Sudanese protests test warming Western ties with a longtime foe

[TomSea]

Sudanese protests test warming Western ties with a longtime foe
The Christian Science Monitor

When Sudanese protesters first took to the streets last month, many of their concerns – the rising cost of bread, for example – were concrete. But over the past few weeks, the demonstrations have spiraled into a mass movement calling for the resignation of Omar al-Bashir, whose heavy-handed regime has been in place for nearly 30 years. Mr. Bashir is wanted for war crimes in Darfur and has, in the past, provided safe haven for terrorists – putting him far from Western governments’ good graces. But Sudan sits in a kind of buffer zone between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East and has become a partner in the European Union’s bid to decrease irregular migration. It has also stepped up counterterrorism cooperation with the United States, which lifted most of its two-decade sanctions against Sudan in 2017. So as protests and a violent crackdown continue, Western countries wrestling with how to respond find themselves in a contradictory position: unable to openly support the repressive regime, but largely uninterested in calling for its dismissal, either.

As a massive antigovernment protest movement mushroomed in Sudan over the last three weeks, from a distance it appeared obvious which side Western powers were on.

Read more at: https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2019/0116/Sudanese-protests-test-warming-Western-ties-with-a-longtime-foe