December 10, 2021
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (left)
and Abdalla Hamdok (right) at a meeting with a Yankee-Israeli delegation in
Khartoum in 2020.
On the Recent Coup d’état in
Sudan
On Thursday 25th of October,
news surfaced of the arrest of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and several other
ministers in Sudan, as it became clear that the country had been the site of
yet another coup. The leader of the putschists, army general Abdel Fattah
al-Burhan, is the President of the Sovereignty Council, the transitional
government that was established sometime after yet another coup he initiated,
back in 2019. The coup marks the second coup attempt in Sudan in just a year,
and the fourth successful coup this year in a continent that has so far seen
209 coups and coup attempts since 1955.
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The Sudanese comprador regime,
the native big bourgeoisie, are facing increasing pressure from all sides. The
imperialists are pressuring them to implement rapid measures guided by the IMF,
in return for predatory deals of “debt relief”. They are facing pressure from
the armed struggle of certain “rebel groups”, and the attempts of restoration
of the old regime of Omar al-Bashir through assasinations and coup attempts,
with the latest coup attempt occurring just two months ago, on September 21st.
They are facing the greatest pressure from the masses, the raging popular
rebellion in the country. All the while, the floor is collapsing under their
feet. Beucrocratic capitalism in Sudan is in the darkest depths of the deepest
crisis.
In this pressure, the internal
contradictions within the big bourgeoisie are sharpened. One faction of the big
bourgeoisie is represented by Hamdok, as manifested in the “civillian”
beurocrats, while another is represented by Al-Burhan, as manifested in the
military beurocrats.
Hamdok, being the reliable
lackey he is, naturally listened to his imperialist masters as he implemented
the program of economic reforms put forward by the IMF. Consisting of harsh
austerity measures, this was yet another blow, in a series of blows to the living
conditions of the masses in Sudan. Inflation continued to rapidly excel and
soared to over 400%. The bread lines increased. Fuel prices almost doubled.
As if the anger of the masses
was not fierce enough already, this would fuel their fury even more, as protests
increased in quanity and quality. Seeing what was unfolding, the faction of the
big bourgeoisie lead by Al-Burhan, grew increasingly dissatisfied with the
other faction, seeing the popular rebellion of the masses as a more imminent
threat and a more important matter to attend to at this moment, than the
implementation of reforms to acquire debt relief.
The internal tensions started
to reach a boiling point, as the security service imposed a travel ban on
several officials belonging to the “civillian” faction. The sharpening of the
internal contradictions constituted a definitive qualtiative leap as the
contradiction turned antagonistic during October and the days leading up to the
coup.
Following the coup, the
putschists were widely condemned, inlcuding by Yankee imperialism. The EU, UN,
African Union, etc. called for the immediate release of the imprisoned
officials. The Yankees suspsended $700 million in aid to the regime, while the
world bank suspended $2 billion.
Faced with the repercussions
of the coup, it seems like Al-Burhan is succombing to the pressure and is
walking back on his latest stunt. The two factions have in fact engaged in
negotiations to form a new government that would include the reversal of the coup,
with Al-Burhan promising Hamdok that he will be free to appoint the cabinet of
his choice. In these negotiations, the faction represented by Hamdok is
receiving direct orders from the Yankees. On November 16th, the Al-Burhan junta
in fact permitted a Yankee “diplomat” to visit Hamdok to give directives¹,
despite Hamdok being held in house arrest.
Bourgeois western media have
made claims of an increased Russian involvement with the regime, particularly
with members of the “military faction”. British-Canadian bourgeois news
outlet Reuters reports that the putschists “obtained a “green light” from
Moscow in an effort to protect themselves from any sanctions imposed through
the United Nations Security Council, two official Sudanese sources said.”²
Moreover, they claimed that General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has cultivated ties
to the Russian imperialists.
Under the regime of al-Bashir,
an agreement was made that approved the establishing of a Russian naval base in
Sudanese territory, by the red sea. After being de facto suspended due to the
chronic instability in the country since then, Chief of Staff of the Sudanese
Army, Muhammad Othman Al-Hussein, announced in June of this year that the
agreement had been renewed. Al-Burhan has reservations regarding the deal, but
being the semi-colonial lackey that he is, pledged to honor “international
agreements”.
Although the relation of
Russian imperialism to the military officials of the Sudanese regime is likely
exagerated, the Russian imperialists will surely exploit an opportunity if it
arises. By the looks of it, it seems like the negotiations of the two factions
of the regime is moving closer to an agreement. But if the negotiations should
fail, and the Yankees and their allies disown the regime completely, the Russian
imperialists will surely take advantage of such a situation.
The outsting of Hamdok, their
trusted and reliable lackey, has surely irritated the Yankees and the other
“western” imperialists. Al-Burhan, being the rabid dog he is, has once again
proved his wild nature and portrayed himself as an incompetent lackey in the
eyes of imperialism. As if novices acting in a play in a theater, the yankees
have made unconvincing condemnations of the regime’s recently intensified
repression of the masses. However, if the Al-Burhan regime is willing to
compromise to the Yankees, they in due time surely will forgive this stunt and
condone their seat at the table of comprador enrichment at the expense of the
masses.
As we see again and again, the
condemnations of the imperialists against the repression of the masses are
hollow words. Moreover, the condemnation of repression, by the world’s sole
hegemonic superpower, the principal enemy of the peoples of the world – Yankee
imperialism – is even satirical. We know very well that while words of
condemnation are cast across the table of “global diplomacy”, under the table
the imperialists are shaking hands with the putschists and compradors. In fact,
one could almost say that they make blood pacts, but instead of their own blood,
their hands are covered in the blood of the masses.
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For the background of the
events unfolding in Sudan, see our article Imperialism
and the Coup d´États in Africa.
References
1. Reuters:
U.S. envoy meets Sudan’s Hamdok to discuss restoring democratic transition (Bourgeois
news outlet)
2. Reuters:
Sudanese general ignored U.S. warning as army rolled out coup plan (Bourgeois news outlet)