State of emergency declared in Sudan as crowds rally against "coup"

Khartoum woke up today, Monday, to political chaos as Sudan’s military placed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok under house arrest after moving him to an unknown location for refusing to support “an apparent coup,” according to the information ministry’s Facebook post.

Several other senior government figures were also reportedly detained early on Monday.

Military forces also stormed Sudan’s state broadcaster in the nearby city of Omdurman and detained workers, the information ministry added.

Following the reported series of arrests, President of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, announced the dissolution of transitional authorities and declared a state of emergency in the country.

Demonstrators took to the streets on Monday to oppose the “coup,” and were seen gathering in the streets, lighting bonfires and setting up roadblocks, reported CNN.

Amid a spiraling economic crisis in the strategic nation on the Horn of Africa, tensions between civilian officials and the generals who have been ruling Sudan under an uneasy power-sharing deal have been escalating for several weeks.

Last week, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Khartoum and other key cities, demanding the military hand over control of the country to civilian leaders in a reminder of the monthslong protests that preceded Mr. Bashir’s ouster in 2019.

Days earlier, a smaller crowd of protesters jumped barricades protecting the presidential palace in Khartoum in what they said was a show of support for a military takeover of government.

Military and civilian groups have been sharing power in Sudan in an uneasy alliance since the toppling of long-standing President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
But following a failed coup attempt in September attributed to forces loyal to Bashir, military leaders have been demanding reforms to the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition and the replacement of the cabinet.

Flights from Khartoum International Airport have also been suspended, a Civil Aviation Authority source told CNN, while the Ministry of Information said internet services had been “cut off from mobile phone networks and bridges were closed by military forces.”

UN special representative to Sudan, Volker Perthes, expressed his deep concern as he called, in a statement on Twitter, on the security forces to immediately release “those who have been unlawfully detained or placed under house arrest.”

The Arab League has released, also, a statement of “deep concern” about the apparent military coup in Sudan.

The European Union’s foreign-policy chief, Josep Borrell, said he was following the situation with “utmost concern.” “The EU calls on all stakeholders and regional partners to put back on track the transition process,” he tweeted.

Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, said on Twitter on Monday morning that Washington was “deeply alarmed at reports of a military takeover of the transitional government. This would contravene the Constitutional Declaration and the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people and is utterly unacceptable.”