SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Washington Post – Behind power grabs in Sudan and Tunisia, the shadow of Gulf monarchies
Washington Post columnist Ishan Tharoor warns Saudi Arabia and the UAE may buttress military coup leader Abdulfattah al-Burhan’s regime, with academic Jean-Baptiste Gallopin suggesting that the Gulf powers’ financial support “gave the generals crucial leeway to resist popular demands for civilian rule, shaping a lopsided balance of power that allowed the generals to navigate a period of mass mobilisation”.
Gallopin added that UAE’s “covert financial flows subsequently earned them unparalleled leverage across large segments the political spectrum, which helped the generals … consolidate their power.”
Tharoor notes that the International Crisis Group called for the US and EU to use
“the considerable leverage they have with Gulf capitals and Cairo to convince them to push the generals in Khartoum to change course.”