Sudan: how Arab autocrats conspired to thwart reformists' hopes
Source: The Guardian
Sudan: how Arab autocrats conspired to thwart reformists' hopes
The counter-revolution said to be favoured by Arab autocrats may just have arrived
Simon Tisdall
Mon 3 Jun 2019 15.15 BST Last modified on Tue 4 Jun 2019 07.37 BST
It is probably no coincidence that the sudden, violent crackdown on protesters in central Khartoum followed a series of meetings between the leaders of Sudans military junta and autocratic Arab regimes that are actively attempting to shape the countrys future.
Analysts say the rulers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, no friends to democratic governance, are acting in concert to thwart the aspirations of Sudans reform movement. All three tried to shore up Omar al-Bashirs regime, and since he was toppled in April by popular protests they have conspired to foment a counter-revolution. This fateful turning point may now have arrived.
For Egypts president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the Khartoum violence brings back old memories. In 2013, Sisi, then an army general, led the assaults on pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairos public squares, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.
Sisis intervention crushed the Arab spring in Egypt. Mass detentions, executions and de facto dictatorship ensued. Notwithstanding the Khartoum killings, nothing on that scale has yet occurred in Sudan. But tolerance for months of non-violent public protest ended abruptly on Monday.
A visit to Egypt by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudans junta, which is officially called the transitional military council, went ahead after talks with the opposition on forming a new administration broke down at the end of last month.
-snip-
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/03/sudanese-crackdown-comes-after-talks-with-egypt-and-saudis