Rejects Negotiations With Army, Sudanese Civilian Coalition: Coup Doesn't Represent Military Institutions

Illustration of a military coup demonstration in Sudan. (Wikimedia Commons/Abbasher)

JAKARTA - Sudan's main civilian political coalition rejected any negotiations with the military on Wednesday, defending its position at its first news conference since the October 25 coup led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

A statement read out at a news conference attributed to spokesman Alwathiq Elbereir said the Forces of Freedom and Change, which had signed a 2019 power-sharing agreement with the military after the overthrow of dictator Omar al-Bashir, rejected the coup and had not met with the army.

The coalition says it supports Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is under house arrest but has not met him and is joining him in demanding a return to pre-coup conditions.

"We didn't break the partnership. And we have to go back to the constitutional documents," another FFC spokesman said, adding the coup took place after civilians brought controversial issues to the table.

"The coup does not represent a military institution," the spokesman added, saying the coalition would not accept the return of General Burhan as head of state he held before the coup.

Several politicians and civilian officials were arrested after the coup, and Elbereir said they faced pressure that put their lives at risk.

Mediation efforts since the takeover have stalled, and while lower-level appointments have been made, neither the cabinet nor the head of the country's sovereign council have been named.

Sudan's military junta leader General Burhan said he was committed to a democratic transition and elections by July 2023.

General Burhan is under international pressure to reverse his actions. The UN Security Council will be briefed on Sudan by UN special envoy Volker Perthes during a closed-door meeting on Thursday, diplomats said.

Separately, the resistance committee has called for marches of millions on November 13 and 17 which the FFC says it supports. The committees organize under the slogan: No negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy.

The committee, despite struggling under internet blackouts, brought hundreds of thousands of Sudanese in an anti-military protest on October 30. They also threaten a campaign of general strikes and civil disobedience.

Meanwhile, the Coordinating Committee for Refugees and Refugees announced that camp residents in Darfur and the south of the country would join the November 13 protests.

On Wednesday, the Sudanese Teachers Committee said 13 teachers had been arrested in South Darfur, joining others arrested earlier this week in Khartoum.