On September 28, the Sudan Students’ Corporation (SSC), a conservative religious association that enjoyed strong influence under the past regime of Omar al-Bashir, announced in a statement the resumption of its activities, also reporting on the military authorities’ decision to revoke the previously established order to provide for its absorption within a religious body of the state (https://sudantribune.com/article264727/).
The news assumes relevance from the perspective of internal political balances, because in September 2019 it had been ordered by the Sovereign Transitional Council to suspend its activities and provide for its integration within the Council of Islamic Jurisprudence, an organ of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, as a result of its radical positions and open support for the deposed regime’s top leadership.
The Sovereign Transitional Council’s decision to rescind its earlier order to merge the SSC within an organ of the Ministry of Religious Affairs is said by some Sudanese press sources to be attributable to the growing dualism between General al-Burhan, chairman of the STC, and his deputy, General Dagalo. The latter, in fact, had sought to exert his influence on the Sudanese Islamist organizations involved with the former regime in order to expand his political capacity, however, arousing the concern of General al-Burhan, who, on the other hand, had allegedly decided to encourage the resumption of the activities of the SSC in order to win its support to the detriment of Dagalo (https://sudantribune.com/article264684/).
The importance of the religious organizations lies mainly in their extensive network of associations active in social services, representing an important vehicle of influence within Sudanese society.
In contrast, massive new demonstrations were organized on September 29 in several cities in Sudan, and especially in the capital Khartoum, Wadi Madani, Nyala, Dongola, and Atbara, where thousands of demonstrators marched chanting slogans against the government and the military.
The demonstrations are a clear sign of how the process of managing Sudan’s political transition has once again entered a critical phase, characterized by the military’s inability to provide reassurances on the merits of its future role and effective willingness to facilitate the start of a transition phase led by a civilian government chosen by the main protest organizations (https://allafrica.com/stories/202210010034.html).
