SUDAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Omer Ali Abdelrahman, Omer Ali Law Firm
Historical Background Historically, arbitration in Sudan used to be regulated by a few sections in the Civil Procedures Act 1983 and its predecessors. Legislation exclusively govern - ing arbitration, whether domestic or international, was introduced for the first time in the form of the Arbitra - tion Act 2005, which has been repealed and replaced by the current Arbitration Act 2016. International Arbitration Under the Sudanese Arbitration Act 2016, an arbitra - tion is considered “international” if: • the main centres of the businesses of the parties to the arbitration are in two different countries; and • the subject matter of the arbitration is related to more than one country. So far, there have been relatively few international arbitration cases in Sudan. This was due to the fact that until recently Sudan was under severe US and other sanctions, and thus was isolated to a large extent from international trade activities; international investors were, to a large extent, blocked from invest - ing in the country, with the exception of limited invest - ments by Chinese, Malaysian and Indian companies in the oil industry, and Turkish and Gulf companies in construction, agriculture and other sectors. Most international arbitration cases were related to gov - ernmental contracts in the few business areas where international companies had such contracts with gov - ernmental entities, such as oil, infrastructure, mining Currently, Sudan is undergoing major transformation both economically and politically. In 2019, following a popular uprising, a transitional government succeeded the regime of former President Omar Al-Bashir, which was the cause of the sanctions and international iso - lation. On 4 August 2019, after the African Union’s intervention, the Sudanese civilian and military fac - tions agreed to share power in a three-year transition period, with elections scheduled for 2023 after the end of the transitional period. The transitional government that took power had ambitious plans for economic reform and the restoration of peace after many years of civil war. As a result of its efforts, US Treasury OFAC and construction. Current Situation
sanctions were lifted and Sudan’s name was removed from US State Sponsor of Terrorism status. The transitional government’s efforts for securing Sudan’s debt relief through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative proved to be successful; the World Bank’s International Development Associa - tion (IDA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) determined that Sudan had taken the necessary steps to begin receiving debt relief under the enhanced HIPC Initiative. Sudan is the 38th country to reach this milestone, known as the HIPC Decision Point. This would have resulted in much of Sudan’s exter - nal public debt being dramatically reduced/cancelled, and opened the door for the country to have access to financial resources. These were welcome developments in a country suffer - ing from acute economic problems, under-investment and huge external debts. However, a major setback occurred. On 25 October 2021, the Sudanese military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan took control of the government in a coup, as a result of which the military component in the Sovereignty Council confis - cated the powers of the Prime Minister as stipulated in the constitutional charter. The civilian Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, as well as several top government officials and political activists were detained for resist - ing the coup. As a result of civil resistance against the military regime, in November 2021 the military leaders and Abdalla Hamdok announced a deal that included his reinstatement as Prime Minister, and in January 2022 Prime Minister Hamdok announced his resignation after failing to name a government amidst continued anti-military protests in the country, which are still continuing. A trilateral mechanism comprising the United Nations, the African Union and a regional body, the Intergov - ernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), has been set up with the aim of facilitating intra-Sudan talks; however, so far, no agreement has been reached to resolve the political crisis in Sudan. Unfortunately, due to differences between the Sudanese Armed Forces (which is the official army of the Sudanese govern - ment) and the Rapid Support Forces (paramilitary forces set up by the former government), war erupted between them on 15 April 2023 with devastating con -
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