4/5/2022: Responsible Statecraft – Strongmen, coups, corruption drive Horn of Africa to the brink, by Alex de Waal

World Peace Foundation executive director Alex de Waal argues that the October 2021 coup leaders have “no political plan other than survival”, citing their inability to form a government and resorting to rehabilitating Islamists from the deposed Omar al-Bashir regime.

De Waal argues that the coup regime has no plan for the economic crisis as the suspension of international assistance contributed to a worsening economic meltdown accompanied by a nationwide food crisis, with the military “well aware that any meaningful economic reform requires the dismantling of the military-owned corporations and their kleptocratic stranglehold over the economy.”

De Waal adds that the leader of the military-led sovereign council Abdulfattah al-Burhan appreciates the need to repair relations with western financial institutions, while his deputy-cum-rival Himedti “appears to see the future of Sudan as a transnational enterprise in illicit commerce, including exporter of mercenaries, the welfare of its 40 million citizens be damned.”