Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was reinstated following a coup, must now perform a political juggling act if he is to realize his ambition of forming a government and establishing a civilian foothold in his country’s turbulent transition away from autocracy.
To save the process – and his reputation – the soft-spoken economist must establish his independence from a military leadership that placed him under house arrest and detained some of his former cabinet members for several weeks before agreeing to let him return last month.
Failure could lead to even more unrest in Sudan, where the suspension of international economic aid threatens financial ruin at a time when nearly a third of the population requires humanitarian assistance.
Rekindled unrest threatens to destabilize regions such as the eastern border with Ethiopia and Darfur, where dozens of people have been killed this week and displacement has increased this year.
Hamdok’s agreement with military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on November 21 enraged a large protest movement that has pushed for democracy since the 2019 overthrow of former Islamist President Omar al-Bashir, while also alienating political factions that had been sharing power with the army.
“The Burhan-Hamdok agreement legitimizes the coup, and it will not stand,” said Khalid Omer Yousif, cabinet affairs minister until his arrest in October.
“We urge Hamdok, who made a serious error, to return to the side of the revolution and the people.”
While local mediators try to chart a new path for a redesigned transition, the protest movement has denounced the military on the streets with the slogan “No partnership, no negotiation, no compromise.”
Though high-profile political detainees have been released, activists claim that others are still being held outside the capital Khartoum.
At a rally on Monday in Bahri, Khartoum’s twin city north of the Blue Nile, several people said they had nothing personal against Hamdok but would march until the military left power, regardless of what happened to the economy.
“1For a while, we thought of Hamdok as one of us,” Asjad Omer, a 31-year-old accountant, said. “As soon as he sided with the military, any agreement became meaningless to us.”
A large convoy of riot police armed with sticks crossed the river into Bahri in the direction of the protests at sunset.
Hamdok has issued orders freezing or rescinding appointments made by al-Bashir era veterans between the coup and his return, but it is unclear how much influence reformists can reclaim in the state bureaucracy.
Some senior officials appointed during the transition are unwilling to return, while others have yet to decide, adding to the uncertainty at ministries that were vacated following the takeover.
Hamdok is supposed to name technocrats to a new government.
While the civilian coalition that emerged from the uprising against Bashir is barred from participating, former rebel groups aligned with the army are widely expected to retain positions gained through a 2020 peace agreement.
Jibril Ibrahim, who became finance minister after his Justice and Equality Movement signed the agreement, had expressed support for the military prior to the coup and has continued to operate from the ministry since then.
The military has appointed a new ruling Sovereign Council, and a 2019 agreement to hand over leadership of the transition from military to civilians ahead of elections in 2023 has been scrapped.
“He (Hamdok) has put himself in a very complex and very limiting situation,” said Kholood Khair of Khartoum-based think tank Insight Strategy Partners. “What he urgently requires is a functioning cabinet that people can rally behind.”
Although Hamdok could not be reached for comment, sources close to him have stated that if his agreement with the military fails to gain political support, he will resign.
Burhan has stated that economic reforms will not be reversed, and a probe into protest casualties has begun, according to Reuters.
However, the coup has halted development plans aimed at bringing Sudan out of a protracted economic crisis and rescuing public services and infrastructure.
Most primary health care centers are closed, and broken pipes spill sewage water onto potholed roads in some areas of Khartoum.
Diplomats said Hamdok, who is known for seeking consensus through lengthy consultations, had a limited time to regain public support and demonstrate that he was not simply doing the bidding of the military, which has a history of staging coups.
“Even if you get back on track, how can anyone believe that this won’t happen again?” one of them said