THE Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) rejected a proposed draft security Bill put forward by the transitional government, condemning it as “a conspiracy against the forces of the revolution” today. 

The Bill was reportedly drawn up after the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok last year. It would allow Sudanese authorities to arrest someone without a court order or warrant, enabling security forces to detain anyone arbitrarily for up to 48 hours.

Deputy leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (Agar) Yassir Arman said the draft legislation was almost as though deposed former president Omar al-Bashir “had written it from prison.”

“Everyone must resist giving the security apparatus wide powers of arrest, detention and investigation,” he said.

The Democratic Unionist Party condemned the Justice Ministry for drafting the Bill without consulting any other political parties.

“This law disappointed many of our expectations as its provisions grant the security apparatus all the previous arrest and detention powers of the former regime’s apparatus,” it said in a statement.

Mass protests, in which the SCP played a leading role, brought an end to the brutal 30-year rule of Mr Bashir, who has since been jailed on a number of charges, including the killing of protesters.

Sudan’s military agreed to form an elected parliament as part of a power-sharing deal signed with protest leaders in 2019, but no such legislative body has been established.

The SCP withdrew from the Forces of Freedom & Change (FFC) coalition and stopped supporting the government last November.

In February SCP spokesman Sidiqi Kabbalo accused the government of “deviating from the principles of the December 2019 revolution” when it was formed in a historic agreement.

The party criticised an increase in military spending and said it would seek to establish “a broad political coalition that includes revolutionary forces” to reject the 2021 budget and “oust the current government.”