Fires Burn in Streets of Khartoum as Sudanese People March Amid Reported Coup

2 年前

People marched and chanted in the streets of Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city, on October 25, amid what the country’s information ministry described as a “military coup.”

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was arrested by a “force from the army,” the ministry added, and taken to an “unknown location.”

In a subsequent statement, the ministry said: “Employees in the ministries and federal and state civil service institutions announce that they are entering into a general and open strike and civil disobedience, rejecting the military coup until power is handed over to civilians.”

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese military announced a dissolution the Council of Ministers, but said that power would be handed back to elected officials, BBC Arabic reported.

Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, tweeted, “I condemn the ongoing military coup in Sudan,” adding: “Prime Minister Hamdok & all other officials must be released immediately. There must be full respect for the constitutional charter to protect the hard-won political transition. The UN will continue to stand with the people of Sudan.”

According to the Associated Press, “The takeover comes more than two years after protesters forced the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and just weeks before the military was supposed to hand the leadership of the council that runs the country over to civilians.” Credit: Magid Halim via Storyful