Sudan has descended into crisis after the military dissolved the country’s power-sharing government and declared a state of emergency. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the top military official in Sudan, dissolved the PM Hamdok government and the Sovereign Council, a joint military and civilian body created soon after al-Bashir’s ouster to run the country. He now heads a military council which he said would rule Sudan until elections in July 2023.
Sudan is in a volatile region, bordering the Red Sea, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa. Several of its neighbours, including Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan have been affected by political upheavals and conflict.
Sudan began a transition to democracy after a popular uprising and the ouster in April 2019 of President Omar al-Bashir, shunned by the West who had presided over the country for nearly three decades. Under an August 2019 agreement, the military is sharing power with officials appointed by civilian political groups in a ruling body known as the Sovereign Council, meant to lead the country to elections by the end of 2023.
