Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist September 2019 | Page 52

A frica Diary
Freedom, peace, justice achieved?
Sudan’s power-sharing deal after
Omar al-Bashir’s ouster
BY RAYMOND KWUN-SUN LAU*
O
n 21 August 2019, Dr Abdallah Hamdouk was sworn
in as Prime Minister of Sudan. This was followed by
the signing of a constitutional declaration between
the Sudanese ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC)
and the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition of
opposition on 17 August 2019. Under agreed timelines, the
TMC headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his
deputy, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander General
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo—known as “Hemeti”—will be
dissolved and an 11-member sovereign council—made up
of five military figures and six civilians—will be established
to oversee the formation of a new government during the
39-month transitional period. A military general will head
the Council for the first 21 months, and then a civilian leader
would take over for the remaining 18 months.
The declaration, which incorporates significant
institutional reforms that pave the way for a transition to
civilian rule, was welcomed by both the FFC opposition
coalition as a “first step with more to follow” and the RSF
commander as “a new chapter in the history of Sudan”.
With civilian rule and civic rights being the main demands
of protesters, this hard-won constitutional declaration,
following President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir’s
ouster in April and months of street protests against his 30-
year long autocratic rule, could be regarded as a long-awaited
victory for the Sudanese people who have risked their lives
and safety to demand freedom, peace and justice.
Then, in the face of strong public pressure for not just
freedom and peace but also justice and accountability, perhaps
the more important question is whether the ousted Sudanese
President, who has become the first sitting head of state to be
indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes
against humanity, war crimes and genocide, will face trial in
The Hague. Back in 2005, the ICC, at the behest of the UN
Security Council, launched an investigation of atrocities in
Sudan’s Darfur region. Then, in July 2008, the ICC Prosecutor
took a bold step in requesting an arrest warrant for Bashir
on ten counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes. The arrest warrant was sought against Omar al-Bashir
in three capacities: as president of Sudan, as head of the
National Congress Party (NCP) and as commander-in-chief of
the armed forces. Ultimately, two arrest warrants were issued
on 4 March 2009 and 12 July 2010 respectively.
However, since the issuance of the arrest warrants, the
two stumbling blocks to ICC efforts to combat impunity are
Khartoum’s refusal to comply with its obligation to cooperate
with the ICC and the African Union (AU)’s call for non-
cooperation with the Court. Even though Omar al-Bashir has
been ousted in April 2019, the military-led transitional
council has declared that Bashir
could be tried in Sudan but
would not be extradited
to the ICC. Given that
key figures in the
military regime,
in particular, the
RSF Commander
General Mohamed
Hamdan Dagalo,
are
deeply
Dr Abdallah Hamdouk
52 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 9 • September 2019, Noida