SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: East African - Sudan's revolution a 'failure', experts say

16/4/2022: East African - Sudan's revolution a 'failure', experts say, by Vincent Owino

 The East African report that political experts explained why Sudanese are “still far from living in a democratic state”.

 Kholood Khair, the managing partner at Insight Strategy Partners said Sudan’s situation is “very chaotic, because for the first time in Sudan’s history, we have both a coup and a revolution restarting,” with the current government being “a reflection of [former dictator Omar] al-Bashir’s regime”.

Khair added that “the pro-democracy movement has a lot to for fight for” citing domestic, regional and international battles, amid “total disarray and division, as different factions push and pull for different things, and some militia and criminal organisations have cropped up, taking advantage of the situation to escalate conflict and lawlessness.”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: New Humanitarian - A year after al-Bashir’s ouster, cash-strapped Sudan too broke for peace

16/4/2020: New Humanitarian - A year after al-Bashir’s ouster, cash-strapped Sudan too broke for peace, by Philip Kleinfeld

 Philip Kleinfeld, a journalist covering conflict and humanitarian crises, attributes Sudan’s “jeopardised” democratic transition to stalled peace talks and “tanking” economy.

 Kleinfeld quotes Jonas Horner, a Sudan analyst at the International Crisis Group, noting concerns that military leaders could use the worsening economy as a “pretext to take a much firmer hold on the transition,” as the “civilian component of the government is made to look weak.”

 Kleinfeld then identifies uncertainty around funding for the security sector reforms, investment into marginalised areas and the demobilisation and reintegration of rebels.

 In addition, Sudanese writer Ahmed Hussein Adam argues that the peace talks have failed to look at “the root cause of the failure of the Sudanese state” and conflicts -  given their focus on securing armed group representation in various transitional bodies.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudanese Islamists hold 3rd protest against Hamdok government

16/4/2020: Sudan Tribune - Sudanese Islamists hold 3rd protest against Hamdok government

 Sudan Tribune reports that hundreds demonstrated for the third time in Khartoum, in the vicinity of the army headquarters, to demand the departure of the transitional government.

 “Whoever believes in God and the Day of Judgement (...), has to stand up and back the victory of the free people and revolutionaries," wrote Mohamed Ali al-Jezouli, the head of the Islamist State of Law and Development Party, on his Facebook page.

 Various Islamic currents in Sudan believe they can incite the army to take power after the government’s failure to convince international financial institutions to support its economic plans due to U.S. sanctions on Sudan.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Washington Post - Generals overthrew Sudan's president Bashir, but they can't agree on what comes next

16/4/19: Washington Post – Generals overthrew Sudan’s president Bashir, but they can’t agree on what comes next, by Naunihal Singh

 Naunihal Singh, an assistant professor at the national security affairs department at the US Naval War College, examines the instability within Sudan’s transitional military council (TMC), and its implications for democratic transition. 

 Highlighting the the TMC’s internal divides, Singh notes that the army’s top ranks support the regime and the lower ranks support the protestors protesters, and that Omar Al Bashir’s attempts to mitigate the risks of a military coup have left the different TMC security organisations in a state of mutual distrust.  

 Nonetheless, Singh notes that the western powers can use Sudan’s situation as leverage in calls for democracy, raising the possibility of the US conditioning the removal of Sudan’s state sponsor of terror designation on the formation of a civilian government, and supporting the democracy movement by pursuing the overseas assets of corrupt Al Bashir regime officials. Singh concludes that this would be in the US national interest. 

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: New York Times - Amid Euphoria in Sudan, a Delicate Dance Over Who Will Lead: Soldiers or Civilians?

16/4/19: New York Times – Amid Euphoria in Sudan, a Delicate Dance Over Who Will Lead: Soldiers or Civilians?, by Declan Walsh and Joseph Goldstein

 Declan Walsh and Joseph Goldstein examine Sudan’s future leadership prospects, noting that Sudanese protesters fear that “the generals will cheat them of their victory by thwarting a promised return to civilian rule.”

 Walsh and Goldstein compare worries that Sudan might be “condemned to the fate of Libya,” where Gadaffi’s fall triggered a “chaotic spiral from which it is yet to recover,” to South Africa – where the apartheid regime ended through peaceful negotiations.

 The article notes that civilians want a longer transitional period civilian governance in order to develop Sudan’s democratic culture, and avert the threat of pre-mature elections undermining democracy as in Egypt and Libya.

 The article concludes with the Sudan expert at the Rift Valley Institute, Majdi Al Gizouli, saying that Sudanese protesters need a unified strategy before the military outmaneuvers them.  

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – Sudan’s interim military council fires top three public prosecutors

16/4/19: Multiple sources – Sudan’s interim military council fires top three public prosectutors

Reuters

Associated Press

Abdelfattah Al Burhan, the head of Sudan’s transitional military council has fired the three highest ranking-public prosecutors, as demanded by the Sudan Professionals Association.

In a statement, the TMC said council chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan had sacked chief prosecutor Omar Ahmed Mohamed Abdelsalam and deputy public prosecutor Hesham Othman Ibrahim Saleh, as well as head of public prosecutions Amer Ibrahim Majid.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: CNN - African Union gives Sudan 15 days to establish civilian rule

16/4/19: CNN – African Union gives Sudan 15 days to establish civilian rule

The African Union has threatened to revoke Sudan’s membership unless the country's military establishes civil rule within 15 days.

 The AU "strongly condemns and totally rejects the seizure of power by the Sudanese military and its plan to lead the transition for two years," its Peace and Security Council said in a statement.

 The AU expressed "deep concern" over the military takeover and its impact, urging the Sudanese military to "refrain from any act or statement that would further complicate the situation in the country and negatively affect regional security and stability."