At a key moment, the West could have rescued Sudan. It didn’t

The West had a chance to help Sudan to move from military to civilian rule, and to some semblance of democracy, writes Borzou Daragahi. It blew it

Hopes that the country was entering a new era are already a distant memory (AP)

Rival armed forces fight each other in the streets of the capital. The United States announced the evacuation of all embassy personnel from the country, but it’s the civilian bystanders who bear the brunt of the fighting, lying dead on the streets or wounded in crowded hospitals. In the countryside, a long-festering insurgency flares up again.

Sudan is unravelling. Hopes just four years ago that the country was entering a new era, after a peaceful popular uprising that ousted the country’s long-time ruler, are already a distant memory.

The greatest tragedy is that the country of 46 million might have been able to avoid the current lawlessness and brutality. Perhaps if the international community had been more engaged, or if the generals and military men fighting for power had put their country’s wellbeing ahead of their own interests, or if Sudan’s civil institutions had been bolstered with more backbone, and its leaders given more support from outside powers.