Trade unions have played key role in Sudan's political change since the 1940s, despite crackdowns by subsequent military dictatorships
The Sudanese Trade Union Front has announced the launch of its charter and national declaration calling for an end to the civil war in a press conference held Sunday, June 30, according to Sudanese Communist Party newspaper Al-Maydan.
The Front's announcement comes in light of the civil war that has caused mass destruction and devastation to Sudan since April 2023, leaving more than 14,000 people killed, 33,000 others wounded, and 11 million people displaced so far.
Starvation has also been used as a weapon against civilians by conflicting parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), during the war. Humanitarian aid has been blocked, and the harvest season has been disrupted, which may result in a widespread famine, according to a report published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The Trade Union Front says that it formed in order to address the fragmentation of civil society, its lack of resources and communication by uniting the voices of the unionized bodies, and clearly outlining the priorities to build the infrastructure and reach all cities and areas of the country, considering the challenges that Sudan has endured for decades to build true democracy, particularly with the recent civil war. The Trade Union Front brings together doctors, farmers, rail workers and Sudanese people nationwide, to unite together to raise their demands.
The front believes that uniting civil society starts from uniting the unions representing it. The initial unions that are part of the Front include the Preliminary Committee of the Sudan Doctors' Union, Sudanese Dramatists Union, the union body for lecturers and professors at Al-Zaim Al-Azhari University, the union body of Nyala University professors and lecturers, the union body for professors and lecturers at the University of Khartoum, the preliminary committee for professors and lecturers at Omdurman National University, the Sudanese Teachers Committee, General Union of Sudanese Engineers, the preliminary committee for atomic energy workers, and the management committee for employees of the Tax Office.
Clear objectives were set by the front during the conference, which include working to end the current war, establishing just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace across Sudan, facilitating humanitarian aid access to all those affected by the war, supporting efforts to stop crimes and violations against civilians, and initiating processes for transitional justice.
Completing the course of the December revolution, which toppled Sudan's former President Omar Al-Bashir, is one of the main objectives of the Front as well, which stressed the importance removing the former regime's influence from all state sectors and creating a single professional national army after cleansing it of politically affiliated individuals, particularly those linked to Islamic parties.
The Front also emphasizes the need to build a "Democratic Civil State", which would once and for all establish a people's democracy in the country. The Front claims this would be to "build institutions and a legal framework agreed upon by Sudanese citizens, insist on the formation of legislative, supervisory, and oversight councils during the transitional period as a priority, and restructure and reform judicial institutions and the civil service."
The Front also called for the withdrawal of all military forces from political and economic activities, excluding military leaders from any future political or military role, and prosecuting them for all crimes committed by regular forces since the fall of the former regime, and all crimes committed by military formations during the April 2023 war, in addition to disbanding the former regime's security apparatus.
Trade unions defending democracy
The trade union movement has had a pioneering role in Sudan since 1947, when the Railway Workers Affairs Association was established, while the country was still under British colonial rule. The unions have developed as Sudan has been going through different phases of political change after being liberated from British hegemony.
Sudan has gone through many crucial political periods, during which trade unions played a significant role in leading popular action, including the October 1964 Revolution that ended Ibrahim Abboud's dictatorship, and the Sudanese popular uprising in March 1985, when the Sudanese people chose the Union Association as their representative.
Due to their influence in mobilizing the crowd, Al-Bashir's regime dissolved trade unions and other professional associations, one year after taking power in a military coup in June 1989. Al-Bahir's regime established new unions comprising of pro-regime members to replace the old unions.
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After Al-Bashir's regime was toppled in 2019, a transitional government was installed, which shared power with the military, dismantling the former-regime-affiliated unions as part of legal reforms in Sudan.
In October 2021, a military coup dissolved the country's power-sharing government, crushing hopes for a peaceful transition of power following the overthrowing of Al-Bashir. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the military commander who led the coup, issued an order dissolving trade unions and professional federations after taking power, following in Al-Bashir's steps.
For decades, democracy, stability, justice, and peace have struggled to make their way in Sudan. The lengthy British colonial rule was followed by eras of totalitarian military rule marked by military coups and armed conflicts as the only means for political change.
Nevertheless, the Trade Union Front is eager to fight for true democracy and an end to military involvement in politics with the slogan "people's power" as a way to overcome the ongoing civil war between the two sections of the military power establishment.
