measure to “work to build a unified national army,” a longstanding point of contention that came to the fore in June of this year after Hemedti publicly rejected the integration of the Rapid Support Forces into the armed forces.

According to Sudanese officials who spoke to the Associated Press, the United Nations, the United States and others played a “crucial role” in crafting the deal.

However, Sudanese political forces that played a central role in coordinating the 2019 ouster of President Omar al-Bashir and mobilized against the October coup announced their rejection of the new deal. “No negotiation, partnership or legitimacy for the putschists,” the Freedom and Change Coalition said in a statement, adding that “the coup leaders, opportunists and remnants of the former regime” should be brought to immediate trial for their involvement in the coup and the killing of protesters.

The Sudanese Professionals Association also objected to the move in a statement, calling the deal “political suicide” for Hamdok, while the nationalist Umma Party similarly announced it rejected “any political agreement that does not address the roots of the crisis produced by the military coup and its repercussions.”

Thousands of protesters marched on the presidential palace in Khartoum as the deal was being signed before they were dispersed by security forces. The announcement of the deal came following calls for a new “march of millions” across the country on Sunday, as part of the ongoing demonstrations and marches against the military takeover since October 25. Anti-coup demonstrations have been met with a violent crackdown from Sudanese security forces, which killed at least 40 protesters, including 16 killed last Wednesday in the most violent confrontations since the start of the coup.

Last week, Burhan announced the formation of a new Sudanese sovereign council with himself at its head, just over two weeks after he dissolved the former council and the cabinet, sparking renewed mass protest across the country.

The October 25 seizure of power and ensuing crackdown by security forces drew widespread international criticism, including from the United Nations and the United States.