Khartoum: Sudan’s military moved to seize on power on Monday, detaining the PM and other civilian political leaders in an unfolding coup that appeared to deal a sweeping blow to hopes for a democratic transition in one of Africa’s largest countries. Lt General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military chief, announced at a news conference that he was dissolving the country’s joint civilian-military government and imposing a state of emergency. Even so, he vowed to press ahead with elections planned for July 2023. There had been growing signs for weeks that the military, unwilling to fully share power and intent on protecting its own interests, was plotting a takeover. Al-Burhan blamed the military’s actions on squabbling between rival civilian political factions in Sudan. “What the country is going through represents a threat,” he said.
As news of a putsch spread, thousands of protesters flooded into the streets of the capital, Khartoum, and television broadcast images of people burning tyres as plumes of smoke spiralled into the sky. But soon after that, the information ministry announced that internet connections had been cut, making it difficult to know what was actually happening inside the country. A report said that security forces have opened fire on some of the crowds, and two protesters were killed, citing the Sudan Doctors' Committee. It also said 80 people were wounded.
The first sign of the coup came at dawn with the sudden disappearance of PM Abdalla Hamdok. The information ministry said that the military had detained Hamdok and his wife, and pressured him to endorse the coup. When he refused, the ministry said, Hamdok was moved to an undisclosed location. In detaining Hamdok, the military tore up a deal it signed in 2019, following the ouster of al-Bashir, when it agreed to share power with civilians until the country’s first free election in decades could be held.
