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AFP
Khartoum
Demonstrators camped outside Sudan’s army headquarters may be baying for the military to hand over power, but Khartoum’s key Arab allies are throwing their weight behind the generals, analysts say.
Sudan’s army ousted veteran president Omar al Bashir on April 11 on the back of a popular uprising, and since then the military council that took power has resisted calls to transfer the reins to civilians.
For weeks now, the 10-member council and protesters have failed to make a breakthrough at talks on forming an overall ruling joint civilian-military body.
And while Western powers are backing protester demands for a transfer of power, Sudan’s allies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt seem to be angling for the generals to stay put.
“There are clear signs that Egypt and Gulf Arab states have thrown their support behind the military council, thereby emboldening the council,” said Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert at Harvard University.
Just days after Bashir’s toppling, Saudi Arabia and the UAE voiced backing for the army council, calling for “stability”.
The regional powerhouses then offered a $3-billion aid package to Sudan, which is battling a worsening economic crisis -- the key factor that triggered nationwide protests against Bashir.
Alongside the two Gulf countries is Egypt, analysts said, with Cairo appearing to use its diplomatic clout as the head of the African Union to extend a timeframe set by the regional body for Sudan to carry out a “democratic transition”.
“It certainly shows these countries find it necessary to keep the army in Sudan’s ruling council,” said Khaled Tijani, editor-in-chief of Sudanese economic weekly Elaff.
“One of the main interests of Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be in ensuring Sudan remains committed to its troop deployment in Yemen,” said Willow Berridge, author of Civil Uprisings in Modern Sudan and lecturer in history at Newcastle University.
Bashir deployed Sudanese troops to Yemen in 2015 as part of a major foreign policy shift that saw Khartoum break its decades-old ties with Shiite Iran and join a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels.
The chief of Sudan’s ruling military council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Himeidti, have been the architects behind Sudan’s troop deployment in Yemen, analysts and rights groups say.
The Gulf countries “are likely to want to keep them in as powerful a position as possible”, Berridge told AFP.
It has remained unclear how many of Khartoum’s soldiers are fighting in Yemen, but Sudanese media has reported that hundreds of soldiers and officers are deployed and have often suffered casualties, fanning popular ire against Bashir before he was ousted.
Khartoum
Demonstrators camped outside Sudan’s army headquarters may be baying for the military to hand over power, but Khartoum’s key Arab allies are throwing their weight behind the generals, analysts say.
Sudan’s army ousted veteran president Omar al Bashir on April 11 on the back of a popular uprising, and since then the military council that took power has resisted calls to transfer the reins to civilians.
For weeks now, the 10-member council and protesters have failed to make a breakthrough at talks on forming an overall ruling joint civilian-military body.
And while Western powers are backing protester demands for a transfer of power, Sudan’s allies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt seem to be angling for the generals to stay put.
“There are clear signs that Egypt and Gulf Arab states have thrown their support behind the military council, thereby emboldening the council,” said Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert at Harvard University.
Just days after Bashir’s toppling, Saudi Arabia and the UAE voiced backing for the army council, calling for “stability”.
The regional powerhouses then offered a $3-billion aid package to Sudan, which is battling a worsening economic crisis -- the key factor that triggered nationwide protests against Bashir.
Alongside the two Gulf countries is Egypt, analysts said, with Cairo appearing to use its diplomatic clout as the head of the African Union to extend a timeframe set by the regional body for Sudan to carry out a “democratic transition”.
“It certainly shows these countries find it necessary to keep the army in Sudan’s ruling council,” said Khaled Tijani, editor-in-chief of Sudanese economic weekly Elaff.
“One of the main interests of Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be in ensuring Sudan remains committed to its troop deployment in Yemen,” said Willow Berridge, author of Civil Uprisings in Modern Sudan and lecturer in history at Newcastle University.
Bashir deployed Sudanese troops to Yemen in 2015 as part of a major foreign policy shift that saw Khartoum break its decades-old ties with Shiite Iran and join a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels.
The chief of Sudan’s ruling military council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Himeidti, have been the architects behind Sudan’s troop deployment in Yemen, analysts and rights groups say.
The Gulf countries “are likely to want to keep them in as powerful a position as possible”, Berridge told AFP.
It has remained unclear how many of Khartoum’s soldiers are fighting in Yemen, but Sudanese media has reported that hundreds of soldiers and officers are deployed and have often suffered casualties, fanning popular ire against Bashir before he was ousted.
