The army took over the power in Sudan and arrested the civil authorities. US, UE, UN, other countries and international bodies condemned the military coup, while the Sudanese population tries to oppose resistance, and a general strike was declared.
Sudan is the third biggest country in Africa, after Algeria and Congo Democratic Republic, with about 45 million inhabitants. At the same time, it is one of the poorest country in the world, exhausted by a 30 years dictatorship. In 2019, Sudanese people got rid of dictator Omar El Beshir, with the army significant contribution. Consequently, a cohabitation begun between civilians and military, which eventually collapsed.
Analysts say that the army awaited from the beginning that civil officials would fail and show their incompetence in front of the population. And indeed, despite a lot of foreign aids, the transitory government couldn't manage to stop inflation and vertiginous price rise of essential products. So, after a pause of two years, dictatorship came back, with the general Abdel Fattah Al Burhan.
In Sudan, army has great economic interests, as about 80% from Sudanese economy is already controlled by the military. And another reason to the army for not cheering power with civilians is its fear that, someday, it could be judged for crimes perpetrated during Omar El Beshir era. As free elections were about to happen in Sudan, military preferred to cancel them and grasped the power. Observers have stated that three states of the region, namely Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia, could have a role in Sudanese military coup, as well as Turkey and Russia, because their significant economic interests in the area.
France has massively supported democratic transition in Sudan, and prime minister Abdallah Hamdok has repeatedly visited Paris. In 2019, president Emanuel Macron expressed even his hope that Sudanese revolution would inspire the whole African continent…
Unhappily, democracy doesn't broaden itself mechanically and its failure in Sudan is a visible proof. As in many other countries where population has tried the revolutionary delight, Sudanese people remembers images of December 2018 riots, where fear reigned in the power camp. Nowadays, the fear returned in the camp of the population.
Sudan developments
