Why we must oppose the subversion of the Sudanese democratic revolution by the military and foreign powers.

On Sunday 19th December, the Sudanese people marked the third anniversary of their revolution for democracy by tens of thousands coming out on the streets in cities across the country.  The revolution shook Sudan politically, drawing in millions to fight to change the stultified political and economic order dominated by the Sudanese military.

As usual, the police and the military blocked bridges to prevent free movement of the protestors, especially in Khartoum, so that protestors in north Khartoum and Omdurman could not join the march to the presidential palace. Nonetheless many protestors from Omdurman forced their way across one of the bridges and others bussed in from the countryside. Needless to say, the internet and social media were blocked to stop people from organising.

As they moved to the presidential palace to occupy it, the protestors were met with a relentless barrage of tear gas canisters and grenades and beaten back. It is easy to assume that such non-lethal weapons are safe for the civilians. Unfortunately this is not the case.

Robust field reports with verification from the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors reveal that from the 25th October coup to 30th November, there have been 698 injuries. While there were 186 injuries caused by live fire resulting in 42 deaths, the largest number of injuries (330) were caused by tear gas. A significant number of these (193) caused trauma due to direct impact of blunt projectiles on protestors. Of these, 33 impacted on victims’ heads and four caused injuries to the eyes, one of which led to the loss of an eye. This indicates that the Sudanese security forces have often fired tear gas canisters and grenades directly at protestors to cause injuries.

The report by Sunday’s Observer highlighted the case of Amani Galal who lost her right eye to a canister fired by the security forces as they tried to break up a demonstration in 2019.  In spite of the life-changing injury, she has never missed a demonstration or a single protest over the last three years. After having fitted a prosthetic eye in Russia, she started an NGO with the aim of getting treatment for the injured overseas. There are 457 people on her list just from Khartoum with injuries from live bullets.

Such determination from activists is admirable and reflects their courage. They are not prepared to forget the deaths, injuries, rapes, imprisonments and trauma inflicted by the army on innocent unarmed civilians. Their sufferings and struggle are a testimony to their long struggle to wrest power from the military and to hold it to account for the terrible violence over decades.

Over the three years, the Sudanese people have taken to the streets in protests continually. Workers, doctors, teachers, university students, school students, and women have become politically active.  There has been a massive resistance from below organised by the Resistance Committees which has been met by bloody repression.

On one side is the unarmed power of the people whose demand is that the military should be removed from political power and a civilian government take over. On the other are the generals of the Sudanese military who want keep the status quo in whatever guise. How is this contradiction to be resolved? This resolution will decide the future of Sudan for decades to come.

A review of the developments following the December Revolution in 2018 which toppled the 30 year dictatorship of al-Bashir attests that the generals had pulled all the tricks available to them to undermine the transition to democracy. When on the defensive in 2019, the generals signed up to the transitional agreement and the draft constitutional document paving the way to a democracy. But just when a civilian chair was take over the Sovereignty Council they carried out the coup in October 2015.

General al-Burhan dissolved the Transitional Council and appointed self-selected persons and organisations excluding the civil society organisations represented by the Forces for Freedom and Change. This move was clearly to sideline social forces that were fighting for change and wanted to hold the military to account. His deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka -Hemeti) openly stated that the coup was the best way forward. With his violent militia Rapid Support Forces now integrated in the army, he is the greatest threat to Sudanese democracy.

The Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdock who took over in September 2019 was arrested with all the cabinet members and political activists. After successive massive public protests, he was reinstalled as the Prime Minister on 21st November with a brief to lead a technocratic government which will, no doubt, be supervised by the military. What is the aim here? To take politics out of government, to neuter it. It will not be a government which will have a broad representation of different social forces of Sudanese society.

The UN secretary-general has urged the Sudanese people to support reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok so the country can have “a peaceful transition towards a true democracy.” The African Union which has mediated the power-sharing agreement has also backed the deal. The regional powers Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt have backed the military during the crisis and are fountainheads of counter-revolution in the region.

The US has developed considerable leverage on Sudan since the December Revolution. With the World Bank and IMF, it has suspended all aid to Sudan following the coup. Hamdock, a technocrat, has been the centrepiece of the US policy in Sudan with whom an austerity reform programme was agreed, tied to aid. It has yet to make a decision to fully back Hamdock now that he has been reinstated. Given its record of supporting the military dictatorship in Egypt and anti-democratic palace power system in Saudi Arabia and the  UAE, one has to be wary.

This does not bode well for the democratic revolution in Sudan. All calls for stability and security of Sudan lead to the status quo, with the facade of a technocratic government behind which the generals will maintain their stranglehold. The military has been entrenched in power for 52 years since Sudan’s independence in 1956. It has a vast economic empire. It drains most of the wealth of the nation at the expense of the welfare of the people. It is deeply corrupt. Its rule has been a disaster for the people of Sudan politically, socially and economically.

The Resistance Committees consider the position of the international community a betrayal of their democratic revolution. They have urged the US to withhold financial aid which could end up in the pockets of the military. They reject the deal agreed between the generals and Hamdock. Through their suffering and struggle, their vision for a democratic Sudan has solidified.

We must say no this subversion of the Sudanese democratic revolution and offer international solidarity for the resistance movement.

What you can do:

• Join the hundreds of participants at the recent conference in solidarity with the Sudanese Revolution by adding your name to a statement condemning the military coup and supporting the revolution. Add your name here: https://forms.gle/p5SWbyBmKsvidBJq6
• Invite a Sudanese speaker to your union branch meeting – contact action@menasolidaritynetwork.net for details.
• Pass a resolution in solidarity with the Sudanese uprising in your trade union branch, calling on the British government to end all forms of cooperation with the Sudanese military and to work towards bringing those responsible for the killing of protesters to justice.

First published on The Labour Hub on December 27 2021 https://labourhub.org.uk/2021/12/27/three-years-on-the-sudanese-people-are-determined-to-fight-for-democracy/