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On November 4th, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of Sudan’s junta, agreed with the United States on the need to speed up the formation of a new government.
This took place after he ordered the release of four ministers of the now-deposed government.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s office released a statement after he spoke on the phone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The two parties agreed on the need to maintain the path of the democratic transition, the need to complete the structures of the transitional government and to speed up the formation of the government,” his office said.
The US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken in the call urged al-Burhan to immediately release all political figures detained since the coup and “return to a dialogue that returns Prime Minister Hamdok to office and restores civilian-led governance in Sudan”.
“We are considering all internal and external initiatives to serve the national interest,” al-Burhan’s media adviser Taher Abouhaga said. “The government formation is imminent.”
Meanwhile, on November 5th, mass protests are expected in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and other main cities.
The United Nations has been trying to mediate an end to the political crisis that followed the coup.
The UN special envoy for Sudan, special representative Volker Perthes, said talks had yielded the outline of a potential deal on a return to power-sharing, including the deposed premier’s reinstatement.
But he urged an agreement in “days not weeks” before both sides’ positions harden.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres encouraged General al-Burhan in a phone call to take action towards resolving “the political crisis in Sudan and urgently restoring the constitutional order and Sudan’s transitional process,” UN associate spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said.
Initially, al-Burhan had issued the decision for Hamza Baloul, minister of information and culture, Hashim Hasabel-Rasoul, minister of communications, Ali Gedou, minister of trade and international cooperation, and Youssef Adam, minister of youth and sports to be let go.
Hamdok has also demanded the reversal of the coup as conditions for any further negotiations with the military.
Moez Hadra, a defense lawyer for the deposed officials, said the four ministers are from among the 100 government officials and political leaders who were arrested during the coup. Half of them, he said, are believed to be held in Khartoum and the others are scattered across the country’s provinces.
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These countries in Africa are moving away from democracy. This is both good and bad. Good because American model is too corrupt and false and bad because some lunatics will rule now.