Podcast: On Sudan’s transition to democracy

S. Harikrishnan and Sara Creta

After a 2019 coup d’état deposed President Omar al-Bashir after thirty years in power, Sudan has been slowly transitioning towards democracy. While the revolution brought together protesters from mixed political and economic backgrounds, including ordinary Sudanese with no strong political affiliations, the transitionary process has been far from peaceful. A section of civil society organisations continues to protest against remnants of the old regime that have seemingly plagued the transition process. In this episode, IICRR’s S. Harikrishnan spoke with researcher, journalist and filmmaker Sara Creta about ongoing events in Sudan including pandemic response, media censorship and interest of international institutions.

They discuss:

  • 01:00 – A brief summary of events and the background of the current protests
  • 08:35 – Whether a Military-Civilian coalition can lead the transition to democracy
  • 15:30 – Are recent changes to old and regressive gender laws a ray of hope for Sudanese women?
  • 21:30 – The continued restrictions and censorship on media
  • 30:45 – How has the international community—both institutions and nation-states—responded to developments in Sudan?

You can follow IICRR Podcasts on Spotify here, or listen to all our episodes on Anchor


Sara Creta is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker, with extensive experience investigating human rights abuses. She was in Sudan to cover the uprising for the ARTE, a Franco-German free-to-air television network and she co-authored a 22 minutes documentary on Women’s stories from the frontline of Sudan’s revolution. Recently, she has been awarded a research fellowship in journalism at the Institute for Future Media and Journalism, Dublin City University. See her work on saracreta.com

Previous Post
Counter-Peace: Dominant Patterns of Blockages in Peace Processes
Next Post
Living with 9/11 while Researching Politics and Activism in Iran