Sudanese military signs framework agreement with civilians over 1 year after coup

Closing the chapter on more than 12 months of military-civilian conflict following the ouster of Sudan's post-revolutionary government, the Sudanese Armed Forces and a coalition of civilian groups led by the Freedom and Change Coalition signed a framework agreement on Monday at the presidential palace in Khartoum. 

The deal seemed a far-off possibility in October 2021 and during the months afterward, when protesters who rose up to challenge the military coup were met with brutal violence from the military and the Rapid Support Forces. 

However, political will has built in recent months after the two sides held closed-door negotiations as Sudan’s post-coup political framework failed to coalesce. 

The framework agreed to on Monday will grant wide defacto powers to the civilian government — which is set to be formed providing a final agreement — including control over the leading intelligence body in the country, the former National Intelligence and Security Service rebranded as the General Intelligence Service, and the police. 

The military’s role will also be formally limited under the terms of the agreement to a security and defense council headed by the prime minister. 

However, the deal is far from a national consensus, with prominent armed groups and the resistance committees — grassroots organizations that have mobilized popular street-level opposition to military rule — targeting it for criticism. 

Thousands of civilians took to the streets outside the presidential palace to protest the framework agreement as it was being signed, challenging it as an extension of the coup. 

A leading feature of the deal is to settle the longstanding contentious issue of the Rapid Support Forces’ incorporation into the military. The paramilitary group, which emerged out of the Darfur conflict and has existed as a parallel security body with broad unchecked financial and military power, has long fought against greater oversight. The group’s leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, who co-led the October coup, has also resisted the idea of military oversight. 

Trumpeting security reform, the agreement says that the army will be required to abide by the law, the constitution and by the principle of democratic rule. Equally, the formation of armed militias and paramilitary groups is forbidden, as is the formation of special police units, or any units that encroach upon public freedoms. 

The civilian security apparatus, represented by the Interior Ministry, would be granted authority over policy, and the prime minister is granted the right to appoint the head of the General Intelligence Service. 

The agreement — which is based on the transitional constitution issued in October by the Sudanese lawyers syndicate — also describes “military coups” as unlawful and states that the military, intelligence bodies and security services are not allowed to undertake business and investment ventures. 

In a speech following the signing of the agreement, Burhan said that the new government will endeavor to convert the military into an institution that is subject to the constitution and to prevent it from being politicized or displaying bias toward any group or ideology, while at the same time maintaining the mentality and unity appropriate for a military body. Burhan noted the armed forces’ recognition of the political leadership and its role in protecting the country from outside threats and its adherence to foreign policy. 

Yet, Burhan also underlined the military’s autonomy. “We are in the process of laying down the building blocks for this regime,” he said. “Keeping these goals in mind, it is imperative that the civilian authority abstain from intervening in the military’s technical affairs to implement national security aims.”

In his public remarks, Hemedti acknowledged that the 2021 coup was a political mistake, saying that it had opened the door for the return of counterrevolutionary forces. He called for all sides to acknowledge and apologize for the violence and the wrongs inflicted on society by the state across various historical periods. 

“Building a national and professional army, independent of politics, requires deep reforms to the military institution to move toward a unified army, one that reflects Sudan’s variety and protects the democratic order,” said Hemedti. 

Monday’s framework agreement was welcomed by the international community’s tripartite mechanism for Sudan, which includes the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, the African Union and the International Governmental Authority on Development. The tripartite group underlined the importance of beginning work immediately on the next stage of the transitional process and encouraged wide-reaching consultations to address the main issues that need resolving, as envisioned by the signatories to the framework agreement. 

These include justice and transitional justice mechanisms, security sector reform, putting in place a committee to dismantle the Bashir regime, the Juba peace agreement, the economy and issues in the country’s east.