How Sudan's Military Coup Is Threatening Its Long March Toward Democracy
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
NPR's Eyder Peralta, who has been reporting in the region, explains how it all unfolded — and what could happen next.
Read more on the events in Sudan from NPR's Becky Sullivan: The coup in Sudan could threaten U.S. influence in a strategically important region.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Muhammad Ahmed says the Sudan that he fled in 1998 isn't so different from the Sudan today. |
| 0:06.9 | When I grew up in Sudan, it was under the rooting of Bashir. So it was military and when I left the |
| 0:13.6 | country, it was military. And right now, it is military. So they hasn't been much change. |
| 0:20.4 | Muhammad now lives in Iowa. He was one of the many people out last week in Iowa City and other |
| 0:25.8 | areas around the U.S. protesting a violent military coup in Sudan. It began weeks ago, after |
| 0:32.1 | military forces arrested Prime Minister Abdullah Hamduk and other members of the sovereign council, |
| 0:38.0 | which is a joint civilian military body at the top of the country's government. This has |
| 0:43.7 | disrupted Sudan's move towards democracy. We're trying to educate people not to accept |
| 0:49.8 | the military ruling under any condition because they are not for government and they have not |
| 0:59.1 | proven they can advance the country. Muhammad has two children, six and nine, and they go with him |
| 1:06.9 | to the protests. By the time they grow, they understand what is going on. And this history will |
| 1:14.0 | be written and they will read it eventually. Alam Muhammad has also been protesting in Iowa. Her |
| 1:19.6 | family moved to the states in 2004 as refugees. Right now, her parents and two of her siblings |
| 1:26.0 | are back in Sudan and she hasn't been able to get in contact with her parents in over a week. |
| 1:31.0 | The fact that they have the power to stop the internet, the power to cut off communication with |
| 1:35.6 | the world and hide the fact that they're killing people and torturing people all for the sake of |
| 1:40.8 | power is really sad. And we're ready to go on to the streets, ready to defend our country. |
| 1:46.8 | It's young people like Allah that give Issam Ghanim hope. I don't think that there's any power that |
| 1:53.2 | can withstand the force of millions and millions and millions of the civilian population, especially |
| 2:01.3 | the youth. Issam moved from Sudan to the states in 1995. He's currently the president of the |
| 2:07.2 | peace-building organization search for common ground. And he says that the people in Sudan |
| 2:12.8 | aren't going back to a military dictatorship. But until a power-sharing agreement is reached, |
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