The protests that led to the overthrow of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on April 11, 2019, continue unabated despite a fierce crackdown by the army.
Three years ago today, the army had just decided the fate of the indomitable Omar al-Bashir. For nearly 30 years, the former president ruled Sudan with an iron fist before losing power as he had taken it.
Four months of protests against the high cost of living, particularly the price of bread, had taken their toll on his regime. Despite this revolution, the street has not calmed down and is calling for the return of civilians to power at all costs.
Since his fall, 78-year-old Omar al-Bashir has been locked up, awaiting an uncertain transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, transitional Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdock had agreed to carry out this waiting. But since the second military coup under the command of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane last October, many doubt the sincerity of those in power to hand him over.
With the release of some 20 former regime officials last week, including his former foreign minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, some sources even claim that the military government is in the process of rehabilitating al-Bashir, whose grip on the regime is being loosened little by little. He has reportedly been moved to a specialized hospital in Khartoum along with several senior members of his former party.
Thus, a large majority of the Sudanese population regrets the exploitation that was made of their revolution and is making this known in the streets. Since October 2021, more than 90 demonstrators have been killed by the security forces, while hundreds are still being held in prison, including 25 opposition and civil society leaders.
Collapsed economy
Politically, Sudan is still without a government because of the military’s difficulty in finding new partners after driving out civilians. The formation of a new transitional government is a prerequisite for the resumption of international aid at a time when the country is under economic sanctions that place it on the verge of collapse.
While Washington has frozen $700 million in aid and the World Bank has frozen all payments to Sudan in the wake of the coup, the human rights NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said “concrete measures are needed to stop the repression.” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee threatened in February to “make the military leadership pay an even greater cost if the violence continues.”
Today, the Sudanese currency is in free fall, having lost a quarter of its value since the coup. Inflation is officially at 260 percent. According to the World Food Program (WFP), nine million Sudanese out of a population of 44 million are suffering from acute hunger.
On the other hand, last February Abdel Fattah al-Burhan mentioned for the first time the conditions for the return of civilians to power. At the same time, the Resistance Committees announced that they would maintain their popular mobilization to make him give in.
“If they agree and sit down with us, we are ready to join them and dialogue with them. They can even decide to cut our necks and we would be ready for that. What matters to us is the agreement of all Sudanese, after which we will transfer the ‘entrusted power’ to them through elections or a national agreement,” the 62-year-old coup general told the Sudan Tribune news site.
ODL/cgd/lb/abj/APA