Sudan’s coup leader establishes himself as head of new ruling council

By Ruot George

Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan was expected to lead a team of soldiers in stepping down from a Transitional Sovereign Council this month but he chose to resolve a civilian government he was working with and re-establish himself in power.

On November 11, Al-Burhan issued a decree forming a new Transitional Sovereignty Council which includes Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo as his vice president.

His new council includes rebel groups that reached a peace deal with the government last year but had rejected the coup.

Others in the new administration include Gen. Shams-Eddin Kabbashi Ibrahim, Lt. Gen. Yasir Abdel-Rahman Hassan Al-Atta, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Jabir Ibrahim, and Malik Agar who has reportedly rejected the appointment.

They also include Al-Tahir Abu-Bakr Hajar, Al-Hadi Idriss Yahya, Raja Nicola Abdel-Masih, Yusuf Gad-Karim Mohamed Ali, Abul-Gassim Mohamed Mohamed Ahmed, Abdel-Bagi Abdel-Gadir Al-Zubair and Salma Abdel-Jabbar Al-Mubarak Musa.

Al-Burhan kicked out the government of Abdallah Hamdok in late October, dismantling a power-sharing arrangement between the military and civilians set up after the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir in 2019 that was meant to lead to elections in late 2023.

Hamdok is under house arrest and some members of his government have been locked up.

He was supposed to return the army to the barracks and leave Hamdok to step up democratic reforms and prepare Sudan for that elections.

The international community has called on Al-Burhan to reverse the takeover, with Western powers and the World Bank suspending economic assistance and saying a deal to forgive tens of billions of dollars of foreign debt is at risk.