Sudan Future Campaign says deal between military, world powers and Forces of Freedom & Change maybe doomed to failure.
By Jehron Muhammad
Twitter: @JehronMuhammad
Knee deep in Sudanese political formulations, is how I’m defining my 2021-2022. Beginning with a September Khartoum marriage celebration more like a political convention, including presence of the North African country’s foreign minister and representative involved in the nations peace accord, followed by nearly two months of interviews, many with a camera crew provided by the Brown Land editor and publisher, and developing friendships with Sudanese journalist, scholars, students, politicians and a retired military general made for a perspective I’m still trying to define. And I’ve not mentioned the dynamics that come with marrying into an influential Sudanese family.
While I’m writing this Zakia Sadeeg is appearing on Al-Watan TV from Turkey. She in Arabic is giving substance to her organization, which is “Sudan Future Campaign” (SFC) response to the announcement by Sudanese parties of an initial political framework agreement. They say initial or first phase because of the October 2021 military coup leaders involvement. This includes General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalos’ (also known as Hemedti) and his Rapid Support Force (RSF).
According to remarks made at the UN Security Council briefing by the U.S. on Sudan and South Sudan, commended the inclusive “dialogue in good faith and to establish a civilian-led transitional government as soon as possible.” The U.S. Mission to the UN stated, “We fully support the UNITAMS-AU-IGAD (United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission In Sudan, African Union, Intergovernmental Authority on Development) role in facilitating the next phase of dialogue and concluding negotiations.” IGAD is an eight country trade bloc that includes, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia Djibouti and Uganda.
Ms Sadeeg who is her organizations deputy president, posted their statement, which ask the question, “How do we hold elections and ensure their success in this unstable atmosphere?” Another question SFC ask, how can free and fair elections take place when “the state is still in their (military’s) grip?”
The master of ceremony during the 2021 wedding was documentary filmmaker, journalist and Pan Africanist Al-Sanosi Adam, who by the way has two graduate degrees in media studies from the Berkeley School of Journalism. Seems like each time we seriously discuss the dynamics that make Sudan work, or it’s challenges while I’m interviewing him. This time from his new residence in Nairobi, Kenya.
He said he moved from Khartoum to the capital city Nairobi because his media company “was just going down really fast.” He said, “We had to sell equipment (just) to pay rent. So I looked around and thought of moving somewhere like East Africa. I looked at Ethiopia but it was going through war. I looked at Uganda but not much opportunity for journalist or filmmakers, so I decided to move to Nairobi.”
Nairobi is known to be the media hub for journalist in East Africa. Adam told this writer, “There (in Nairobi) is a lot of International media houses. I moved here while I was still working for DW Africa link, which is the Germain news service. So, I also applied to BBC, Al Jazeera, Voice of America. I had interviewed with VOA and they were not looking for a full time anything, but they welcomed the idea of me (free lancing) pitching stories.”
“Nairobi is a very welcoming city, the culture, the people and it’s very accommodating, but it’s also very expensive,” he noted. “If you are an entrepreneur and have a good project you’ll find ways to make it work.” He also said there is a lot of supports. “You can open a bank account, you can get your residency, or two or five year residency. Also, you can get a multiple entry visa so you can move around. On same side, the competition is really fierce. Navigating that is a challenge. And getting the right job that you want is also a challenge.”
Concerning Sudan he said one of his free lance positions requires him to stay in touch with Sudan. He said, “The political dynamics, the armed groups, the peace agreement. So I’m very aware of what’s happening.”
He said, “Most recent thing in the political dynamic is the new deal that is in play between Freedom and Justice Coalition and the military,” which he said, “is to be signed.” He believes, “The deal will somehow allow civilians to form a transitional government.”
Zakia begs to differ. She said as Deputy President of SFC on Al-Watan TV, part of a 15 minute in depth interview, “We see that the Forces of Freedom and Change reneged on their covenant once again by signing this agreement, by bypassing many of the components and political organizations that make it up, without obtaining their consent…”
According to Axios, the agreement “could be a first step… but it doesn’t have (as Sadeeg mentioned on Al-Watan) the support of several key players.” Sadeeg said that this lack of “consensus ()s problematic and) … deepens the division of Sudanese society. ”
One thing this imperfect agreement did is reveal the differences between military head Al-Burhan and Dagalos of the RSF. According to Axios, Dagalos, who is Burhans deputy, said the Oct. 25th coup was a “political mistake.” Burhan disputed his deputy characterizing and insisting the coup was a “necessity.”
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