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Diahuebs 28 OctOber 2021

Sudan’s prime minister, detained after coup, returns home

the fragmentation of this country, tearing apart its Associated Press by phone from her home in Khar-
unity, its fabric and society. These dangers were in toum. “We will continue our peaceful disobedience
front of us,” Burhan told a televised news confer- and resistance.”
ence.
The Ministry of Culture and Information, still loy-
But the coup came less than a month before Burhan al to the deposed government, said in a Facebook
was supposed to hand the leadership of the Sover- post that Sudanese ambassadors in Belgium, Swit-
eign Council that runs the country to a civilian — a zerland and France have defected.
step that would have decreased the military’s hold
on power. Nureldin Satti, the Sudanese envoy to the U.S.,
said he was working with those diplomats to “resist
“The whole country was deadlocked due to politi- the military coup in support of the heroic struggle
cal rivalries,” Burhan said. “The experience during of the Sudanese people” to achieve the aims of the
the past two years has proven that the participa- uprising against al-Bashir. But he did not specify
tion of political forces in the transitional period is whether he, too, had defected.
flawed and stirs up strife.”
Al-Mahdi, meanwhile, spoke to the wife of one of
Hamdok had been held at Burhan’s home, the gen- the officials detained, Minister of Cabinet Affairs
eral said, and was in good health. But of the many Khalid Omar, and said he was humiliated and mis-
other senior government officials detained Mon- treated during his arrest.
day, Burhan alleged that some tried to incite a re-
bellion within the armed forces, saying they would Military forces “took Khalid barefoot, wearing only
face trial. Others who are found “innocent” would his nightclothes,” she said.
be freed, he added.
Hours after the arrests, Sudanese flooded the
The takeover came after weeks of mounting ten- streets of Khartoum and other cities in protest. At
sions between military and civilian leaders over the least four people were killed and over 80 wounded
course and pace of Sudan’s transition to democ- when security forces opened fire, according to the
racy. It threatened to derail that process, which has Sudan Doctors’ Committee. Human Rights Watch
progressed in fits and starts since the overthrow of said forces used live ammunition against the dem-
longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular up- onstrators.
rising two years ago.
Sudan saw a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy
At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security protests in 2019, and there were fears about wheth-
Council on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General An- er there would be another crackdown. A bigger test
(AP) — Sudan’s deposed prime minister and tonio Guterres urged world powers to unite to of how the military will respond to the resistance
his wife were allowed to return home Tues- confront a recent “epidemic of coups d’état.” But could come Saturday when protesters plan a mass
day, a day after they were detained when the the U.N.’s most powerful body took no action march to demand a return to civilian rule.
military seized power in a coup, according to during the closed-door consultations about Sudan,
a statement issued by his office. a nation in Africa linked by language and culture to The Sudanese Professionals’ Association, a group
the Arab world. of unions that was behind the uprising against al-
The release of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok Bashir, also urged people to go on strike and engage
and his wife followed international condemnation Hamdok’s office had voiced concern for his safety in civil disobedience. Separately, the Sudan Popular
of the coup and calls for the military to release all and for the other detained officials. In a statement, Liberation Movement–North, the country’s main
the government officials who were detained when the office accused military leaders of acting in con- rebel group, denounced the coup and called for
Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan seized power on Mon- cert with Islamists, who have argued for a military people to take to the streets.
day. government, and other politicians linked to the
now-dissolved National Congress Party, which In a sign of the divisions among the civilian leaders
The statement by Hamdok’s office said other gov- dominated Sudan during al-Bashir’s Islamist- in Sudan, a group known as the Justice and Equal-
ernment officials remained in detention, their lo- backed rule. ity Movement blamed the deposed government for
cations unknown. The deposed prime minister the military takeover. It said a few officials had mo-
and his wife were under “heavy security” at home U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration an- nopolized decision-making and refused to engage
in the upscale Kafouri neighborhood of the capital nounced the halt of $700 million in emergency as- in dialogue.
Khartoum, said a military official, speaking on con- sistance to Sudan and said Tuesday it was looking at
dition of anonymity because he was not authorized sending stronger signals to the generals. The group, headed by Finance Minister Gibreil
to brief the media. The official did not say whether Ibrahim, is the first to publicly voice support for
they were free to leave or make calls. “They should first and foremost cease any violence the military but also urged it to end the state of
against innocent civilians, and ... they should release emergency, release the detainees and appoint a ci-
Earlier in the day, Burhan said Hamdok had been those who have been detained and they should get vilian government to run day-to-day activities. Ear-
held for his own safety and would be released. But back on a democratic path,” said Jake Sullivan, the lier this month, the group had taken part in a pro-
he warned that other members of the dissolved administration’s national security adviser. military sit-in in Khartoum.
government could face trial as protests against the
putsch continued in the streets. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reported that Another pro-military group that splintered from
he spoke with Hamdok on Tuesday, the first high- the protest movement that ousted al-Bashir also
The military seized power in a move that was wide- level contact the U.S. has had with Sudan since the welcomed the takeover, saying it would end a sit-in
ly denounced abroad. On Tuesday, pro-democracy coup and the suspension of in U.S. aid. Blinken it had organized outside the presidential palace to
demonstrators blocked roads in the capital with welcomed Hamdok’s release and emphasized that support the generals earlier this month.
makeshift barricades and burning tires. Troops the U.S. supports a civilian-led transition to de-
fired on crowds a day earlier, killing four protest- mocracy in Sudan, a State Department statement The military has sent mixed signals about Sudan’s
ers, according to doctors. said. future. Burhan promised to gradually restore in-
ternet and communications services that were dis-
In his second public appearance since seizing pow- Mariam al-Mahdi, the foreign minister in the dis- rupted in the coup. But the Civil Aviation Author-
er, Burhan said the military was forced to step in to solved government, declared Tuesday that she and ity said it was suspending all flights to and from
resolve a growing political crisis. other members of Hamdok’s administration re- Khartoum’s airport until Oct. 30.
mained the legitimate authority in Sudan.
“There were people who were talking about dis- Following the coup, Burhan now heads a military
criminating against others, and that was driving “We are still in our positions. We reject such coup council that he said would rule Sudan until elec-
this country to reach a civil war that would lead to and such unconstitutional measures,” she told The tions in July 2023.