SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Atlantic Council - How the international community can help restore Sudan’s democracy

30/1/2023: Atlantic Council - How the international community can help restore Sudan’s democracy, by Sami Abdelhalim Saeed

Sami Abdelhalim Saeed of International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance calls for the international community to provide substantial support for elections in Sudan planned for the end of the transitional period.

Saeed argues that the lack of scope of elected institutions under Sudan’s 2019 Constitutional Charter is “an invitation to instability”, given that credible elections require broadly accepted parameters that ensure that losers respect the legitimacy of elected institutions and winners do not “push victory to extremes [and act with] no limits in power”.

Saeed adds that the requirement that elections happen at the end of a transition “places a huge burden” on Sudan’s unelected transitional institutions to develop a permanent constitution, to which the three “non-attractive” solutions are: amending the constitutional documents in contradiction of the Juba peace agreement, rush constitution-building and compromise on quality and inclusivity or delay elections and increase the risk of extra-constitutional military intervention.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – UNDP head: ‘2020 is once in a lifetime opportunity to support Sudan’

30/1/2020: Multiple sources – UNDP head: ‘2020 is once in a lifetime opportunity to support Sudan’

Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) called for the international community to boost its support to Sudan to accelerate the transition to civilian rule, sustainable peace and development.

After three-day visit to Sudan, Steiner also outlined how the UNDP will help critical state institutions manage key political and economic challenges, including progress in human rights, applying the rule of law and delivering justice.

Steiner added that the UNDP also aims to enable the political and social participation of women and youth through supporting regulatory reform to enable economic growth and as advancing measures to suppor the emerging digital economy.

The UNDP will also work with the ministries of Agriculture and Energy on solar powered irrigation to boost productivity and lessen dependence on fossil fuels in agriculture - a critical sector that contributes 30 per cent of Sudan’s GDP and employs 80 per cent of the population.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudan says following closely issue security workers sent to Libya

30/1/2020: Sudan Tribune - Sudan says following closely issue security workers sent to Libya

Sudan Tribune reports that Faisal Mohammed Salih, the Sudanese Minister of Information announced the formation of an operations room to investigate the case of Sudanese youth who say they were given military training and sent to Libya against their will by an Emirati security company.

Salih said that the operations room contacted UAE authorities via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Ministry of Labour contacting recruitment agencies to review the contracts.

Salih added that the Ministry of Labour and Social Development reviewed the contracts and found that they did not violate the usual legal procedures to be followed by foreign firms.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudan’s DUP pledges to narrow positions over secular state  

30/1/2020: Sudan Tribune - Sudan’s DUP pledges to narrow positions over secular state  

Sudan Tribune reports that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani vowed to exert efforts to narrow the gap between the transitional government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu over the issue of secularism.

Talks to end the over eight years conflict in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile states are stalled over SPLM-N al-Hilu’s threats to fight for self-determination unless Sudan adopts secularism.

The DUP, which was part of the ousted al-Bashir regime, and SPLM-N al-Hilu sealed a political alliance supported by the Egyptian government in September 2019. The parties issued a joint statement which expressed commitment to resolving conflicts and the "need to prohibit the establishment of political parties on a religious basis, and the need to respect pluralism and cultural diversity.”