When Sudan’s military brass removed the country’s longtime strongman, President Omar al-Bashir, 10 months ago, skepticism about their intentions was the order of the day. The demonstrators on the streets of Khartoum were the most skeptical, and their massive pro-democracy protests that had forced the military’s hand did not stop. Four months later, and against all odds, the protesters achieved another impressive victory: a power-sharing agreement with the military, establishing a transitional ruling council. Yet even then, not everyone was convinced that a country accused of committing serial genocide under Bashir was on its way to fully rejoining the community of nations as a democracy committed to the protection of human rights.
But now, as a group of international backers known as the Friends of Sudan is preparing for a major donors’ conference in the coming months, the new Sudan is making a strong case to prove that it is deeply committed not just to progress but to a profound transformation. In a series of decisions announced in recent days, from Bashir’s fate to plans for transitional justice and payments to victims of terrorism, the transitional government looks determined to show it is moving in the right direction.
It may just persuade the skeptics who have had good reason to worry. When Bashir was deposed last April, the generals who immediately assumed power in the Transitional Military Council looked like they planned on keeping it. In June, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF—the successors to the infamous Janjaweed militia that was accused of carrying out genocide to suppress an insurgency in Sudan’s Darfur region in 2003—tried to crush the ongoing protests in Khartoum, killing more than 100 demonstrators. The RSF is loyal to Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Daqlou, known as Hemeti, who remains one of Sudan’s most powerful figures.
Still, months of negotiations between the military and the civilian leaders of the Forces of Freedom and Change produced a credible agreement last August. They formed a transitional government to oversee the country for 39 months until elections, alternating leaders within an 11-member Sovereignty Council. The first prime minister, Abdallah Hamdok, was the choice of the civilian coalition. Hamdok is a respected economist who has worked at Sudan’s Ministry of Finance and in high posts at the United Nations and the African Development Bank.
His top priority is stimulating economic growth. For that, he needs the U.S. government to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, which complicates access to funds, investment and normalization. When Hamdok came to the United States in December, he was very well received, but failed to persuade the Trump administration to lift the terror label.
That same month, the Friends of Sudan met in Khartoum, where hopes of concrete pledges of financial support were also dashed. Instead, the group of 14 countries and major international organizations announced it would start preparations for another donor meeting in April, where the funding could at last materialize.
The new Sudan is making a strong case to prove that it is deeply committed not just to progress but to a profound transformation.
The wait-and-see attitude of many observers reflects the scale of the challenges faced by Sudan’s pro-democracy forces and its transitional government. Civilian and military members have different priorities and very likely conflicting goals, in addition to facing internal divisions within their own blocs.
When a court in Khartoum sentenced Bashir to two years in jail on corruption charges in December, it initially looked like another point for the skeptics. The sentence seemed disturbingly light, and many Sudanese called for Bashir to face “real justice” for his human rights abuses. Bashir spent years evading an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on multiple charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur. Despite the charges, Bashir had traveled freely, including a trip to the World Cup in Russia in 2018.
Then, last week, an official of the transitional government told reporters that, following an agreement with Darfuri leaders, Sudan would hand Bashir over to the ICC, something the military had initially said it would not do. Mohammed Hassan el-Taishi, a member of the Sovereignty Council, did not mention Bashir by name, but he said all those sought by the ICC would be turned over to face trial; two other former senior officials in Bashir’s regime are still wanted by the ICC. El-Taishi announced that the Sudanese government would also establish its own special tribunal to investigate crimes in Darfur.
Days later, news came that Sudan had agreed to pay compensation to the families of victims of the USS Cole bombing. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the 2000 attack that killed 17 U.S. Navy sailors in Yemen, but Sudan was accused of assisting the bombing given Bashir’s support for al-Qaida. Hamdok said Sudan would pay $30 million in a settlement even though it “explicitly denies” involvement, in order to “settle the historical allegations of terrorism left by the former regime.” Authorities are also reportedly negotiating a settlement for the victims of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, also carried out by al-Qaida.
In a more controversial move, the chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, held a surprise meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda early this month. Netanyahu said the meeting was the first step in normalizing relations between the two countries.
Burhan, whose position makes him the formal head of state while Hamdok is head of government, defended the meeting with Netanyahu, saying his duty is to “achieve the higher interests of the Sudanese people.” He insisted that Sudan remains committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The future of Sudan is far from certain. Three decades of Bashir’s rule have left a country with scars and secrets. That’s especially true for members of the military, particularly for figures like Hemeti, who can only view the prospect of ICC prosecutions with alarm.
But for now, the country is taking decisive steps in the right direction, with the transitional government appearing to do everything in its power to sway the skeptics.
*Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is a regular contributor to CNN and The Washington Post. Her WPR column appears every Thursday. Follow her on Twitter at @fridaghitis.
