Biden considers the recent events in Sudan ‘grave setback’
US President Joe Biden has called the military coup in Sudan a ”grave setback” for the country and has asked for the restoration of the civilian-led government.
Dialing up pressure on Sudan’s military junta, Biden said ”Our message to Sudan’s military authorities is overwhelming and clear: the Sudanese people must be allowed to protest peacefully and the civilian-led transitional government must be restored.”
While several protestors have been killed as a result of the violence in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, the abrupt collapse of the country’s transition to democracy has sparked an international outcry.
The poverty-stricken African nation has been plunged into chaos after the abrupt collapse of the country’s government.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who led the military takeover, had said ”Until this night, we were sending him people and telling him … complete the path with us, until this meeting with you, we were sending him people to negotiate with him and we are still having hope.”
”We told him that we cleaned the stage for you … he is free to form the government, we will not intervene in the government formation, anyone he will bring, we will not intervene at all.”
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Sudan’s army is negotiating with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of the now-dissolved transitional council to form the new government.
The latest of several recent coups in Africa ended a shaky transitional set-up in Sudan intended to lead to elections in 2023. Power was shared between civilians and the military following the fall of Bashir, whom the army deposed after a popular uprising two years ago.
Sudan is in the midst of a deep economic crisis with record inflation and shortages of basics. Improvement relies on aid that Western donors say will end unless the coup is reversed.
Western envoys had warned Burhan that assistance, including a now frozen $700 million in US aid and $2 billion from the World Bank, would cease if he took power.
According to the United Nations, more than half the population is in poverty and child malnutrition stands at 38 per cent.
However, he ignored those warnings under pressure from inside the military and with a “green light” from Russia. Burhan has said he acted to prevent civil war and has promised elections in July 2023.
