Sudan Protesters Demand Freeze Of International Aid To Military

• Activists have called on the global community to starve the military of aid

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Sudanese protesters are urging world powers not to resume development aid to their government for fear of legitimising the October 25 coup and spoiling their country’s transition to democracy.

Talk of restoring aid picked up after Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok was released from house arrest and reinstated on November 22.

But Sudan’s resistance committees – neighbourhood groups with a horizontal command structure that are spearheading the pro-democracy movement – interpreted Hamdok’s move as ratifying the power grab of military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the frontman of the coup.

Activists have since called on the global community to starve the military of aid.

Read also: Sudan’s Burhan Says Military Will Exit Politics After 2023 Elections

“In the interest of the people and of the protesters, the global community must not support this government in any way,” Zuhair al-Dalee, a representative of one of the resistance committees in the capital of Khartoum, told Al Jazeera.

“Any aid that comes to this government will just support the coup. It won’t benefit the people.”

Sudan’s Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim recently said the government was in dire need of international support after it was unable to access $650m in international funding last month – aid that was suspended by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund following the coup.

The freeze could make it difficult for the government to secure vital imports such as food and medicine in the coming weeks.

The coup also resulted in the suspension of $700m in US aid. Part of that assistance was intended to provide a financial cushion to help the poorest Sudanese survive austerity measures.

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