As talks on military reforms got under way on Sunday as part of a protracted transition to civilian rule, Sudan’s military head, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, reiterated that the army would be put under the control of a new civilian-led government.
Al-Burhan asserts that the lengthy and challenging process of security and military reform cannot be avoided.
“This participation [of the armed forces in the political scene, ed], through which it was intended to use the armed forces to support political parties or to impose dictatorships and support totalitarian governments; We want to put an end to that. We want to build armed forces that respect the standards of democratic regimes” said Al-Burhan
Once Al-Bashir was overthrown in 2019, the army’s Al-Burhan seized power in a coup that disrupted a brief democratic transition.
In order to establish a transitional administration run by civilians to oversee elections in two years, the military and political parties struck an agreement in December. Pro-democracy demonstration groups, however, were against the deal and demanded that transitional justice and security reforms be added.
In the debates on the political process that were started in December, which calls for the disengagement of generals from politics once a civilian government is in place, reform of the security forces is a key source of contention.
The formidable paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), directed by al-deputy Burhan’s Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemeti, would be incorporated into the regular army as part of the proposed reforms.
The Sudanese army has a long history of military coups and has amassed sizable financial resources. It intends to take control of the RSF, which some estimates put at much to 100,000 fighters.
