Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, has his back to the wall. The regime he has run for nearly a quarter of a century is facing its toughest test. Protests, which began after a doubling of energy prices, have been transformed into calls for the president to resign. Even the normally quiescent opposition parties have begun to support this demand. They have been joined by the mercurial Hassan al-Turabi, who once supported the President.
Dozens of protesters have been killed by security forces loyal to the regime and as many as a thousand have been arrested. “The army is not involved, nor are the police,” an activist told the New Statesman. Ali – as he asked to be known – said the regular forces are drawn from and live with the community around Khartoum. They are not actively supporting al-Bashir.
Instead the president is relying on the notorious Central Reserve Police, which is loyal only to the regime. “They come from the poorest Northern Sudanese villages, just like the President and his key adviser, Nafie Ali Nafie. The Central Reserve are well paid and serve the ruling National Islamic Front,” Ali said.
Qatar is reported to have now entered the fray, bringing badly needed financial support for President al-Bashir. The well-connected Sudanese website, Sudan Tribune, says that the Qatari government is shoring up government reserves with a promise to transfer £1 billion to the Sudanese Central Bank. The aim is to stabilise exchange rates and curb the fall of the Sudanese pound.
The government of Qatar is well known for its forays into foreign policy. Using its immense oil wealth, it has supported Sunni causes across the Middle East. The revolts in Syria, Egypt and Libya owe much to Qatari backing. The Emir of Qatar has also played a key role in buttressing Eritrea, despite the country’s abusive human rights record.
Qatar is accused by the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia of buying the votes in last year’s Somali election. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took over the presidency in September 2012. The Group’s report to the UN Security Council this July stated that: “Sources indicate that the President received several million dollars from Qatar which was used to buy off political support. Important carriers of cash donations from Qatar include Fahad Yasin and Abdi Aynte, two former journalists from the Doha based news organisation Al-Jazeera.”
Critics of Qatar suggest that the government has used its oil wealth to gain influence far beyond the Arabic world. Dr. Anne Bartlett of the University of San Francisco argues that few can ignore what she describes as “Qatar’s spiderlike web of influence.”
Certainly both Paris and London have welcomed and encouraged vast sums of Qatari investment in their countries. As the Daily Mail declared accurately, if a little crudely: “How Qatar bought Britain”.
From the glittering Shard, which now towers over the London skyline, to the sewers beneath the capital, Qatar has an interest in vast swathes of the British economy.
There are suggestions that the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who came to power in July, wishes to chart a new, less active foreign policy.
This would mark a considerable change for the government of the tiny state, but it is hard to observe in Qatari support for the al-Bashir regime. The Emir’s father backed a loser in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Perhaps the current Emir is making the same mistake in Sudan.
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