For protesters who have taken to the streets of Sudan since the military takeover last Monday (25), the coup d’état in the country in North Africa represents a danger to democracy around the world. The movement interrupted an almost three-year process of transition to civilian power.
“I fear that the international community will end up accepting the military as legitimate representatives of the Sudanese people. This would send a very dangerous message not only to Sudan, but to the entire world,” he tells sheet by telephone from Khartoum, pharmacist Samahir Elmubarak, spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA).
The body was at the forefront of the protests that led to the ousting of dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 and is now organizing demonstrations against the recent takeover of power by the Armed Forces. In the next act, called for this Saturday (30), the protesters want to “show the world that they reject the military regime in every way”, according to Elmubarak.
In the early hours of Monday morning, forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan detained Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and other civilian cabinet members. The pharmacist reports that SPA directors immediately understood that it was an attempted coup and made a call on social networks for the population to participate in acts of civil disobedience.
By daybreak, protesters had already taken to the streets and set up barricades in the capital and other parts of the country. “There was a lot of political tension in the weeks before the coup. It was clear to us that the Armed Forces were just waiting for the right moment to take power,” he says. “The popular reaction is a very strong indication that there is widespread rejection of the coup.”
Also on Monday morning, the army blocked telecommunications in Sudan indefinitely.
At least 11 people died in clashes with security forces over the week and more than 140 were injured. According to a spokeswoman for the SPA, “it is difficult to know the exact number of victims, because of the blocking of communications”.
“This is not the first time that access to the internet has been taken down, but this time they have also blocked phone calls, SMS, TV channels and radio stations. They are betting that this will manage to stifle our mobilization, but people find other ways to communicate “he says. She says that protest organizers have turned to neighborhood committees that go door-to-door, hand out leaflets and write messages on walls to publicize their actions. “All the old-fashioned way.”
Burhan said this week’s move, which ended the power-sharing agreement between the military and civilians signed after the fall of the Bashir regime, is aimed at preventing the outbreak of civil war in Sudan.
Elmubarak disagrees. For her, the solution to the country’s problems is to allow the population to participate in decision-making processes, not to concentrate even more power in the hands of the military. “The war that led to the breakup of South Sudan in 2011, the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, all of this happens because of the unequal distribution of wealth and power in Sudan,” he says.
“There is a consensus that we want freedom, peace, justice and democracy. This deep-rooted conviction has led people to take to the streets over the past three years, facing the regime’s bullets with an open heart.”
According to the drugmaker, this week’s break repeats a vicious cycle of “coup, democracy, coup, democracy” since Sudan won its independence in 1955. But for her, the country’s civil society has evolved in the period. “Before this revolution, my generation did not have the opportunity to talk openly. But today, we can share our ideas and our dreams,” he says.
In an interview with sheet by 2019 Elmubarak had already said that the Sudan Armed Forces were unreliable. Now, she says she believes the population will not accept a return to power sharing with the military. “We want an entirely civil government, we want to vote in the first free elections of our lives.”
On Thursday (28), the UN Security Council issued a statement in which it expressed “serious concern about a military takeover in Sudan” and called for the restoration of the transitional government. Prior to that, different governments — including the United States and Brazil — and entities such as the African Union had called for the release of civilian cabinet members.
But regional powers such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia have signaled that they will maintain support for the Sudanese armed forces, which could help give General Burhan’s regime a survival.
Under pressure, Burhan promised to announce a new government within a week and said he would try to convince Hamdok, the ousted prime minister, to reassume his post, according to Russian news agency Sputnik on Friday (29). “We will not interfere in the choice of ministers,” he stated.
Elmubarak urges the international community not to turn its back on Sudan. “There are only two ways this coup can be successful: local recognition or external recognition. We Sudanese are doing our part to reject the regime. other countries do nothing to reverse this blow.”
CHRONOLOGY OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF SUDAN
- 1956: Sudan becomes independent from the rule of England and Egypt, who ruled the country since the end of the 19th century
- 1958: General Ibrahim Abbud launches the Republic of Sudan’s first coup, dissolving political parties and closing newspapers
- 1962: Conflicts erupt between the north of the country, more sympathetic to the government, and the south, led by the Anya Nya guerrilla
- 1964: Abbud resigns amid mounting pressure
- 1969: Colonel Gaafar el-Nimeiri leads new military coup and takes command of the country
- 1971: Failed Communist Coup Attempt Strengthens El-Nimeiri
- 1972: Addis Ababa treaty grants autonomy to the south of the country, ruled by Anya Nya, and ends Sudan’s first civil war
- 1983: Amid growing fundamentalism, Nimeiri enforces sharia (strict Islamic law); colonel revokes terms of the treaty and re-divides the south into provinces, starting a new civil war
- 1985: Nimeiri is deposed by a military council, which holds elections the following year
- 1989: In a new military coup, General Omar al-Bashir takes power, leads the country with an iron fist and reintroduces sharia, which provides for physical punishment
- 1996: Bashir elected president; in 2000, is re-elected
- 1998: US fires missiles at pharmaceutical in capital Khartoum, claiming that place manufactured chemical weapons
- 1999: Bashir dissolves National Assembly amid power struggle with President of Legislative
- 2003: Rebel militias rise in Darfur, a non-Arab region in the west of the country
- 2004: Regime reacts in Darfur and army attacks population, causing humanitarian crisis and wave of refugees; Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State, describes deaths as genocide
- 2005: New peace deal restores autonomy in the south of the country, and former rebel leader Salva Kiir takes over as Vice President
- 2007: UN Security Council approves peace mission in Darfur; crisis opens diplomatic conflict with Chad
- 2009: International Criminal Court (ICC) calls for arrest of Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur
- 2010: Bashir is elected president again, in a contested vote; ICC issues second arrest warrant, now for genocide
- 2011: South Sudan gains independence after popular vote; Salva Kiir becomes president of the new country
- 2015: Bashir wins, with 95% of the vote, election again contested
- 2018: In December, demonstrations start in the city of Atbara, an opposition stronghold in the northeast of the country, and spread to other places
- 2019: Bashir decrees state of emergency and suspends governors after mass protests; in April, the military deposes the dictator after 30 years in power and prepares a transitional government. In July, government and opposition leaders reach an agreement that calls for a complete transition to civilian rule within three years
- 2020: Darfur’s remaining rebels sign peace deal with government
- 2021: Amid power struggles, the military arrests the prime minister, declares a state of emergency and says they will govern until 2023 elections
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