The civilian authorities is making an attempt to regain management. Sudan is in the process of reforming its defense industry. At the very least, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, who has announced that the government will take back control of a group of companies owned by the army, hopes so.
The Société de l’Industrie Militaire, one of the largest companies in the defense sector, will be separated into two units, a military and a civilian, where the Ministry of Economy and Finance will regain control through a private public partnership.
This is not the first time that Abdallah Hamdok has shown his willingness to end the stranglehold on senior military and security services in the country’s economy. A very sensitive subject, while the country since the fall of Omar al-Bashir has been ruled by an executive with two heads: one civilian and the other military.
Under Omar al-Bashir’s regime, generals and security services leaders have cut the lion’s share in many sectors of the Sudanese economy: gold mines, gum arabic, meat, oil, flour or telecommunications exports, the list goes on.
After the fall of the military-Islamist regime in April 2019, after all, not much has changed. The generals who took control of the transition have certainly cleansed some close to al-Bashir in these companies, but have not hesitated to place loyal supporters at the head of them.
For Kholood Khair from the think tank Insight Strategy Partners in Khartoum, the government’s acquisition of this company is only the first step. “This announcement is the result of a fine calculation by the military. The tide is turning in terms of international support for civilian governments. The military realizes that it is better to discard certain assets now in order to maintain control over other sectors. It must be remembered that the military still controls a large part of the Sudanese economy. They play an important role in the informal economy, which is far more important than the formal market. So we are still a long way from transfer to civilians, but this is the first symbolic step ”.
For several months, many activists or members of civil society have called for a restructuring of the defense industry. Several votes were raised against the Army’s suffocation team on parts of the economy. The forces of freedom and change, but also the association of Sudanese professionals spearheading the anti-Bashir protest, have also criticized the defense sector’s predominance in the annual state budget (40%).
In particular, revenues from gold mines and taxes on companies owned by the army and the security apparatus are not included in the national budget. So far, these general-owned companies pay no income tax and operate in complete secrecy while Sudan is still in economic decline.
