General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announces the dissolution of the transitional authorities.
Since the putsch and the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, Sudan has experienced a transition process marred by political divisions and power struggles.
Street and international reactions are likely to have little impact on powerful factions pushing for a return to military rule.
Back on the current events in Sudan
At dawn on April 11, 2019, the Sudanese armed forces ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, dissolved the government and parliament, and announced a state of emergency. And on Monday, October 25, 2021, unidentified gunmen arrested several Sudanese leaders after weeks of tension between the civilian and military transitional authorities.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the Sovereignty Council, decreed the dissolution of this transitional body and the government, as well as a state of emergency in Sudan.
The events come just two days after a Sudanese faction calling for a transfer of power to civilian rule warned of a “rampant coup” at a press conference.
Who benefits from the destabilization of Sudan and the end of the ongoing transition process in the country?
A quick reading of international reactions can shed light on the scoreboard of this new “coup”.
Vladimir Putin justifies: For Russia this is a “logical result”
Contrary to the reaction of its European counterparts, Russia considers that this putsch is “the logical result of a failed policy which has been carried out over the past two years”. “The transitional authorities and their foreign sponsors were in practice mocking the desperation and pitiful situation of most of the population,” the Russian Foreign Ministry added in a statement. “Extensive foreign interference in the internal affairs of the republic has resulted in the loss of confidence of the citizens of Sudan in the transitional authorities (…), causing general instability in the country,” he said. still written.
The United States “worried”
The United States has said it is “deeply concerned” by reports of arrests of civilian leaders in Sudan by military forces.
The European Union worried about the situation in Sudan
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Monday expressed on Twitter the great concern of the European Union regarding the development of the situation in Sudan. –
UN calls for the release of the Prime Minister
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the “ongoing military coup” in Sudan and called for the “immediate” release of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok. “We must ensure full respect for the constitutional charter to protect the political transition obtained with a hard fight,” he said on Twitter.
France condemns the coup attempt
France condemns in the strongest terms the attempted coup d’état in Sudan. I express our support for the Sudanese transitional government and call for the immediate release and respect for the integrity of the prime minister and civilian leaders.
The Arab League said it was “concerned” by “developments” in Sudan.
The secretary general of the pan-Arab organization Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed in a statement his “deep concern at the developments” in Sudan and called on “all parties to respect” the transitional power-sharing agreement established in 2019 after the overthrow of the autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
The European Union worried about the situation in Sudan
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Monday expressed on Twitter the great concern of the European Union regarding the development of the situation in Sudan.
The coup comes after weeks of protests in the South of the country. In the week leading up to the coup, the protesters had called for a military coup, which would follow a recent previous coup attempt. In November, the military was to withdraw from the transitional government to and to cede power to the civilian government in its entirety. Al Burhan, who had ordered the arrest of the Prime Minister, blamed the failed coup attempt on Islamists, which had indeed steered the popular dissatisfaction with the pace of the economic reforms and exploited tribal and sectarian divisions within the country. The transitional government had concluded peace agreements with six of Sudan’s leading militias; however, the country’s fragile economic situation has led to civil unrest.
There are speculations that the latest coup is an anti-democratic measure to prevent transition to the civilian government; on the other hand, it is unclear whether the civilian factions that are set to take control next month have a better grasp over the political or the civilian situation than the military, or whether they have fallen or may fall under the sway of the Islamist elements seeking to retake control. One thing is clear: the prospects for instability in Sudan can only increase tensions in the fraught region among the heightening dispute with Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam filling, Ethiopian and Sudanese border disputes, and Ethiopia’s civil war between the government and the Tigray separatists, exacerbated by the involvement of Eritrean forces.
There is also concern over the role of Qatar and Turkey in exploiting potential security vulnerabilities after the suffering the recent loss of a strategic ally in Tunisia.