Sudanese people exercised direct democracy in April 2019 to oust their long-time incompetent and brutal dictator Omar al-Bashir. A military coup hijacked the process, putting a junta in power. The people persisted in protest leading to a deal towards democratic transition.

According to Nigerian author and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, “Africa’s latest emerging democracy, Sudan, deserves the benefit of Nigeria’s experience, its civilian opposition having recently signed a pact of diarchy — supposedly transitional — with the military.”

Soyinka writes in the New York Times, stating that, however, “there are a number of disturbing parallels between Sudan and Nigeria, not the least sobering of which is each country’s tremor-prone path to genuine democracy. The toxin of power has deeply infected the militaries of both nations, and each will employ the most unconscionable wiles to hold on to that power and ensure its continuing domination of the political environment”.

Democracy Digest, has this story. The article quotes Soyinka as saying “when African nations go democracy shopping, diarchy tends to look like the perfect fit, but — caveat emptor!” Democracy Digest’s take largely raises the question of whether Nigeria’s Militarised democratic experiment should serve as a lesson for Sudan.

Its a really interesting article. Read more about it here.