The agreement meant to usher in civilian government in Sudan has been postponed by warring parties in the country’s political leadership— the military leaders and the main pro-democracy network.
Representatives from the African Union, the United Nations, and the intergovernmental authority on development in Eastern Africa facilitated talks between the military and pro-democracy groups in Khartoum.
The power blocs through their spokesperson, Khalid Omar revealed that the discussion ended with a deadlock.
“The meeting discussed the developments of the political process that aimed at signing the final agreement today,” Omar detailed.
“The parties discussed the only major point that was left unresolved which is related to a technical case regarding military and security reform”.
Omar said that military and civilian parties have unanimously agreed to “redouble efforts to overcome the remaining obstacle within a few days and pave the way for the signing of the final political agreement on April 6”.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for one of the pro-democracy signatories, Shihab Ibrahim claims the army wants a two-year timeline for integration while the RSF has called for a 10-year window.
“All military and civilian parties have decided to intensify their efforts in order to solve those unresolved technical issues in a period starting tonight and till the 6th of April and to work as hard as possible to find an agreement on the point that is left unresolved before April 6,” Ibrahim said.
The Northeast African country has a long history of military coups that dates back to 1957. More recently, the country experienced a coup in 2019 that ousted the military junta of Omar-al-Bashir which had been in power for over 30 years.
Since the beginning of the post-colonial era, many African countries have grappled with contentious and contradictory roles of the armed forces. Recently, there has been a wave of military incursions across the continent, particularly in Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali.