KHARTOUM — The resignation
of
Sudan's prime minister leaves the military in full command and threatens a
return to the repressive policies of the regime of ousted strongman Omar Al-Bashir,
analysts say.
اضافة اعلان
After months of street protests and violent
crackdowns that have claimed at least 57 lives, observers fear more bloodshed
ahead after premier Abdalla Hamdok stepped down late on Sunday.
In his farewell address on national TV,
Hamdok said he had tried to prevent Sudan "from sliding toward
disaster" but that it was now at a "dangerous crossroads threatening
its very survival".
"Hamdok's resignation has left the
military in sole command of the country," said Magdi Al-Gizouli of
think-tank the Rift Valley Institute. "Protesters will take to the
streets again and will be left to face more violence."
Since its independence from Britain and
Egypt in 1956, Sudan, now one of the world's poorest countries, has been mostly
under military rule with only rare democratic interludes.
It has been navigating a fragile transition
toward full civilian rule since the April 2019 ouster of veteran president
Bashir following an unprecedented wave of youth-led protests.
Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes in the
Darfur region by the
International Criminal Court, was jailed as Sudan took
steps to rejoin the international community and obtain debt relief, foreign aid
and investment.
But the already rocky transition was
derailed on October 25 when Sudan's new de facto ruler, top general Abdel
Fattah Al-Burhan, launched a coup, detaining Hamdok and his cabinet ministers.
The power grab sparked international
condemnation and a new wave of street protests, with 57 people killed, hundreds
wounded and at least 13 women raped during renewed street unrest.
'Facade removed'
Burhan reversed Hamdok's ouster and
reinstated him on November 21, also promising elections in mid-2023 — but the
protest movement had lost all faith in both leaders and kept up their
demonstrations.
They accused the civilian leader Hamdok, a
former international economist, of "betrayal" and "legitimizing
the coup regime".
In the weeks since, Hamdok had failed to
form a new government, and local media reported in recent days that he had not
shown up at his office.
Gizouli said the parties to Sudan's November
deal had hoped it would "reduce the agitation on the streets" and
allow them to find a way "to rework the constitutional
arrangements".
"But all this did not happen," he
said.
Instead, Hamdok had found himself
"paralyzed" and "not able to get anything done, neither
politically nor administratively".
Some observers now fear that Hamdok's
resignation signals a reversion to the kind of rule Sudan saw under the
Islamist-backed regime of Bashir.
Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair wrote on
Twitter that Hamdok's resignation "removes any facade the #SudanCoup
generals can enjoy and present this coup as anything other than a reversion to
the Islamo-military politics of Bashir.
"Though Sudan's future is uncertain,
the clarity helps all to see this coup for what it is."
'Stakes are high'
UN special representative Volker Perthes
said he regrets Hamdok's decision and voiced fears the "ongoing political
crisis ... risks further derailing progress made since the December
revolution".
The US urged Sudanese leaders to "set
aside differences, find consensus and ensure continued civilian rule".
"Sudan's next PM and cabinet should be
appointed in line with the constitutional declaration to meet the people's
goals of freedom, peace and justice," the
US Bureau for African Affairs
said.
Activists have stepped up their calls for
more anti-military protests from Tuesday and called on demonstrators to again
head to the presidential palace in Khartoum "until victory is
achieved".
Sudan's military rulers have meanwhile
granted themselves heightened powers to stop dissent.
Burhan last month issued a decree allowing
security forces to arrest individuals "over crimes related to the state of
emergency" which effectively bans street protests.
It also allows security forces to enter and
search "any building or individual" and impose "surveillance of
any property and facility".
"The stakes are now very high,"
said Gizouli, who argued Hamdok had been "a possible mediator between all
sides".
"Now it's an open confrontation between
security forces and the old system, excluding Omar al-Bashir, and a leaderless
movement on the streets based on the activism of young people."
John Prendergast, of The Sentry think-tank,
argued that foreign powers should not stand idly by.
"The longer the US and EU wait to
create consequences for the actions of the military rulers," he wrote,
"the more the regime is consolidating its economic and political power, to
the great detriment of Sudan's population."
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