As a military coup unfolded in Sudan on Monday, October 25, Prime Minster Abdalla Hamdok and his wife Muna Abdallah were arrested and taken to an undisclosed location after he declined to support the coup, the prime minister's economic advisor Adam Hireka told CNN.
The information ministry noted that Sudanese ministers and civilian members of the ruling sovereign council have been arrested by the military. Military forces even besieged Sudan's state broadcaster in Omdurman and detained workers."Members belonging to the civilian component of the Transitional Sovereign Council and a number of ministers of the transitional government were arrested by joint military forces and taken to unknown destinations," a statement by the information ministry noted.
While a Civil Aviation Authority source told CNN that flights from Khartoum International Airport were suspended following the coup, the information ministry reported that internet services were "cut off from mobile phone networks and bridges were closed by military forces."
Where is Sudan Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok?
The information ministry said on Monday that joint military forces are holding Prime Minister Hamdok under house arrest and are pressuring him to release a statement in support of the takeover. The ministry said Sudan's leader is under pressure to release a statement in "support of the takeover". Hamdok, however, called on the people to protest. "Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, in a message from his house arrest, asks the Sudanese to adhere to peaceful (means of protest) and occupy the streets to defend their revolution," the ministry said in a Facebook post.
Twitter blames the US for the political unrest in Sudan
Social media sleuths reacted to the political unrest in Sudan on Monday morning and lashed out at the US calling it "another major defeat for the president of Unites States". "The first thing Sudanese need to do is to Denounce USA. #USA is working to destabilize HoA. We stand with #SUDAN on this!" one person also tweeted.
Political crisis in Sudan
A failed coup in Sudan attempt earlier this year in September saw military leaders demanding reforms to the Sovereign Council, which is an alliance of military and civilian groups that came into power after the fall of long-standing President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Civilian leaders, however, accused them of making a move for the power grab. The tension between the civilian and military leaders has led to Sudan's biggest political crisis amidst an anyway fragile transition to democracy.
Emergency law in Sudan
Bloomberg reports that the military figure who heads Sudan's sovereign council announced that a new government would be formed, and the transitional sovereign council would be dissolved. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared emergency law across the country during a televised address on Monday. The announcement came hours after the Sudanese Prime Minister and other officials were arrested in a military coup.
