Sudan's fledgling government, led by Abdullah Hamdouk, faces economic dilemmas that it cannot resolve without Western support, especially from the United States, the Financial Times reported.
Writer David Pilling focused on Hamdouk's current visit to Washington, saying the latter is determined to do one thing: persuade America to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of "terrorism."
He expected Hamdok to return home empty-handed, saying that the experience of the West's handling of Zimbabwe after the overthrow of its former President Robert Mugabe does not bode well for Sudan, the West has slowed the rapprochement Mugabe's successor, which pushed Zimbabwe to slide further in the state violence and economic collapse worse than it was .
Experience Zimbabwe
However, Pelling said the West's slowdown in the case of Zimbabwe was justified: that new President Emerson Mnangagwa had been Mugabe's right-hand and loyal follower for decades, but in the case of Sudan, the government was currently headed by someone who had no links to the former regime.
He continued that Hamdouk may not have real authority at the moment, as the army may still be running the scene, but to have any chance of civilian control and the return of soldiers to the barracks, the government of Hamdouk needs some successes, and without the support of the West is doomed.
Despite his pessimistic outlook, Pilling pointed to developments he described as unpredictable to the government of Hamdok recently, such as the abolition of the law of public morals and the dissolution of the Sudanese National Congress "despite its partnership with a problematic party," according to the statement.
Fateful challenges
Regarding the economic situation in which the new Sudanese government finds itself, the writer said that Hamdouk told him before he became prime minister that Sudan is bankrupt, as there are no foreign currency reserves in its central bank, and that the government is unable to pay its financial obligations, and had to print The currency has well-known results, that inflation is devastating (60%), and that the current government needs to raise expensive subsidies on wheat and oil, which is why millions of Sudanese protested in the streets and overthrow the regime of Omar al-Bashir.
Without the support of Western countries, Pelling said the Sudanese economy would continue to deteriorate, which would necessitate either the return of the army to power or Sudan becoming dependent on one or more Gulf states.
He said lifting US sanctions on Sudan meant opening the door for him to get financial support from the IMF and the World Bank, providing an opportunity to renegotiate its $ 60 billion debt, and the arrival of foreign investment to a vast country of 40 million people, a meeting point between the Arab world and Africa.