SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga – Sudan peace talks: Hamdok, El Hilu agree on roadmap

5/9/2020: Radio Dabanga – Sudan peace talks: Hamdok, El Hilu agree on roadmap

 Radio Dabanga report that Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction headed by Abdelaziz al-Hilu (SPLM-N al-Hilu) agreed on a negotiation methodology, following their agreement in Ethiopia.

 Both sides will organise informal negotiation workshops to discuss “contentious issues such as secularism and the right to self-determination”, in order “to reach a common understanding that will facilitate the task of the formal negotiation teams”.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune – Al-Mahdi praises Hamdok-Hilu agreement on religion and politics in Sudan

5/9/2020: Sudan Tribune – Al-Mahdi praises Hamdok-Hilu agreement on religion and politics in Sudan

 Sudan Tribune report that Sadiq al-Mahdi, leader of the National Umma Party, praised the agreement on the relationship between religion and the state signed by the Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu.

 "The mechanism agreed between Hamdok and al-Hilu is sound because it provided for holding informal workshops to discuss controversial issues," al-Mahdi said, warning that “the issue of religion and the state needs everyone’s confidence,” warning that premature discussions will lead to polarisation and sedition. Al-Mahdi also praised “mechanisms to include all the absentees so ensure the agreement is national.”

 Sudan Tribune also report that the Hamdok-Hilu agreement was welcomed by the Sudanese Congress Party and the Democratic Unionist Party, and SPLM-N al-Hilu abandoned claims for a secular state and only want to discuss the relationship between religion and the state.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga – Sudan govt, SPLM-N El Hilu agreement in Addis Ababa – rebels to retain arms

5/9/2020: Radio Dabanga – Sudan govt, SPLM-N El Hilu agreement in Addis Ababa – rebels to retain arms

 Following a meeting in Ethiopia, Prime Minister Hamdok and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) factional leader Abdelaziz el-Hilu signed an agreement that stipulates that the latter’s group will remain armed until:

·      Sudan’ racial, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity is recognised

·      Complete political and social inequality are guaranteed by law.

·      The right to self-determination must be respected in the absence of a secular democratic state, with no religious discrimination and freedom of belief, worship and practice guaranteed “in full to all Sudanese citizens”.

·      The people of the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile retain the right to self-protection until separation between religion and state are actualised.

·      The constitution must realise fair sharing of power and wealth among Sudanese people.

·      Cessation of hostilities until security arrangements are agreed.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: People's Dispatch - As violence subsides in eastern Sudan, activists allege vested interest behind conflict

5/9/2020: People's Dispatch - As violence subsides in eastern Sudan, activists allege vested interest behind conflict, by Pavan Kulkarni

 People’s Dispatch feature quotes Sudanese activists who allege that the campaign by Beja leader Sayed Tirik to prevent Beni Amer tribesman Saleh Ammar’s appointment as Kassala governor is an exploitation of tribal divisions to pursue the political interests of the ousted al-Bashir regime.

Kassala Resistance Committee member Ammar Salih says that Sayed’s father al-Amin “was a parliamentary member of the former ruling National Congress Party…had considerable influence in the National Intelligence and Security Service…and continues to remain a powerful figure in the security forces.”

 With al-Amin facing allegations of embezzling money from the 2006 Eastern Sudan Reconstruction and Development Fund, Salih claims that Ammar’s appointment is particularly concerning as he is a former journalist who investigated the embezzlement. 

 Thus, Ammar is said to hold “information against many people with corrupt vested interests in the region,” and those he can implicate “are the main drivers in this conflict.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - Sudan forms first Cabinet since fall of Bashir – prime minister

5/9/19: Reuters - Sudan forms first Cabinet since fall of Bashir – prime minister, Khalid Abdelaziz

 Reuters reports that Sudan’s prime minister Abdalla Hamdok has formed Sudan’s first Cabinet since Omar Al-Bashir’s overthrow.

 The Cabinet of 18 includes four women, among them Asmaa Abdalla, Sudan’s first female foreign minister.

 Former World Bank economist Ibrahim Elbadawi is the finance minister, FFC leader Madani Abbas Madani is the minister of industry and trade, and General Jamal Omar is appointed defence minister.

 Among the challenges facing Hamdok’s government are securing funding to cover import bills, removing Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, and slashing military spending.

 Hamdok re-iterated that the “top priority of the transitional period is to stop war and to build sustainable peace,” with a committee to establish a framework for a Peace Commission in the pipeline.

 Hamdok said that Sudan’s rebel groups are “an integral part of the revolution and the current climate provides a great chance to reach understandings on peace.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Bloomberg - Ex-World Bank Official Tapped to Fix Sudan’s Ravaged Economy

5/9/19: Bloomberg - Ex-World Bank Official Tapped to Fix Sudan’s Ravaged Economy, by Mohammed Alamin

 Bloomberg highlight the economic challenges facing Sudan’s new finance minister, former World Bank economist Ibrahim Elbadawi.

 Prime Minister Hamdok’s cabinet is “inheriting a battered banking sector, annual inflation at over 40% and shortages of everything from fuel to flour and banknotes,” a situation that eventually unseated Omar al-Bashir.