Sudan’s top general yesterday declared a state of emergency, dissolved the authorities leading the nation’s democratic transition and announced the formation of a new government after troops detained civilian leaders in what democracy advocates denounced as a “coup.”
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s announcement in a televised address came after armed forces detained government officials in charge of leading the transition to democracy since the April 2019 ouster of former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.
“To rectify the revolution’s course, we have decided to declare a state of emergency nationwide ... dissolve the transitional sovereign council and dissolve the Cabinet,” al-Burhan said.
Photo: AFP
His statement came as clashes erupted in the capital, Khartoum, with troops firing live rounds at people who took to the streets to protest against the power grab.
The violence was largely centered outside the army headquarters hours after troops detained Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, ministers and civilian members of the ruling council, the Sudanese Ministry of Information said.
They were taken away after “refusing to support the coup,” the ministry wrote on Facebook.
Internet services were cut across the nation at about dawn, and the main roads and bridges into Khartoum shut, before troops stormed the headquarters of Sudan’s state broadcaster in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, the ministry said.
People took to the streets soon after, setting tires ablaze and piling rows of bricks across roads to block them in protest against the move, a correspondent reported.
“Military forces have fired live bullets on protesters rejecting the military coup outside the army headquarters,” the ministry said.
About a dozen people had been wounded in the clashes, according to the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, an independent medical union.
The power grab, which came after weeks of tension between the military and civilian officials sharing power since al-Bashir’s ouster, was condemned by the international community.
The EU called for the release of the civilian leadership and said “violence and bloodshed must be avoided.”
“The EU is very concerned about Sudan’s military forces reportedly putting prime minister Hamdok under house arrest, as well as detaining other members of the civilian leadership, and we urge for their fast release,” European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said.
US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman said: “The US is deeply alarmed at reports of a military takeover of the transitional government.”
“Any changes to the transitional government by force puts at risk US assistance,” Feltman wrote on Twitter.
The UN described the detentions as “unacceptable.”
“I call on the security forces to immediately release those who have been unlawfully detained or placed under house arrest,” UN Special Representative to Sudan Volker Perthes said.
Al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades, is in Khartoum’s high-security Kober Prison. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region.
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