SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: AFP – Sudan deal defuses threat of slide into chaos

6/8/19: AFP – Sudan deal defuses threat of slide into chaos

 AFP’s feature piece highlights the scepticism of analysts following Sudan’s power-sharing deal.

 With the deal placing Sudan’s spy agency under the sovereign council and executive authorities, Magdi el-Gizouli, a Rift Valley Institute analyst, stated that it is unclear how the spy agency can be disciplined into a democratic framework without authority over its budget.

 The deal also puts the RSF under the army’s command, but Harvard University Sudan expert Eric Reeves argues that Himedti’s continued control of the RSF enables him to “threaten any number of actions if the army generals do not accede to his demands.”

 With the Sudan Revolutionary Front rejecting the deal,  El-Gizouli warns that Sudanese rebel leaders may be caught in “a game of blackmail” between the generals and protest leaders.

 Editor-in-chief of Elaf newspaper Khaled al-Tijani said there are no guarantees that the FFC coalition will remain in-tact despite securing 201 of 300 parliamentary seats.