Postponing the signing of the final agreement to settle the crisis in Sudan

Officially announced in Khartoum the postponement of the signing of the final agreement to settle the political crisis in Sudan, which was scheduled for Saturday and would have paved the way for the handover of power in the country to civilians.

After a meeting held on Saturday afternoon that included the army commander, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Lieutenant General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, and the leaders of the civilian forces that signed the framework agreement, the spokesman for the political process, Khaled Omar Youssef, said in a statement that it was agreed to sign the final agreement. On the sixth of April.

In December, Sudanese military leaders and civilian factions agreed on the first component of a two-stage political process to end the political turmoil that has gripped the country since Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a military coup in October 2021.

The talks between the signatories to the agreement focused mainly on dismantling the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir.

Youssef confirmed that the meeting "determined the last remaining issues, which are the technical issues related to the stages of reform, integration and modernization in the security and military sectors, whose timeline and main issues were resolved in the paper of principles signed on March 15th."

He added, "After extensive deliberation, the meeting decided by consensus of the military and civilian parties to redouble efforts to overcome the remaining obstacle within a few days, in preparation for the signing of the final political agreement on the sixth of April."

Analysts say that the integration of the RSF into the army is the main point of contention between Al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as "Hamedti", who leads these paramilitary forces that were formed in 2013 to eliminate the rebellion in the Darfur region.

Last week, a workshop on security and military reform concluded without reaching an agreement.

This workshop was held in implementation of the provisions of a framework agreement signed by the military with civilians in December as part of the first political process aimed at the return of civilians to power.