Qualla: 2021 Sudanese coup d'état

2021 Sudanese coup d'état: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Osps7, CC BY-SA 3.0. Between 200,000 and two million Sudanese poured into the streets on 30 October 2021, five days after General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power in Khartoum. The chants they repeated were not new; they were the ones they had chanted in 2019 when they helped overthrow Omar al-Bashir. 'The people are stronger.' 'Retreat to military rule is impossible.' 'We are revolutionaries. We are free. We will complete the journey.' The journey, in the years since, has not been completed. But the courage of 2021 remains a record of what ordinary people will still try to do against tanks.

Image: Osps7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

2021 Sudanese coup d'état: The Partnership That Failed

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Osps7, CC BY-SA 3.0. After 2019, Sudan was supposed to be in transition to civilian rule. The Transitional Military Council and the civilian Forces of Freedom and Change had signed a power-sharing agreement in August 2019. The Sovereignty Council would be led by a military figure for 21 months, then ...

Image: Osps7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

2021 Sudanese coup d'état: The Morning of 25 October

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Osps7, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 25 October 2021, the Sudanese military took control of the government. At least five senior government figures were initially detained. Prime Minister Hamdok refused to declare support for the coup and called on Sudanese to resist. A majority of the Hamdok Cabinet and pro-gove...

Image: Osps7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

2021 Sudanese coup d'état: The Streets Respond

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Osps7, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sudanese responded the way they had responded in 2019: by showing up. The Sudanese Professionals Association and the Forces of Freedom and Change called for mass civil disobedience. Schools, banks, and businesses closed. Neighborhood resistance committees - a form of organization...

Image: Osps7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

2021 Sudanese coup d'état: The Hamdok Deal That Broke Him

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Osps7, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 21 November 2021, after weeks of international pressure and continued street protest, al-Burhan and Hamdok signed a 14-point deal. Hamdok would be reinstated as prime minister. All political prisoners would be freed. The civilian-military partnership would continue. The deal w...

Image: Osps7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

2021 Sudanese coup d'état: From the Air

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Osps7, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Presidential Palace in central Khartoum, the army headquarters compound just to the west, the streets that filled with protesters, the universities where the resistance committees coordinated - these locations remain unchanged on any aerial view. What has changed is the count...

Image: Osps7 | CC BY-SA 3.0