Is Burhan following Sisi's playbook?
Writing for Middle East Eye today, historian Willow Berridge argues that "Burhan may be hoping to borrow from Abdel-Fattah Sisi’s playbook for crushing democracy, hoping to run an emasculated one-party system while the security and military apparatus inherited from the old regime rules de facto."
The coup, she adds, represents a cynical power grab by a cadre of military officers desperate to preserve the army’s economic privileges.
"Even if al-Burhan has overplayed his hand, however, it will be difficult for him to retreat, having now forfeited the limited popular legitimacy he obtained from his pseudo-championing of the revolution by arresting his civilian counterparts. The risk is that the military fall back on the only form of legitimacy they have left: raw force."
Calling for "genuine pressure" on regional neighbours backing the interim military, she writes, "Sudan’s transition has reached its most dangerous moment."