Sudan – The recent attempt of a coup being organized by elements supporting the jailed Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir. It was busted. But with that, something unprecedented was exposed. According to media sources, PM Abdalla Hamdok has reasons to believe that, “what happened in this coup attempt, is an extension of previous attempts against the Transitional Council.”
The country has been struggling for a balanced democracy to come into being for ages together. In the past, Sudan has had three coups and eight coup attempts going back to 1957 and includes that which brought al-Bashir to power in 1988. Mr. Bashir was ousted in April 2019 in a popular uprising, with the help of the military.
Since taking up office in 2019, Hamdok has constantly had to fight the battle of creating unity amongst the military units and civilian sides of the government apart from trying to weed out Mr. Bashir loyalists. The coup this time has had elements both military and non-military at play. The attempt for foiled last week where some 40 odd soldiers were arrested.
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Mr. Hamdok has also had the tough task to accommodate in his government more representatives of armed factions (somewhat like the Myanmar mess) who then agreed to lay down their arms; reformed key areas of the economy such as addressing the exchange rate and subsidies, and making the country eligible for debt relief.
Many believe the remanence of the former regime needs to be eliminated in order for civilian elements to set up a sound democracy. The US recently announced it will pump $700 million into the Sudanese economy, ending years of being blacklisted under sanctions for being an alleged state sponsor of terrorism. Those sanctions were lifted last December 2020. It is imperative there is no interference from Al- Bashir from inside the prison. Political critics felt that the current coup attempt was only to test the waters, of the effectiveness of the current PM.
