Soldiers detain Sudanese PM, officials amid coup reports
Khartoum, Oct 25 (EFE).- A group of soldiers has arrested Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok and other members of the transitional government, the country’s information ministry said Monday, amid reports of an attempted military coup.
Hamdok had refused to support a coup and an army unit had detained him and taken him to an undisclosed location, the ministry said.
Earlier, the ministry reported that Hamdok had been placed under house arrest and released a message from him urging the Sudanese people to take to the streets peacefully to “defend the revolution.”
This is the only statement by the prime minister released since his arrest.
In addition to Hamdok, “civilian members of the transitional sovereign council and a number of ministers from the transitional government have been detained by joint military forces. They have been led to an unidentified location,” the ministry said.
The opposition platform Sudanese Professionals Association urged neighborhood resistance committees, the revolutionary forces and masses to put up “fierce resistance” to the “brutal military coup.”
Images broadcast live on television channels showed protesters and burning tires in the streets in Khartoum.
Internet watchdog NetBlocks confirmed “a significant disruption to internet service in Sudan.”
“Internet disrupted in Sudan amid reports of military coup and detention of Prime Minister; real-time network data show national connectivity at 34 percent of ordinary levels,” it said in a statement.
It later added that “internet connectivity in Sudan is now severely disrupted.”
The arrests coincide with the visit to the country by the United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman, who met the country’s main civilian and military authorities over the weekend.
Feltman “urged all actors to recommit to working together to implement the constitutional declaration and Juba Peace Agreement,” the US embassy in Khartoum said on Saturday on Twitter, referring to tensions since last month’s attempted coup.
Following that coup attempt, Hamdok said that it was necessary to reform the military and security agencies after accusing “remnants” of the regime of former dictator Omar al-Bashir, ousted in 2019, of orchestrating the revolt.
Since then, tensions have escalated with several pro- and anti-government protests.
The military shares power in the government. EFE
az-ar-ijm/pd/tw
