SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times – Sudan general says military action was taken to avoid civil war

26/10/2021: Financial Times – Sudan general says military action was taken to avoid civil war, by Andres Schipani

 

The Financial Times’ feature piece on the military coup in Sudan quotes from an analysts and a government advisor.

 

A senior aide to Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok said the military “are likely to press on to have a fake election and declare themselves winners and continue to rule,” with the coup “in the making for a few weeks” as army leader Abdulfattah al-Burhan was expected to handover chairmanship of the Sovereign Council to a civilian.

 

With al-Burhan said to be in “damage limitation mode,” Jonas Horner of the International Crisis Group said that al-Burhan’s vow to hold elections in 2023 is an attempt to signal that the coup is only a “temporary measure and thus quiet opposition”.

 

Horner added that “Sudan’s generals unlikely to reverse [the coup] of their own volition” as “the military had much to fear” from a civilian becoming chair of the Sovereign Council.