The Hague — Since the military coup in Sudan in October 2021, that derailed the course of the revolution that had overthrown the 30-year Al Bashir dictatorship in April, efforts by western donor governments to facilitate the return of Sudan to a path of democratic transition have helped consolidate the coup, says a new policy brief by the Clingendael Institute, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, which is an independent think tank and academy on international affairs.
The paper published last week entitled The West's struggle in Sudan by Anette Hofmann, a senior research fellow at the Conflict Research Unit of Clingendael, argues that "the historic opportunity for genuine democratic transition risks being lost, and that "holding on to a transition that has ceased to exist, Western governments have helped consolidate the coup". In the paper, Hoffman concludes the Western donor governments are well advised to increase economic and diplomatic pressure on the coup regime, strengthen the civil society that opposes the coup, and safeguard aid against diversion and political manipulation.
'Holding on to a transition that has ceased to exist, Western governments have helped consolidate the coup...'
"The military coup of last October has effectively ended Sudan's post-Bashir transition to democracy but has fanned the flames of the Sudanese people's struggle for freedom, peace, and justice. Protesters from Sudan's non-violent resistance movement continue to risk their lives by taking to the streets demanding the end of military rule and the transfer of power to a civilian government," the paper points out.
"The international community, however, has spent the last eight months trying to restore a power-sharing government whose very viability had become untenable. Meanwhile, conniving with Islamist elements of the former al-Bashir regime, the coup alliance is cementing its stranglehold over the state," Hoffman asserts.
