Face of Truth | Ibrahim Shglawi
Military Rule..
Our country today is moving toward reshaping the power equation amid a war that is about to enter its third year, a war that has crippled institutions and society. Last week, the announcement of the first meeting of the Armed Forces Command Council in full attendance, chaired by the Commander-in-Chief, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, came as an implicit declaration of the beginning of a new phase that goes beyond the traditional role of the military institution in Sudan and presents itself as a direct political actor in the future of the state.
What makes this meeting exceptional, besides its timing, is also the manner in which it was announced. It was not customary for meetings of the Command Council to be publicized in this way, as for many years they remained confined to closed rooms and were only mentioned in the media through brief references.
But today, the announcement of the meeting, along with the extensive media coverage that accompanied it, signals a qualitative shift in the army’s interaction with public opinion and the concept of power. The military institution has moved from a position of reservation to a space of open declaration, based on a conviction that the current situation requires the army to clearly assume its national and political responsibility.
In this context, one cannot ignore the significance of the presence of the Sovereignty Council members in this ruling formation: General Shams Al-Din Kabashi, General Yasser Al-Atta, and General Ibrahim Jaber. These are not merely representatives of the army in power, but executive arms of the Commander-in-Chief and partners in formulating the political and military orientations of the coming phase.
This strong presence of military leaders within the structure of governance, combined with the wide-scale restructuring of the army’s leadership that took place last week, indicates that we are witnessing a new formulation of power in Sudan, based on: stability and security first, then transition.
Perhaps this reality is inspired by a historical Sudanese experience that still lives in the memory of Sudanese people — the experience of Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar Al-Dahab in 1985. At that time, after the fall of Jaafar Nimeiry’s regime, Swar Al-Dahab assumed leadership of a transitional military council that ruled the country for a year, in cooperation with a civilian, independent government led by Dr. Al-Jazuli Dafallah. He then voluntarily handed over power after free and fair elections. That experience was a rare model in the region for the possibility of army consensus with the logic of a civilian state.
This comes in light of the failure in the years following the December 2018 revolution to achieve stability, due to the conflict among civilian forces and the subordination of national decision-making to external dictates — starting with the illegitimate constitution drafted by lawyers’ committees, passing through the Empowerment Removal Law, and ending with the Framework Agreement, which deepened political polarization and ignited the fuse of war.
These paths, which imposed a distorted model of transition on the country, have led the international community itself to reassess its position and realistically accept that stability cannot be built on fragile foundations or ones detached from the nature of the state and its institutions.
Major powers, international institutions, and even regional forces that had for years bet on a civilian government are now more inclined to accept a reality led by a stable military institution — as long as it provides security and stability and prevents Sudan from sliding into a failed or fragmented state.
From here, the concept of “military rule” at this stage becomes a necessity to enable the only cohesive national institution to lead a clearly defined transitional period under the supervision of a civilian government composed of independent national experts, without partisan quotas or external agendas. Today, the state is being built with security as a priority, placing stability at the forefront of any political or economic reform project.
In my view, the current transformation in military leadership is not happening in isolation from the international community. Rather, it enjoys a degree of implicit, if not direct, support from Sudan’s partners in the region and the world, who have witnessed the collapse of the previous transitional project and now understand that what matters at this stage is security, border control, securing Red Sea navigation, and containing the hemorrhage of illegal migration.
Today, the world — under the pressure of security and economic crises — is leaning more toward pragmatism: what matters is stability, border control, and securing energy and navigation interests, not the type of political system.
Likewise, the Sudanese citizen now prioritizes the demand for security above all else. People want peace and stability. They want to return to their normal lives, not be drowned in political chaos. In this context, we must read the recent meeting of the Military Command Council as a foundational step in rebuilding the new state — starting with security and ending with a stable political transition, according to a clear timeline and a constitutional document respected by all, far from past fragility and zero-sum conflicts.
According to what appears in #Face_of_Truth, Sudan today is not merely reproducing the experience of Swar Al-Dahab, but may be developing it to suit the complexities of the current moment. If the military leadership — alongside the national experts in Dr. Kamal Idris’s government — succeeds in managing this phase responsibly, Sudan will not only emerge from its crisis, but will also regain its position as a regional player in securing the Horn of Africa and stabilizing the security rhythm in a region witnessing sharp intersections between international interests.
It is a rare moment in Sudan’s history: a moment of exiting war through the gate of independent national decision-making, carrying the banner of “Security First,” “Sovereignty Without Guardianship,” and “Transition Based on a National Project That Unites Sudanese.”
Wishing you all safety and wellness.
Saturday, August 30, 2025
Shglawi55@gmail.com
