Leaders can make or break a country. This is a political truism.
In our world of 198 countries, there are ample examples of good and bad leaders.
Today, there is an ugly version of bad leadership playing out in Sudan, a northeast African country of 46 million people mostly known for their magnanimity.
Aren't bad leaders and good people a paradox? It is. Some men just can't handle power. Sadly, Sudan has had an unfair share of such men.
Start with former president Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a putsch in 1989. He was himself overthrown in a coup in 2019 by the army, with lots of help from a popular uprising. Al-Bashir had almost three decades at his disposal to make Sudan a united nation. Instead, he continued a civil war that was going on between the north and south since independence from the British in 1956.
Khartoum was accused of marginalising the south, not without a reason. Its then rebel leader, the late John Garang, wanted a united Sudan, but on "a new basis", meaning a country led by a government representing all the diversity of its north, south, east and west. Al-Bashir wasn't magnanimous enough to recognise the foresight of Garang. The breakup of the largest country in Africa into Sudan and South Sudan in 2011 was the result, putting an end to a civil war that saw the loss of two million lives. With the secession, Khartoum lost most of its hydrocarbon resources. Today, Sudan is ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world. To the Sudanese who rose up against al-Bashir in anger in 2019, much of the blame must rest on the shoulders of the former president. The putschists who overthrew al-Bashir, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, are no better. Once fair-weather friends, they have been trying to oust each other from their power base since the ouster of al-Bashir. On April 15, their animosity became public when al-Burhan's army and Dagalo's 100,000-men strong Rapid Support Forces clashed in Khartoum, Omdurman and Darfur, a scene of frequent clashes. It is unclear who started the shooting, but it is clear to analysts that it was a result of a power struggle in the true sense of the term. Both are eyeing the seat of power: al-Burhan wants to continue as president while Dagalo wants to overthrow him. Those who come to power through a coup must be prepared to lose it through a coup.
The putschists of the world think that they are victims of politics. But the truth is they are the victims of politics of their own making.
The real victims are the 46 million Sudanese who, for 67 years of independence, have seen their lives go from bad to worse.
What else can it be if the average per capita income is a mere US$750 per annum in a country with a 164 per cent annual inflation.
Extreme poverty, defined as those living on US$2 and below in a day, is said to be at 33 per cent of the country's population.
This despite being rich in resources such as oil and gas, minerals and fertile land. Yes, leaders make or break a country. But in Sudan, their leaders have opted to break it. Nature has blessed Sudan, but its leaders have chosen to curse it instead.