#SudanProtests : Back to square one in Sudan with one of those coups

It was only a matter of time and only the optimistic believed that the warnings from the west had prevented it from happening “Myself included”, but it happened. Sudan has a military coup and once again it is back to square one.

Early morning in Khartoum, military forces began to move and we began to read on Twitter that we are on the verge of seeing a new coup once again in the nation that paid heavy prices for Sudanese military officers with a hunger for power. 

For those who do not know, the Sudanese military should have handed over power to the Civilian Government of Sudan next month but the last three weeks witnessed very alarming developments including an alleged failed coup attempt.

Sudanese protesters against the coup in Khartoum on Monday 
"Twitter"

The attempt was followed by an accusation to Civilian Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok’s government of dividing the country and excluding political powers “mostly the old corrupted powers” and we found some sit-ins claiming to be in favour of a military takeover of power. 

It was an obvious bad plan and Hamdok called the protesters last week to foil and they did go to the streets to show their size and power.

But it seems that those huge protests did not deter Abdel Fattah El-Burhan, the military Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan and his comrades from completing their plans.

It was officially confirmed as a coup when the Office of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok announced that he was detained along with his wife from their residence in Khartoum and taken to an unknown place followed by calls for supporters of civilian rule to go to the streets.

Hamdok was detained after refusing to issue a statement in support of the coup.

The news followed that other Civilian members of the Sudanese transitional government have been detained also with full military control on the media. 

Initially, the detention process started in the early hours of Monday and among the detainees 9 members in Hamdok's cabinet. 

Some areas in the Sudanese capital reported that the internet services were down. It is expected and it happened before.

El-Burhan addressed the Sudanese people in a televised speech announcing the dissolving of the government, freezing some articles of the constitution and announcing that state of emergency. He also dissolved the Sudanese transitional council which he used to head declaring a state of emergency across the country. 

The old military commander of the Sudanese army also stated that the elections will be held in July 2023 where the Sudanese army will hand over the power to an elected government. 

El-Burhan’s speech did not stop or calm the angry protesters in Khartoum

The Sudanese Professions Association, which is one of the main political and union powers that played a critical role in the revolution against Omar El-Bashir’s rule called the citizens to protest against the coup.

بيان
شعبنا المقدام

كما كان متوقعًا، جاء بيان البرهان محشوًا بالوهم والأكاذيب، ودليلا على انفصال الطاغية عن الواقع، وأنه لم يفهم شيئًا من دروس ديسمبر المجيد، قراراته الرعناء ستزيد من ضراوة المقاومة ووحدة الشارع بعدما زالت كل أوهام الشراكة وسقطت ورقة التوت.#العصيان_المدني_الشامل

— تجمع المهنيين السودانيين (@AssociationSd) October 25, 2021

The Western governments starting with Germany issued early statements condemning what happened in Sudan, they have not called it a coup yet but they called for the immediate release of the Civilian officials. 

 US special envoy to the African Horn Jeffery Feltman was in Sudan on Sunday from less than 24 hours meeting with civilian leaders like Hamdok stressing the necessity that the power should transfer to civilians according to Plan.

Well, the plan has gone to the wind and the Biden Administration is in front of another test of its so-called commitment to human rights and democracy. Will it be like Tunisia?

Personally, I believe Burhan and Co. have not thought about this move except after seeing how Kais El-Saeed got away with his “Civilian constitutional coup” in Tunisia with the support of regional powers. I considered what the populist Nasserite Tunisian president was a big push for the military in Sudan to go forward with their plan thinking that they can get away with it

Personally, I do not think that they will get away with that coup considering the fact that the West trusts Hamdok more but those military officers are depending on the regional support especially from the Gulf specifically the UAE and their new allies in Israel. 

This is what General Burhan may have thought. I am just guessing and my calculations that UAE and the rest of the usual suspects band are waiting to see the reaction of the west. So far, the reactions are angry from the West

Things are developing by the hour in Khartoum and that’s why I am having a live blogging session in another post to make things easier to gather all important news, videos and announcements.