The Creeping Coup

Throughline

NPR

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the surface, the story of Sudan’s war is about two generals vying for power. But it’s also about a vast web of international interests involving the U.S., China, Russia, and the UAE. Today on the show, the story of how things in Sudan got to this point, and the effects of the conflict around the world. This episode originally ran in 2024 and has been updated.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from Ear Hustle, a Radiotopia podcast.
0:03.7	Check out recent episodes which delve into the juvenile prison system.
0:07.5	Ear Hustle is available anywhere you get your podcasts.
0:11.2	Hey, it's runned. A quick note before we get started.
0:14.7	We first released this episode last summer when the war in Sudan had just entered its second year.
0:20.6	Since then, the war has only
0:22.2	intensified, and the conflict is once again in the news. Parts of the country are facing famine,
0:28.6	and non-Arab civilians in Darfur are being killed on a scale that some warn is a genocide.
0:34.5	So we wanted to bring you this episode again with some updates
0:38.0	that will go deep into the origins of this conflict
0:41.0	and the ripple effects it has around the world.
0:45.5	What's the last sort of memory that you have of Sudan before you left?
0:53.1	The sea. The last thing I saw of Sudan. The sea.
0:57.6	The last thing I saw of Sudan was the sea.
1:12.7	On April 15,, 2023,
1:17.2	Khulut Khaer woke up expecting the day to be like any other.
1:22.3	But it was just a normal Saturday, suddenly turned into sort of a nightmareous scenario.
1:25.8	She was living in Khartoum, Sudan's capital. Deadly clashes erupting in the streets of the country's capital.
1:30.3	And immediately we heard that there were shots being fired in the southern part of Khartoum.
1:36.3	The shots grew closer and closer to her home.
1:40.3	The airport right at the center of town where I was living had very quickly become the epicenter of the conflict.
1:49.1	Roads became impassable. Families couldn't reach each other.
	...

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