SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Economist – The army’s takeover in Sudan highlights a worrying trend

28/10/2021: Economist – The army’s takeover in Sudan highlights a worrying trend

The Economist suggest that the military coup in Sudan could have been avoided but for “squandered opportunities” by Sudanese civilian politicians and western donors.

It was suggested that, through the “squalid” power-sharing deal, civilian politicians could have built trust with the army by potentially “offering amnesty for all but the most serious war crimes in exchange for full disclosure about them,” with the Economist stating that this approach worked in post-Apartheid South Africa.

Then, the Economist argues that western donors could have smoothed Sudan’s transition with aid more quickly, but “instead the economy kept contracting, fuelling a sense of crisis that the army exploited”

Finally, the Economist suggest that Sudan’s military leaders now take western threats lightly, given how “days before the coup, Western diplomats warned the generals to back off.”