"There's no going back now": NZ diaspora on moving toward democracy in Sudan

As Sudan goes through a coup and the dissolving of the transitional government, how does diaspora in Aotearoa feel as two years of hopes for democracy in their home country seem dashed? Produced by Kadambari Raghukumar On 25 October this year, the Sudanese army dissolved the country's transitional civilian government and arrested key leaders.The coup sparked protests across several cities with hundreds of thousands of people demanding a return of civilian rule. Listen to the full story herePower and internet outages have pretty much affected most of the capital, and a crippling cash shortage are all factors creating an altogether desperate time for locals.Videos from Khartoum show tyres burning, barricades streets, massive crowds of people chanting and the army's rapid response forces deployed everywhere.In New Zealand, the small Sudanese diaspora has felt helpless when it comes to raising their voice against the coup and the violations that have ensued, with lockdown in Auckland making this time even harder for them.Reem Abbas came to Auckland in 2013 as a skilled migrant along with her husband and daughters. She's a research fellow at AUT. For the past two weeks, Dr Abbas has been trying to remain in touch with the events through the day as they've unfolded in Sudan. "It's just hard to describe how we feel as 'diaspora'. To be honest we haven't had much sleep since 25 October. It's a mixture of hope, determination..."After two and a half years of a steady move toward full civilian rule, the coup shattered the progress made since the 2019 revolution in Sudan that ended the 30-year-long dictatorship of Omar Al Bashir. Army general and coup leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the army stepped in to avoid a civil war while promising to allow elections in 2023 to go ahead.Abdalla Hamdok, the transitional prime minister of Sudan was detained by the army during the coup and remains under house arrest at present. "It's heartbreaking to see we are back here again after 2019." "The will of the people is stronger than anything else and we're seeing it again," said Abdul Rahman Bashir, the acting Vice President of New Zealand's Sudanese Society.Rahman and Reem were both a key part of organising a rally in 2019 at Auckland's Aotea Square at the height of the protest."It's frustrating that we can't do much now we need to follow lockdown rules."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details