Sudan Prime Minister Held as Home Prisoner in Military Insurgency

Joint military forces are reported to be behind the detention of Sudan’s Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, in a coup today (25/10).

This coup is the impact of the political crisis occurred in the North African country for years. Since the April 2019 coup ousted former Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, the military and pro-democracy civil society groups have continued to clash over the seat of government despite an agreement to make peace and share power.

On October 16, thousands of people gathered at the Khartoum Presidential Palace to call for transition of the Sudanese government by asking the military to take power.

The demonstrators called on the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Sudanese Sovereign Council consisting of military and civilian groups to overthrow the government.

On Thursday (21/10), demonstrations took place again in major cities of Sudan to call for the removal of the ruler and express their support for the civilian side. Demonstrators chanted anti-military slogans and waved flags. These demonstrations were carried out to avenge the demonstrations of the supporters of the military faction.

Ultimately, on Monday (25/10), Sudan’s armed forces surrounded Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s house in Khartoum and put the leader under house arrest.

On the same day, the military also took several Sudanese government officials hostage such as Industry Minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, Information Minister Hamza Baloul, and media adviser to Hamdok, Faisal Mohammed Saleh, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets of the capital to protest the detention of these officials by burning tires and cars.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an influential trade union, denounced what it described as a “military coup” and urged the demonstrators to “resist vigorously”.

The communications monitoring group, NetBlocks, reported that Internet access in Sudan had been disrupted on Monday morning.