Sudan’s assistant army chief will only hand over power to civilians by democratic elections

Yasser al-Atta, assistant commander-in-chief of the Sudanese army, said that the armed forces would not hand over power to civilian political forces without elections.

Atta, who also serves as a member of the Transitional Sovereign Council, spoke during his meeting with the coordination of the national forces of the Wadi Sidna military region of Omdurman, west of the capital Khartoum.

A recorded video of Atta was broadcast in which he said “the military will not deliver a government to a civilian political force without elections”, and asserted that “the transition period will be overseen by army chief Abdul Fatah al-Burhan with police and security.”

According to a statement issued by the Sudanese army, al-Atta said that “the coming period will see the deployment of the military in and out of Khartoum and the initiative taken on all fronts”.

At its best, the armed forces fought against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with a strategy to destroy their rigid mass in parallel preparation and equipping for the next stages.

On 25 October 2021, al-Burhan imposed extraordinary measures, including the dissolution of the sovereignty councils and transitional ministers and the declaration of a state of emergency, thereby ending the participation of civilian forces in power during a transitional period between the military and civilians following the coup d ‘état against President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

Since mid-April 2023 the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemeti” have been fighting a war that has left some 13 thousand dead, 900 dead and more than 8 million displaced persons and refugees according to the United Nations.