Sudan’s coup has shattered the hopes of its 2019 revolution | Nesrine Malik

Mercenaries, the army and Bashir-era business interests have seized control and will sell the country's resources to the highest bidder

Last week in Sudan, two years disappeared in a flash. Two years of working to bring Sudan in from the cold after almost three decades of isolation. Two years of trying to establish a civilian government. Two years of mourning those who had died in Sudan's revolution to oust Omar al-Bashir. And two years of tentative hope that perhaps these deaths had not been in vain. In the end, all that mattered was that it was two years during which the military grew tired of partnering with civilians in a transitional power-sharing agreement. Last week, the army seized power in a coup that erased everything the Sudanese people had gained since Bashir's military government was toppled in 2019.

That revolution had reignited hope for democratic rule, not only in Sudan, but across the Arab world. In hindsight, its short-lived nature seems inevitable. Sudan's uprising may have removed Bashir, but behind him sat a military and security state with deep roots and complex economic interests. When it became clear that the Sudanese people were not going to tolerate another military figurehead as a replacement for Bashir, an agreement with civilian parties resulted in a transitional power-sharing arrangement that should have paved the way for elections.