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06-03-2024
KHARTOUM: There are few peoples in the world who have been as devoted to achieving democracy as the Sudanese people. Although their quest for democracy has been unrelenting, stable democratic governance has so far eluded Sudan, not least because of foreign pressures.
In the latest historic episode of revolutionary upheaval, which brought down President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the political transition failed to keep the country on a democratic path.
Subsequently, a bloody war broke out between two generals that has sown chaos and destruction. At present, survival is the main priority for the Sudanese people, but once the conflict is over, discussions about the governance and political future of the country will again come to the fore and there must be a clear vision of what that would look like.
A democratic transformation is critical to resolving Sudan’s many problems, but it must meet the needs of the Sudanese people and not be shaped by outside powers. The United States, in particular, which has tried to influence the post-Bashir transition, not only has a long track record of failure in democracy promotion in Sudan and its neighborhood, but is also itself failing domestically on key democratic indicators.
For decades now, the US has been promoting its understanding of democracy across the Global South, including in Sudan. American diplomats, think tanks and NGOs have all worked to press foreign governments to hold elections, maintain freedom of speech and uphold human rights.
That drive has largely failed to produce any tangible results for two reasons.
First, democracy in the US itself has been on the decline. All three pillars of US democracy promotion have seen backsliding in the US. In the past decade, claims of foreign interference, allegations of “stolen” elections, and political upheaval have raised fears that elections can no longer guarantee the orderly transition of power in the country.
Free speech has also been under attack. During the COVID pandemic and then the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, many people have been deplatformed, defamed, and fired for taking positions that do not conform to official narratives. Book bans are on the rise across the country, as is the censorship of critical voices on social media.
The US has also seen a spotty human rights record domestically, which was reflected in a 2023 UN report highlighting the US’s failure to abide by many of its obligations under the UN Covenants on Civil and Political Rights. On the international arena, the US has continued to support Israel’s mass murder of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, despite growing evidence that it is committing war crimes and possibly genocide. (Int’l News Desk)
