Sudan's military leader urges troops to back democratic transition

Sudan's military leader Abdel Fattah al Burhan has called on troops to "end" support for authoritarian leaders as talks begin on military reforms, part of a prolonged transition to civilian rule.

"During our history, the armed forces have supported dictatorial governments, and we want to put an end to that," Burhan, a career soldier during Bashir's three-decade rule, said in a speech to soldiers on Sunday.

Burhan seized power in a 2021 coup that had derailed a short-lived democratic transition following the 2019 ouster of long-time leader, general Omar al Bashir.

Sudan's army has a long history of staging military takeovers and has amassed substantial economic holdings.

Reform of the military and the security forces is a key point of tension in discussions on a two-phase political process launched in December, envisaging the military's exit from politics once a civilian government is installed.

The two sides are expected to formally adopt the deal on April 6 and launch a new civilian government on April 11.

Critics, however, have decried the deal, agreed by Burhan with multiple factions including a key civilian bloc, as "vague".

The proposed reforms include the integration into the regular army of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Burhan's deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

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Created in 2013, RSF emerged from the Popular Defence Forces, a government-backed/linked militia known as the Janjaweed that Bashir unleashed a decade earlier in the western region of Darfur against non-Arab rebels, where it was accused of war crimes by rights groups.

By some estimates, RSF has up to 100,000 fighters, integrated under its control.

While experts have pointed to worrying rivalries between Burhan and Daglo, the two men took turns speaking on Sunday in the capital Khartoum, pleading for a successful integration.

Daglo said he wanted "a unified army", while Burhan called for "a professional army that stays away from politics".

The December deal came after near-weekly protests since Burhan's October 2021 military takeover, which had also triggered international aid cuts, adding to the deepening political and economic troubles in one of the world's poorest countries.

Daglo, the RSF commander also known as Hemeti, said earlier this month he was against "anyone who wants to become a dictator", and that he opposed those "clinging on to power".

He said the latest coup had "failed" because it had not brought change but rather the return of the "old regime" of Bashir loyalists.

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