Click to see full-size image
On October 25th, Sudan’s military launched a coup attempt, it’s second since 2019.
The military arrested prime minister Abdalla Hamdok and other senior ministers during overnight raids.
Thousands immediately took to the streets of Khartoum to protest.
This coup attempt was the result of weeks of tensions between military and civilian members of the country’s transitional sovereign council, and rival street protests.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was detained and moved to an undisclosed location after refusing to issue a statement in support of the coup, the information ministry said.
Joint military forces holding Hamdok under house arrest were pressuring him to issue a supportive statement, it said.
Military forces stormed Sudanese Radio and Television headquarters in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, and arrested employees, the information ministry said on its Facebook page.
Khartoum airport was shut and international flights were suspended.
The Sudanese Ministry of Information reported that firearms were used against demonstrators near the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in the capital Khartoum.
https://twitter.com/HelenClarkNZ/status/1452535243160784900?s=20
https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Eng/status/1452536727583723523?s=20
The military had stirred unrest in eastern Sudan and used the crisis to implement a coup against the government of Hamdok, the director of his office said.
The takeover happened in spite of an agreement Hamdok had reached with the head of a ruling council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the presence of U.S. special envoy Jeffrey Feltman.
In a statement sent to Reuters, the ministry asked Sudanese “to block the military’s movements to block the democratic transition”.
“We raise our voices loudly to reject this coup attempt,” it said.
According to preliminary information, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, will make an address to the nation soon.
Ayman Khalid, governor of the state containing the capital, Khartoum, was also arrested, according to the official Facebook page of his office.
The Umma Party, the country’s largest, described the arrests as an attempted coup, and called for people to take to the streets.
The SPA, the main activist coalition in the uprising against Bashir, called on supporters to mobilize.
“We urge the masses to go out on the streets and occupy them, close all roads with barricades, stage a general labour strike, and not to cooperate with the putschists and use civil disobedience to confront them,” the group said in a statement on Facebook.
Sudan’s main pro-democratic political group, the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, said at least five senior government officials had been detained, and called on people to take to the street to counter the apparent coup action.
The European Union’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the bloc expressed its “utmost concern”.
“The EU calls on all stakeholders and regional partners to put back on track the transition process,” Borrell said.
Sudan has been on edge since a failed coup plot last month unleashed bitter recriminations between military and civilian groups meant to be sharing power following the 2019 ouster of former leader Omar al-Bashir.
Bashir was toppled and jailed after months of street protests. A political transition agreed after his ouster has seen Sudan emerge from its isolation under three decades of rule by Bashir and was meant to lead to elections by the end of 2023.
US Special Envoy Feltman, who was visiting Sudan on October 23rd and 24th, said the United States was deeply alarmed at reports of a military takeover of the transitional government in Sudan.
https://twitter.com/AsstSecStateAF/status/1452515422901784577?s=20
https://twitter.com/AsstSecStateAF/status/1452515537888628738?s=20
As a result, it is interesting that the coup happens just days after the US representative met with the civilian leaders and guaranteed that Sudan’s democracy would be supported.
In a statement after the meeting with Feltman, Burhan praised American support for Sudan’s transition to democracy and said the military was keen to protect that transition.
However, Burhan as the de-facto leader of the country also met with Feltman and discussed the developments.
As an economic crisis deepens, a coalition of rebel groups and political parties have aligned themselves with the military, which has accused the civilian governing parties of mismanagement and monopolizing power, and are seeking to dissolve the Cabinet.
In response, hundreds of thousands demonstrated in several parts of Khartoum and other cities against the prospect of military rule. Several Cabinet ministers took part.
It is noteworthy that much of the protests were against the civilian government officials and in support of actually returning military rule. As a result, Sudan now is divided by those who support the military rule and those that oppose it.
In September, Sudan’s military claimed that it thwarted an alleged coup attempt by a group of officers.
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
