Two days ago, the Sudanese military, under the leadership of General Abdel Fattah Burhan, staged a coup that overthrew the civilian government that had, until that point, been in place. Sudan is an economically struggling country, and while it had seen improvement in the last few years (mainly through grants from the World Bank), the coup is projected to adversely affect the economy, due to fairly obvious reasons. The Sudanese people have not been inactive, however, and are actively protesting the military coup, which General Burhan has justified as a way to stop a “civil war”.
Approximately a month ago, there was a failed coup attempt in Sudan. 21 officers and multiple soldiers were detained as being part of the participants in the attempt, and there were said to be “Pro-Bashir” (the old president of Sudan, who had been ousted after a 30-year reign) elements within this failed coup attempt, though it is not known as of yet if the coup attempts are connected in any way.
The coup has sparked international outrage, and has been condemned by multiple nations, including the U.S, which has withheld 700 million dollars in aid to Sudan after these events. Similarly, the World Bank has halted sending aid to Sudan as well, in an attempt to force General Burhan to return Sudan to democracy. While the Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, has been returned to his home, the world stands with bated breath to see what will occur in Sudan.
Questions:
1. Should the U.S. intervene? If so, in what manner should they try to aid Sudan? If not, then why not?
2. Protestors are strongly opposed to the military government currently, but they have been fired upon (and some even killed) by soldiers. Do you believe that the protests will be effective?
3. Before the coup, Prime Minister Hamdok's government was in the process of dismantling the oppressive regime of President Bashir. Gen Burhan has said that they will now oversee this process. Do you believe him? Why, or why not? What is your prediction as to Sudan's future?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59066654
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58629978
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/sudans-military-has-seized-power-in-a-coup-heres-why-it-matters.html
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/sudanese-pm-detained-by-military-682998
6 comments:
The military coup is a clear grab for power by the general in charge. I do not see him trying to reform the country but only to be a despot that will oppress the common man. His excuse that a "civil war" would break out is just an excuse to keep the the upper class in power and prevent the working class from rising up against the injustice they have suffered, be it from the colonial powers of yesteryear or the the military of today. I think in the end he will be pushed to take brutal action against the protestors as such is the nature of his government and all those who seek to keep the working class subservient. This was clear even before when the government limited the power of the working class through the restriction and destruction of the worker's unions. The only chance the working class of Sudan now have against the the upper class is if they arm themselves and unionize once again. Though I think this may take a while to accomplish I hope that with little foreign influence the that someday the workers of Sudan will take up arms as comrades and seize their place in the sun someday.
Like Pascal said, if they truly wanted to dismantle the oppressive regime, they would not be acquiring power through a military coup. In addition to that, I believe that if they were trying to help their country, they would understand that a military coup would decrease international aid, causing Sudan to have less support for recovery. While there are negative effects like the lack of financial support from the World Bank and the U.S, I don't think that the military will give up their newfound power anytime soon. Additionally, with no room to protest due to protestors being fired upon, I feel that they are not allowing for any input or disagreement in regards to their power. Sadly, I see little hope in continuing to protest if more people are going to be killed. The only way I can think of helping Sudan is like Pascal said, to have some foreign influence on the side of the workers of Sudan.
I believe that the U.S.’s current actions to intervene by suspending aid are on the right track, and they should continue taking action to force General Burhan into releasing the arrested Prime Minister along with senior officials and reinstating the civilian government. However, the U.S. should offer aid and other resources to forces in Sudan that are fighting against General Burhan’s military government, as his promises towards a democratic government were proven false. This can be seen from his first decisions in power since it resulted in violence against protesters(80 wounded) who were demonstrating freedom of speech—a core democratic value. Methods to persuade General Burhan to step down must also be effective as the ramifications of the U.S. withholding aid for a longer period of time will be extremely harmful and damaging, since Sudan’s economy is already struggling. - Sakshi Thoutireddy
As the others said, I do not think that General Burhan went through with the coup with the intention of “dismantling” Bashir’s reign because a violent transfer of power always leaves a country unstable. If one really has the intention of getting Bashir out of power, then there would need to be a united front, not a government that is constantly changing and that can be overthrown relatively easily. As for the protestors, I, unfortunately, do not believe that they are making any real impact on the situation. Because this coup was not supported by the citizens of Sudan, I do not think that the new people in power will be listening to the protestors, and therefore, they should not put themselves in harm’s way. I think that the only real way to help this situation is to get foreign powers involved and provide resources and help the Sudanese citizens fight against General Burhan’s military government. I agree with Sakshi, and I believe that halting economic aid is appropriate at the moment, but leaders must still remember the Sudanese people who are struggling in an already weak economy. I think that foreign powers, including the US, must work quickly to specifically aid the Sudanese middle class while the country is still weak during the transfer of powers to prevent this coup from destroying any hope of democracy in Sudan.
As others have mentioned, General Burhan's claim of "stopping a civil war" seems extremely unlikely as there was an attempted coup so recently that had pro-Bashir intentions. Also, like most other coups in the past, it seems as though this is simply a grab for power by a greedy individual. However, with all these negative components addressed, I don't believe the US should respond. If anything, the US becoming involved will only make circumstances worse for Sudanese citizens as the military coup could become violent with the addition of the US military on the citizens' side. In more recent news, I noticed that Sudanese citizens have held various anti-coup protests and five people have actually died in the process. Even more, 39 police members were wounded. Overall, it seems as though the protests have at least made a statement to the government and I really hope that they are effective in the long run. In my opinion, the involvement of a nearby more stable nation that Sudan has close ties with could benefit Sudanese citzens in overcoming the coup. For example, Ghana or Mauritius as they are more stable and closer to Sudan than the US. However, I have mixed feelings on stopping US and UN aid because the Sudanese citizens desperately need money and resources if they are to overcome this coup safely. At the same time, I understand the point of view of the US becasue with providing this aid they have no way of knowing how the money is being distributed and they may as well be contributing to the corruption of the coup.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59276274
I agree with the points that others have already mentioned that General Burhan's would not use a military coup to remove the regime because it would lead to political instability and it would create furthermore uncertainty and complications. The protests are contributing to the instability in Sudan since they arose from the coups and there is not much they can do. I think that the instability in Sudan is going to persist because there seems to be no close end to the violence and protests, and there is no clear trajectory to which the government wants to move in because there has been such drastic change in power. In order to restore stability, General Bashir needs to resign and this could be from a united attack or pressure from other nations. Meanwhile, one step that the U.S. could take is supplying resources towards those affected by the violence, especially the poor and middle class citizens.
Post a Comment