8 Mar 2023; MEMO: The military head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has dismissed the governors of three states in the south and east of the country and appointed their successors, the official news agency SUNA has reported. The states in question are South Kordofan, West Kordofan and Red Sea.
The dismissals and new appointments "come in the context of the requirements of the current stage that the three states are going through, in response to the conditions that those states experience," SUNA quoted the Minister of Federal Governance, Muhammad Kartikila Salih, as saying. No further details were provided.
The final stage of the political process began on 8 January within the framework agreement which had been concluded and signed on 5 December by military and civilian officials. The ongoing process aims to resolve the current political crisis that broke out on 25 October 2021 when Al-Burhan imposed exceptional measures, including the dissolution of the Sovereign Council and the Transitional Ministers; the arrest of ministers and politicians; the declaration of a state of emergency; and the dismissal of governors.
Prior to the imposition of these measures, a transitional phase started in Sudan on 21 August 2019 and was set to end with elections in early 2024. During the transitional phase that was disrupted by Al-Burhan's exceptional measures, power was to be shared by the army, civil forces and armed movements which signed the Juba Peace Agreement with the government in 2020.
