The Rule of Law in Sudan: Between the Dominance of the Armed Forces and the Fragility of the Political Elites

Khalid Al-Balloula
Journalist and academic
Law is the foundation of justice and equality. When the law is applied to everyone without exception, rights are guaranteed, and society is protected from chaos. The rule of law, and its fair application, are among the core pillars of state stability, human rights, sustainable development, and the fight against corruption and deviance.
I am not an advocate of establishing a democratic state in a country where power is drawn from tribe, region, or the military to defeat politics. Democracy that is erected without a state governed by law does not produce civilian rule; rather, it turns into a struggle of tribal majorities, regional minorities, or a civilian façade for a postponed civil war.
Based on the above, I propose a number of guiding principles for building the Sudanese state after the war:

First:
The state that should be built in Sudan does not begin with ballot boxes, but with a law that stands above everyone—from ruler to ruled—without historical, revolutionary, or military exceptions. A law that is resorted to, not circumvented; upheld by a strict and independent judiciary guided by moral conscience and the values of integrity. A judiciary that favours no party, fears no gun, bargains with no tribe. Alongside this, a military that performs its role professionally: not an adversary to politics, nor its guardian; subject to no tutelage, clear in its mandate—preventing the collapse of the state and protecting the constitution, not individuals, parties, or factions.

Second:
I believe the problem in Sudan runs deeper than the form of government—who governs and how. Sudan’s crisis is a crisis of political culture. We lack a culture of institutions. We raise our children on allegiance before citizenship; on seeking intermediaries rather than rights; on taking shelter in the group, tribe, or faction rather than in justice. We turn to the law when injustice is done to us, and turn away from it when the right is on our side. Yet the essence of the rule of law is to uphold it even when it is against us.

Third:
I am convinced that one of the reasons for the failure of Sudanese elites is the absence of a clear intellectual and methodological project since independence. For long periods, Sudanese elites have been tied to multiple, often contradictory, political and ideological currents. As a result, they failed to agree on a shared national vision that accommodates the country’s cultural diversity and its ethnic and regional pluralism. Divisions deepened, and their legitimacy among their popular bases weakened.

Fourth:
Sudan has experienced a series of military coups from before 1958 through to 1989, making the military institution a permanent political actor in governance. Over time, the army became the practical option for resolving crises. In the absence of strong institutions to arbitrate disputes—an independent judiciary, well-established parties, and effective oversight bodies—some people (perhaps out of frustration) came to view the army, militias, or armed groups allied with the state as forces capable of imposing order by the gun. Not because this is the right option, but because democratic experiments failed to perform their role.

Fifth:
Political elites have not formed a genuine bond with a unified popular base, nor have they offered practical solutions that address people’s daily concerns—poverty, unemployment, security, and services. They therefore appeared weak in the face of military leaders or armed groups, who exploited the political vacuum and public frustration.
For these reasons, in my view, there can be no democracy without a state governed by law; no rule of law without a judiciary that believes in justice and is independent in its decisions and will; and no civilian politics without a professional army that knows its limits.
Sudan does not need slogans. It needs an ethical agreement before a political one: that the law be the final arbiter—over everyone, without exception.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=11124