The African Union’s absence in Sudan is not merely a matter of geopolitical interest; it is a crisis with significant human costs and far-reaching implications for the credibility of the union’s regional governance.
Sudan, a nation of strategic importance in Africa’s eastern region, is presently in the throes of a deepening crisis. The country, which already had a troubled past with post-colonial violence, was just starting to see glimmers of hope after the fall of former president, Omar al-Bashir, in 2019. But the path to stable governance has been far from smooth. As of July 2023, Sudan finds itself grappling with a severe crisis that has its roots embedded in a variety of political, economic, and social issues. The fragile transition to democracy, following the 2019 overthrow of President al-Bashir, has been marred by deep divisions within the transitional government, consisting of military and civilian parties. At the centre of the unfolding Sudanese conflict, a high-stakes tug of war between Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo exposes an intricate power play. Burhan, at the helm of Sudan’s official military, is locking horns with Dagalo, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces—a paramilitary group inching for a larger slice of the governmental pie...
