Is Sudan headed for a bloody military crackdown?

Is Sudan headed for a brutal military crackdown? It is on the brink.

Given the disparate nation of the opposition forces and the powerful regional influences at play in the unfolding standoff between the civilian reformers and the military authorities in power, can the rapid escalation of violence by Sudan's Transitional Military Council (TMC) be pulled back from the brink?

Africa watches in horror as Sudan descends into a spiral of brutal violence with unarmed protesters whipped, raped, shot and killed by the marauding Rapid Support Forces or Janjaweed, the instrument used by the ruling TMC to impose its will.

Yet rather than breaking the resolve of the civilian alliance in opposition to military rule, the bloody crackdown has only hardened the resolve of the protesters to continue passive resistance.

With the death toll now reported to be in excess of 100, the African Union has stepped in to suspend Sudan’s memberships and called for UAE to assist in persuading the military government to cease the violence.

The outlook for Sudan is gloomy. The unstoppable force that is the civilian demand for democracy has met the immovable object of military intransigence cemented in place for over 30 years of military rule. How can this impasse be resolved?

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