Sudan coup leader 'ready to welcome' ousted PM Hamdok to government
Sudan's top army general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan holds a press conference at the General Command of the Armed Forces in Khartoum on October 26, 2021.
Sudanese military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who led a coup last month, now says his new transitional government will welcome ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok should he decide to join.
Al-Burhan told visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Moly Phee that the new Sovereign Council he created is not opposed to the return of Dr Hamdok to lead the civilian government.
A file photo of former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
In a statement issued to the media after a meeting with Ms Phee on Tuesday, Burhan blamed “foreign interference and certain political forces” for distorting the reasons behind the coup last month. He argued the military had adhered to the constitutional declaration, the guiding document for the transitional government which he ousted last month in a coup.
However, at a meeting in Khartoum, Burhan argued that neither him nor the military will stick around beyond the formation of a proper civilian-led government after the transition.
He also promised to have detained former members of the transitional cabinet, as well as Prime Minister Hamdok, released from house arrest as soon as possible.
The statement issued to the public though may be reflective of the pressure from the US. On her first trip to the Horn since taking office recently, she was in Khartoum to push for “restoring Sudan’s democratic transition,” according to her itinerary.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Ms Molly Phee meets with the leader of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Khartoum on Tuesday.
She arrived on Sunday evening and met with various stakeholders in the now dissolved transitional government of Hamdok. She met Hamdok at his home where he has been detained since the coup and spoke with ousted Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi “to show US support for the civilian-led transitional government.”
Protests
Five Sudanese protesters were shot dead and dozens more wounded, medics said, when thousands rallied Wednesday against last month's coup, chanting "no to military power" amid clouds of tear gas.
The fatalities in Khartoum raised to 29 the death toll from unrest since the October 25 military takeover, according to the independent Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors.
Several rallies broke out across the capital, even though telephone lines were cut and internet services have been disrupted since the power grab, AFP journalists reported.
Security forces fired tear gas, injuring several more protesters, witnesses said. The medics union also reported "dozens of bullet wounds", while security forces deny firing live rounds.
"The people choose civilian rule," demonstrators chanted, also shouting slogans against Sudan's ruler, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Demonstrations also erupted in Port Sudan, an AFP journalist said, against the coup which halted a democratic transition that followed the 2019 toppling of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Efforts to stem the protests have seen hundreds arrested, including activists, passers-by and journalists. Qatari network Al Jazeera's bureau chief was arrested Sunday and released Tuesday.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors has said security forces have also arrested injured people inside Khartoum hospitals.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of unions instrumental in the 2019 protests, denounced "immense crimes against humanity" and accused the security forces of "homicide".
One protester in Khartoum said the "repression has been fierce".
"There has been a lot of violence, continuous tear gas and sound grenades," 42-year-old Soha told AFP, adding that she saw one person with gunshot wounds and that there were many arrests.
