Sudan was just weeks away from having its first civilian head of state since 1989 when the fledgling democracy was jolted by a military coup. This coup, the third in the nation's short 36-year history, is only one of four successful military coups that have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa in 2021, affecting over 90 million people across the region. Since 2019, the number of coups in sub-Saharan Africa, which had been declining since 2001, has doubled, relapsing back to the levels last seen in the 20th century.