The Prime Minister of Sudan and senior government officials have been rounded up by soldiers and taken to undisclosed location in apparent coup attempt.
Soldiers besieged prime minister Abdalla Hamdok’s home and placed him under house arrest shortly after announcing a coup.
The soldiers demanded that the prime minister issue a statement in support of the ongoing coup in a televised national address.
However, prime minister Hamdok refused to comply with the demands by the coup plotters prompting them to move him to an undisclosed location.
“After he refused to be a part of the coup, a force from the army detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and took him to an unidentified location,” Sudan’s Information Ministry said in a statement.
Other senior government officials taken into custody include Industry Minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, and the governor of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, Ayman Khalid, Information Minister Hamza Baloul, media adviser to the prime minister Faisal Mohammed Saleh, and the spokesman for Sudan’s ruling sovereign council, Mohammed al-Fiky Suliman.
Soldiers rounded up the senior government officials in Sudan before dawn on Monday – several international media report.
It’s only last month that soldiers attempted to overthrow the transition government prompting prime minister Abdalla Hamdok to introduce a series of changes.
Sudan has been on edge of political instability since the toppling of the country’s long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.
Al-Bashir was toppled after months of street protests in 2019, and a political transition agreed after his removal was meant to lead to elections by the end of 2023.
Civilians and soldiers struck a deal to share powers before the country heads to election to choose leaders – however a big mistrust has existed between the two ruling factions.
The military quickly restricted telecommunications access after overthrowing the civilian faction in the Monday coup.
Soldiers have also blocked all roads and bridges leading into the capital city Khartoum which is the heart of the government.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese Professional’s Association (SPA), the country’s main pro-democratic political group, described the military’s moves as an apparent military coup and called on the public to take to the streets.
“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,” the SPA said in a statement.
