One year on: the last dictator?

The Sudanese are celebrating the first anniversary of a popular revolution, that had one year ago, ousted a military dictator, General Al-Bashir, after three-decade of bloody and violent rule that has detained, jailed, tortured, killed tens of thousands all over the country. The Sudanese revolution has set a good example for non-violent civil protests where hundreds of innocent civilians lost their lives due to ruthless security forces of the defunct regime besides the use of excessive force – including the killing of those who led the sit-in at the Military Headquarters in Khartoum.
Actually, the Islamist-backed military dictatorship of Omer Al-Bashir, cracked down on his people for three decades, of intimidation, jailing, corruption and antagonizing the West, losing friends and excluding all who is not a Muslim Brother (member of the Islamic Movement).
The fundamentalism process was heavily adopted by the Islamic Military dictatorship in Sudan that engulfed all walks of life – namely the military, education and economy. The intake to all jobs, whether in the regular forces or the bureaucracy (civil service) was based on political and ideological criterion – to be a member of the Islamic movement. Whoever criticizes this dictatorial behavior or speaks of injustice or corruption would not only be silenced or deposed, but also jailed and tortured. Some were even killed. A police state was established based on this extremist ideology, imposing radical Islam contrary to the pre-dominant moderate Islam of the majority of the Sudanese people – dividing the country on political and ideological lines causing deep social cleavages and impacting values and ethics of the Sudanese tolerant and peace-loving people.
The continual failure of the MB government of Al-Bashir along with: suffering of citizens for harsh economic conditions, high cost of living, deterioration of all services, unemployment, discrimination on both ethnic and ideological/political bases, marginalization, exclusion, corruption, detention, torture and killing – all led to dissatisfaction, frustration, discontent, and eventually to a series of protests that culminated in a nation-wide Popular Uprising in the period from December 19, 2018 and April 11, 2019.
Throughout his 3-decade rule of totalitarianism and dictatorship, Al-Bashir – backed by the militarized Muslim Brothers – succeeded in constructing the illusion that change or seeking any other alternative to replace him, will end in a post-Arab-Spring model of chaos, war, and total collapse of order singling out the states of Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iraq. Thus, he gained a justification for continuation in power. In their first days in power the militarized MBs in Sudan used to allege that Islam is in danger. Then as the South seceded in 2011 they started to allege that the state is in danger if Al-Bashir was not power. Through the course of time the Sudanese people have come to find out that they were victims of deception and hypocrisy of radical Islamists who manipulated religion for material gains.
One of the greatest lessons one can draw from this popular revolution is that the Sudanese people have proved that they are so brave, coherent and conscious enough to ensure that Al-Bashir is the “last dictator” in Sudan.