Sudan Will Form New Government on April 11: Official Spokesman

Framework agreement signatories meet on March 19; 2023

March 19, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The civilian forces, commanders of the Sudan Armed Forces  (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to sign the final agreement paving the way for the transfer of power to civilians on 11 April.

On Sunday, the signatories of the framework agreement held two meetings. The first included SAF and RSF commanders, the political signatories, and the tripartite facilitation mechanism, while the second included the RSF commander, the civil forces, and the Trilateral Mechanism.

In a press briefing held after the second meeting, the political process spokesman Khalid Omer told reporters that the meeting approved the formation of an eleven-member committee to draft the final agreement, including nine representatives of the signatory civilian forces, a representative of the national army and another of the paramilitary forces.

“The committee has to submit the final draft agreement no later than March 27,” he added.

He further said that during the first meeting attended by the head of the Sovereign Council, the participants agreed to sign the final agreement on April 1.

“The transitional constitution will take place on the sixth of April, while the formation of the institutions of the transitional authority will be on the 11th of April,” he stressed.

He further underscored that the non-signatories were convoyed to Sunday’s meetings but they did attend. He said a committee has been formed to reach out to the holdout groups.

The tripartite facilitation panel and the deputy head of the Sovereign Council spokes about constructive discussions with the non-signatories after two separate meetings held with them on Friday and Saturday.

However, the Democratic Bloc Spokesman Mohamed Zakaria said that their meetings with the trilateral panel and the deputy head of the Sovereign council were meant to ensure the participation of the whole coalition of the non-signatories.

“The Democratic Bloc did not participate in a meeting organized by the Trilateral Mechanism. We call for fair representation of the parties, an agreement on the decision-making mechanism and the terms of reference for dialogue,” said Zakaria n a tweet posted on Sunday evening.

We want to know who decides on the eligibility of the participants. Who decides that four (groups of the democratic bloc) only attend the meeting and not the others? Also, we reject the framework agreement and we want to agree on the agenda of discussions,” he further told Sudan Tribune.

Zakaria underscored that they would “peacefully oppose any government formed “on the basis of the framework agreement.

(ST)