Popular protests continue in Sudan, where on May 13 the military once again intervened using tear gas to disperse protesters in Khartoum and the country’s major cities.
Talks that were to have begun last week between the government and the oppositions, facilitated by the United Nations and the African Union, were canceled. The Resistance Committees have meanwhile announced the promulgation of a new charter reiterating the end of military rule and defining the goals of the protest movement, which include the establishment of a new constitution, the launch of a judicial investigation to shed light on the violence of the past two years, and, most importantly, the reform of the military apparatus with the integration of the Rapid Support Forces militia within the Armed Forces.
The new charter presented by the committees also calls for immediate free and democratic elections that will finally end the political role of the Armed Forces and the condemnation of last October’s coup.
New demonstrations are planned for the coming days as tensions rise again in the capital and the country’s major cities, with the risk that it could again erupt into open violence in confrontation with Sudanese security forces.
According to a report published by Africa Confidential, however, the chairman of the Sovereign Transitional Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is reportedly engaged in an attempt to re-strengthen Islamist components linked to the former regime of Omar al-Bashir in order to turn them into allies of the military junta.
According to the report, this strategy would be confirmed by the release of several Islamist figures from the former regime, such as the former Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour, as well as by the resistance that has emerged regarding the handing over of the former head of state to the International Criminal Court.
