CAIRO — Since pro-democracy protesters forced Sudan’s autocratic president to step down in 2019, neighboring Egypt has been eager to keep a new civilian-led democracy from taking root on its southern doorstep.
Ruled by a military-backed government that came to power after its own anti-government uprising in 2011, Egypt has sought to replicate similar leadership in Sudan, seeing a strongman as the best way of keeping its neighbor stable — and off a path to a democracy that could inspire Egyptians. Egypt’s armed forces have offered Sudan’s generals military cooperation, while its diplomats and security officials pushed for talks that Sudanese civilian leaders said would derail a democratic transition entirely.
The desire for a like-minded partner has led Egypt to embrace General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, one of the two combatants in Sudan’s current clashes. The general, who heads the military-led Sovereignty Council that seized power in 2021, has met several times…
This article was written by The New York Times and originally published on www.nytimes.com