Sudan deputy leader declines to head key reforms committee
Monday November 15 2021
Sudan's deputy chief of the ruling military council General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. PHOTO | EBRAHIM HAMID | AFP
Sudan’s deputy leader of the Transitional Sovereign Council, which was named last week after the October military takeover, has declined to take up the lead role of a key reform committee set up to break the country from the regime of ousted president Omar al-Bashir.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who leads the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, on Monday turned down the offer to head the Empowerment Removal Committee.
In his “regret” submission to the de facto ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Monday, Dagalo did not give his reasons.
Following the October 25 coup, Burhan declared a nationwide state of emergency and dissolved the Transitional Government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, including all the steering committees in state institutions, trade unions and professional associations.
He later reinstituted the Empowerment Removal Committee to be led by Dagalo and charged to review the work done by the previous team members.
After the ouster of Bashir in April 2019, the Hamdok-led government established the committee to dismantle the system he had built during his nearly three decades in power and seize assets and companies held by his National Congress Party.