SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Washington Post - Sudan and Algeria’s dilemma: How to avoid turning to Egypt

12/4/19: Washington Post – Sudan and Algeria’s dilemma: How to avoid turning to Egypt, by Ishaan Tharoor

134 word summary:

Ishaan Tharoor examines the chances of Sudanese and Algerian protestors avoiding a situation like Egypt’s, whereby a “reviled despot” was replaced by an entrenched military establishment.

 Tharoor argues that the resolve of Sudanese and Algerian protesters will be tested by the prospect of state violence, with Sudan, “riven by ethnic conflicts, dominated by a complex security apparatus of regime-affiliated paramilitary forces and tangled up in a mess of regional geopolitics,” facing higher risks than Algeria “where few want a repeat of the traumatic civil war.”

 Tharoor also argues that it is unclear how the international community can support the protesters, citing western leaders seeing the situations in Libya and Syria and “largely [accepting] the mantra of stability preached by the Middle East’s Arab monarchies...to undermine the democratic transitions of other countries in the region.”