| Transitional Sovereignty Council | |
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| مجلس السيادة الإنتقالي (Arabic) | |
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| Overview | |
| Established | 21 August 2019 (2019-08-21) (first) 11 November 2021 (2021-11-11) (current) |
| Dissolved | 25 October 2021 (2021-10-25) (first) |
| State | Sudan |
| Leader | President (Abdel Fattah al-Burhan) |
| Appointed by | August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration (first) Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (current)[1] |
| Website | www |
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Executive |
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Judiciary
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Related topics
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TheTransitional Sovereignty Council (Arabic:مجلس السيادة الإنتقالي,romanized: Majlis al-Siyādah al-Intiqālī)[2][3] is the internationally recognised[4] collectivehead of state of Sudan, formed on 21 August 2019,[5] by theAugust 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration.[6][7][8] The initial council was dissolved by its ChairmanAbdel Fattah al-Burhan in theOctober 2021 Sudanese coup d'état and reconstituted the following month with new membership,[1] effectively changing it from aunity government to amilitary junta.[9][10]
Under Article 10.(b) of the Draft Constitutional Declaration, it is composed of five civilians chosen by theForces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC), five military representatives chosen by theTransitional Military Council (TMC), and a civilian selected by agreement between the FFC and TMC. The chair for the first 21 months was to be a military member,Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and for the remaining 18 months the chair was to be a civilian member, under Article 10.(c).[7] The original Sovereignty Council was mostly male, with only two female members:Aisha Musa el-Said andRaja Nicola.[11] Under Article 19 of the Draft Constitutional Declaration, the Sovereignty Council members are ineligible to run in theelection scheduled to follow thetransition period.[6][7]
Sudan had multi-member Sovereignty Councils holding therole of head of state of Sudan several times during the twentieth century. Following more than half a year ofsustained civil disobedience and a shift of the presidency fromOmar al-Bashir to theTransitional Military Council (TMC) in April 2019 by a coup d'état, the TMC and theForces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC) made a July 2019 Political Agreement[12][13] and completed it by the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration.[6][7][8] Articles 9.(a) and 10.(a) of the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration both transfer the role of head of state to the Sovereignty Council.[7]
Article 10.(b) of the Draft Constitutional Declaration defines the Sovereignty Council to consist of five civilians chosen by the FFC, five military chosen by the TMC, and a civilian "selected by agreement" between the FFC and TMC.[7]
Under Article 10.(c) of the Draft Constitutional Declaration, for the first 21 months of the 39-month transitional period defined by the document, the chair of the Sovereignty Council was to be chosen by the five military members of the council. For the following 18 months, the chair was to be chosen by the five civilian members selected by the FFC.[7]
The military membership of the Sovereignty Council included GeneralAbdel Fattah al-Burhan, GeneralHemedti, Lieutenant-GeneralYasser al-Atta,[8] GeneralShams al-Din Khabbashi and Major-GeneralIbrahim Jabir Karim.[11][14] Hemedti has been the deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council in the past.[14]
The five civilians chosen by the FFC areAisha Musa el-Said of theNational Gathering Initiative;Siddiq Tawer, a prominent member of theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Region of Sudan[11] (and thereby a member of theNational Consensus Forces)[15] from theNuba Mountains inSouth Kordofan;Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman of theUnionist Gathering fromNorthern Sudan; Hassan Sheikh Idris (orHassan Mohamed Idris),[16][11] a prominent member of theNational Umma Party (and thereby a member ofSudan Call)[15] fromKassala; andMohammed Hassan Osman al-Ta'ishi[17][11] of theSudanese Professionals Association.[15] Taha Othman Ishaq (orOsman), a lawyer and member of the FFC negotiating committee, declined his nomination by the FFC to the Sovereignty Council on the grounds that the FFC alliance had earlier agreed that members of the negotiating committee should not become members of the Sovereignty Council.[18]
Raja Nicola was the civilian member of the Sovereignty Council mutually chosen by the FFC and TMC.[19] The choice of Nicola, as a member of theSudanese Copt community, is seen as a symbol of respect for diversity, in particular to Sudanese Christians.[19]
On 4 February 2021, al-Burhan issued a decree to add three new members to the Council.[20] The new members areSudanese Revolutionary Front leader El Hadi Idris Yahya,Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North leaderMalik Agar, and Sudan Liberation Movement for Justice-Karbino leader El Tahrir Abubakr Hajar.
The council had fourteen members as follows:
Al-Burhan reinstated the TSC on 11 November 2021 with the same military and rebel members, but with all but one of the civilian members replaced.[1] He left the seat for a civilian representative from Eastern Sudan vacant. The members are:[23]
Amendments made to the transitional constitution in February 2025, propose to maintain the council as the collective head of state of Sudan, and empower it to appoint a prime minister, cabinet, state governors and justices. The reformed council is to have eleven members, with six nominated by theSudanese Armed Forces and three from signatories to the peace agreement.[31]
The Sovereignty Council was mostly male, with two of the eleven members being female:Aisha Musa el-Said andRaja Nicola.[32][17] At a lower level,Siham Osman was nominated Under-Secretary of the Minister of Justice, and acts on behalf of theMinister of Justice with his authorisation when he is on travels.[33]
TheSudanese Women's Union argued that women had played as significant a role as men in the political changes of 2019 and that Sudanese women "claim an equal share of 50-50 with men at all levels, measured by qualifications and capabilities".[32]
Under Article 19 of the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration, the eleven members of the Sovereignty Council of the transitional period were forbidden (along with ministers and other senior transition leaders) from running in the2022 Sudanese general election scheduled to end the transitional period.[7][6]
Article 11.(a) lists 17 political powers held by the Sovereignty Council, including the appointment of thePrime Minister, confirmation of leaders of certain state bodies, the right to declare war or a state of emergency, and signing and ratifying national and international agreements.[7]
On 24 October, theSudanese Professionals Association (SPA) claimed that civilian members of the Sovereignty Council violated the constitutional constraints on their power by appearing to coordinate withRapid Support Forces (RSF) and override the Ministry of Health's role in managingvector control against the spread ofdengue fever andchikungunya. The SPA stated, "the campaign appeared to be the scene of direct interaction of the [RSF] with the health situation in the concerned states, in the absence of health departments at the federal or state level. ... [The] whole issue of health is not the prerogative of the Sovereign Council."Sudan Tribune expressed concern that the RSF and its leaderHemetti were trying to improve the RSF's image,[34] damaged by its carrying out ofcrimes against humanity in theWar in Darfur[35] and human rights violations during the 3 June 2019Khartoum massacre.[36]
Under Article 11.(c) of the Draft Constitutional Declaration, the Sovereignty Council makes decisions eitherby consensus, or when consensus is not possible, by a two-thirds majority (eight members).[7]
The Council announced a state of emergency inPort Sudan during tribal clashes which resulted in the death of 16 people on 26 August 2019.[37]
In November 2019,Abdalla Hamdok's government repealed all laws restricting women's freedom of dress, movement, association, work and study. On 22 April 2020, the transitional government issued an amendment to its criminal legislation which declares that anyone who performsfemale genital mutilation either in a medical establishment or elsewhere will be punished by three years' imprisonment and a fine.[38]
On 25 October 2021, in the2021 Sudan coup d'état, ChairmanAbdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolved the Council and removed Prime MinisterAbdalla Hamdok from office.[39][40][41] He re-formed the TSC with new membership on November 11, 2021.[1] On November 21, 2021, al-Burhan signed a deal with Hamdok that reinstated him as prime minister, provided for the release of all political prisoners detained in the coup, and restored the 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration.[42]
| Republic of Sudan (1956–1969) |
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| Democratic Republic of Sudan (1969–1985) | ||
| Republic of Sudan (1985–2019) |
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| Transitional period (2019–present) |
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| Organisations |
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| Institutional transition |
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