Sudan’s interim Prime Minister arrested in military coup

The Sudanese military has reportedly detained the country’s interim prime minister, declared a state of emergency and dissolved its civilian government in an apparent coup d’état.

At approximately 12:00 PM Sudan time, the current transitional head of state and Chairman of the Transitional Military Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan took to state TV to announce the move.

In 2019 dictator and alleged war criminal Omar Hassan al-Bashir was removed from power by the Sudanese Armed Forces after months of demonstrations.

According to Reuters, internet services have been disrupted or unavailable across the capital Khartoum and other parts of nation, and local news channels have said routes connecting Khartoum with the rest of Sudan have been blocked by security forces.

The African Union, United States, European Union and United Nations have all issued strong condemnations of the ongoing coup, and have demanded the immediate release of civilian leaders and the restoration of their government.

Since 2019’s coup a coalition of military and a loose group of civilian groups named the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) have ruled through the transitional Sovereign Council, set to caretake the country’s political system until an election was organised by 2023.

According to Al Jazeera, Sudan’s information ministry has said Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has been arrested and transported to an undisclosed location after refusing to issue a statement in support of the coup.

Hamdok recently set the deadline of November 17th for a complete transition to civilian rule.

A further coup attempt attributed to pro-Bashir elements of the military failed last month. The civilian government has previously approved a measure to extradite Bashir over his outstanding warrant from the International Criminal Court relating to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity throughout the Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2008. 

However, the military has continued to block any attempt to bring Bashir to face justice.

Current leading military and paramilitary figures Burhan, Hemedti and others were also implicated in alleged war crimes in Darfur under Bashir, but do not currently have any outstanding cases against them.

The country’s leading pro-democracy group, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) urged immediate action against the move, saying in a statement: “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.”

Videos circulated across social media seem to show demonstrators blocking streets and setting tyres alight across Khartoum and Omdurman as security forces ambushed them with tear gas.

Since declaring its independence from Anglo-Egyptian rule in 1956 Sudan has experienced multiple coups and coup attempts.