CAIRO: Talks to resolve Sudan’s political crisis after last month’s coup have hit “semi-deadlock” because the military has refused to return to a path of democratic transition, two sources from the ousted government said on Saturday.
The sources told Reuters the military had tightened restrictions on ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was placed under house arrest during the October 25 takeover when his government was dissolved.
The new restrictions further limited his ability to hold meetings or make political contacts, they added.
Sudan’s military chief, Abdel Fattah al Burhan, has said the army intervened because of political turmoil and the risk of civil war. He says the military remains committed to the transition and to elections to be held in 2023.
Mediation efforts involving the United Nations have been seeking to find a way for Hamdok to be brought back as prime minister of a purely technocratic government.
Hamdok has demanded preconditions that include the release of top civilians detained during the coup and a return to a transition towards democracy that began after the overthrow of long-term autocrat Omar al Bashir in 2019.
Pro-democracy groups are trying to reverse the coup with a series of mass rallies and neighbourhood demonstrations. Many reject any role for the military and call for full civilian rule.
Critics of Burhan accuse the army of fomenting unrest before the military takeover, which they say made the risk of civil conflict more likely and derailed a transition that offered an opportunity of Sudan to exit from decades of isolation and internal wars.
DEBT RELIEF
Meanwhile, the French foreign ministry has said that the military coup in Sudan has called into question the so-called Paris Club process allowing rich nations to cancel the African country’s debt.
A deal was reached by the club of around 20 wealthy nations on July 15, cancelling much of the debt owed by Sudan to help it back into the international fold.
“It is evident that the military coup of October 25 calls this process into question,” the ministry said in a statement, five months after Paris decided to wipe nearly five billion dollars off the debt owed by Sudan.
Sudan is wheezing under nearly $60 billion of debt, 40 per cent of which — or $23.5 billion — is held by the Paris Club.
Under the July agreement, the Paris Club decided to cancelled $14.1 billion of that debt and reschedule the rest.
And at some point in the future, most of the rescheduled debt was likely to be cancelled as well.
Sudan piled up heavy foreign debts under Al Bashir, who was ousted in an April 2019 palace coup following mass protests.
But in order for the debt to be cancelled, Khartoum had to fulfil two conditions — clear its arrears with multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the African Development Bank, and implement “economic reforms showing the seriousness and rigour of the authorities,” the French ministry said on Friday.
“France has supported the democratic transition process in Sudan since the beginning in 2019. In this context, it has been an unwavering partner of this country, in all areas of cooperation,” the statement said.
“The Sudanese debt cancellation process was part of it.” – Reuters/AFP
