\n Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan called on troops Sunday to \"end\" support for authoritarian leaders as talks begin on military reforms, part of a prolonged transition to civilian rule.\n<\/p>\n
\n Burhan seized power in a 2021 coup that had derailed a short-lived democratic transition following the 2019 ouster of Islamist general Omar al-Bashir.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"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.\n<\/p>\n
\n Reform of the security forces in a key point of tension in discussions on a two-phase political process launched in December, envisaging generals' exit from politics once a civilian government is installed.\n<\/p>\n
\n Critics have decried the deal, agreed by Burhan with multiple factions including a key civilian bloc, as \"vague\".\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n Created in 2013, RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n Daglo said he wanted \"a unified army\", while Burhan called for \"a professional army that stays away from politics\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The December deal came after near-weekly protests since Burhan's October 2021 takeover, which had also triggered international aid cuts, adding to the deepening political and economic troubles in one of the world's poorest countries.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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\".\n<\/p>\n
\n He said the latest coup had \"failed\" because it had not brought change but rather the return of the \"old regime\" of Bashir loyalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan called on troops Sunday to \"end\" support for authoritarian leaders as talks begin on military reforms, part of a prolonged transition to civilian rule. Burhan seized power in a 2021 coup that had derailed a short-lived democratic transition following the 2019 ouster of Islamist general Omar al-Bashir. \"During our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-114345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n