Le Monde: In Sudan, the repressive methods of the old regime have returned

The military authority in Sudan continues to suppress demonstrators and carry out purges, paving the way for the return of cadres and frameworks of the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown by the Sudanese revolution two years ago, according to a report by two French writers.

The authors of the French newspaper Le Monde, Elliot Brachi and Jean Philippe, say that the military authority led by Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has not only since the October 25 coup overthrew the authorities of the transitional phase, which was scheduled to lead in 2023 to democratic elections, but is working Today, it is striving to return the country to two years ago, that is, to the era of what the Sudanese call the “Kizan” regime, i.e. the regime of the former “dictator” Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in April 2019, the culmination of 4 months of the popular revolution.

As evidence of what they said, the two writers, Barashi, the newspaper's correspondent in Khartoum, and her colleague Remy, the regional correspondent of the newspaper based in Johannesburg, say that the military today is already using various methods to crush the popular uprising sparked by the coup.

They added that the generals, as they did in the past, are launching fleets of pickup trucks in the streets with armed elements on board, some of them wearing civilian clothes, violently dispersing the demonstrators, using live ammunition or tear gas even inside citizens' homes.

Incidents of severe beatings have also increased, affecting even the families of people suspected of being part of the underground protest structures, according to the authors.

Barashi and her colleague Remy noted that the resistance committees regained their organization for the year 2019, but the repression is in full swing, and about 100 arrests have already been carried out against those responsible for the protest and figures in the political field, such as Yasser Arman, the second man in what was known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement- North, an advisor to the transitional Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, and according to the authors, a representative of the Sudanese Professionals Association estimated the number of detainees at the national level at 270.

The authors point out that Hamdok, who spent his entire career in international institutions, before returning to Sudan in 2019 to head the transitional government, is now under house arrest, and his security has just been reinforced.

They added that the ousted prime minister suffers from health problems, including diabetes, who asked to be able to perform his regular checkups with his doctor, but Al-Burhan's team sent him his own doctor.

Remy and Barashi stated that the military authorities hope to eventually be able, through pressure, to make Hamdok accept to head a "puppet government", likely intended to persuade international financial institutions to continue normalization with Sudan and allow the country to access borrowing facilities without which it would not There will be an improvement in the economy.

However, the two writers stressed that the intention of the Sudanese generals collides with many obstacles, the first of which is the will of Abdullah Hamdok himself, as he rejects the “fools’ deal” presented to him, as well as the demonstrators who took control of the streets of several cities in Sudan, including Khartoum.

They recalled the general strike organized by the resistance committees and neighborhood networks on Sunday and Monday, among other activities to pressure the military authority, which also includes placing roadblocks and improvised speeches every evening in front of random gatherings or around burning tires, as these committees called, along with community organizations. Al-Madani, to a new “million march” next Saturday.

The authors quoted Suleiman Baldo of the anti-corruption organization "The Sentry", an expert on Sudan, as saying, "The army still has a long way to go before it can destroy the popular movement." Rather, what happened was a "miscalculation on the part of the generals." ', according to Baldo.

He pointed out that the generals believed that the Sudanese public opinion was tired of the difficulties facing the transitional government's efforts to improve its living conditions, and they expected that the Sudanese's decision regarding the coup would be based on some formality, such as a civilian government.

This, according to Baldo, made these generals pave the way for their movement by stopping supplies by creating unrest in Port Sudan, the main port in the east of the country, in order to ignite discontent. They also established alliances with the leaders of two former rebel movements in Darfur, Jibril Ibrahim and Minni Arko Minawi.

The authors said that these two movements, according to confirmed sources, now have elements participating in the repression in the streets of Khartoum, along with the military intelligence units, the riot police and the Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, nicknamed "Hemedti."

In parallel, the authors say, military authority officials are struggling to hide their reluctance to negotiate a return to the status quo that existed before the coup, which was noted by the African Union Special Envoy Olusegun Obasanjo when he met with General Al-Burhan on November 3, when he said about The latter informed him of his "reading" of the situation, reminding him that he had "taken measures to enable civilians to better prepare for the elections," and then promised him to arrange a meeting with Abdallah Hamdok, which never happened, according to the authors.

The day after his meeting with the former President of Nigeria, the African envoy to Sudan, Al-Burhan, who still claims to show good faith, ordered the release of 4 ministers, without convincing anyone, according to the authors.

But Al-Reeh Seddik, a spokesperson for the Forces of Freedom and Change, the civil political coalition that was due to take over the leadership of the Sovereignty Council soon, said that what Al-Burhan had done was nothing more than throwing dust in El-Ayoun.

The authors quoted a source familiar with the negotiations between the Sudanese parties as saying, "The big gap continues. On the one hand, we see calming statements: We will have a government, we are about to finish.... On the other hand, arrests multiply as if they were aimed at dismantling the state."

As for Magdy Al-Jazouli, a researcher at the Rift Valley Institute, the authors quoted him as saying as he assessed the state of affairs, "The proof resurrects the old bureaucrats from the era of Bashir. They are not necessarily Islamists, but they are loyal to the authority of the Kazan, for example, Osama Abdullah was appointed The former director of the Meroe Dam during the era of Al-Bashir, head of the emergency committee formed by the military council in the early days of the coup in order to manage the supply of gasoline, wheat or basic necessities.