SUDAN’S MILITARY ARRESTS PM HAMDOK, MINISTERS AMID REPORTS OF COUP

Mon 25 October 2021:

According to Al-Hadath TV, Sudanese military forces have placed Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok under house arrest and detained numerous members of the country’s civilian leadership.

The arrests were made before dawn on Monday, according to the Dubai-based broadcaster.

The officials, who declined to be named, also confirmed that the military has surrounded the residence of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and placed him under house arrest.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) has called on the Sudanese people to protest against what it described as a military coup against the civilian government.

It urged the people in a press release to resist attempts by the army to seize power.

NetBlocks, a group which tracks disruptions across the internet, said it had seen a “significant disruption” to both fixed-line and mobile internet connections across Sudan with multiple providers early Monday.

“Metrics corroborate user reports network disruptions appearing consistent with an internet shutdown,” the advocacy group said. “The disruption is likely to limit the free flow of information online and news coverage of incidents on the ground.”

⚠️ Confirmed: Internet disrupted in #Sudan amid reports of military coup and detention of Prime Minister; real-time network data show national connectivity at 34% of ordinary levels; incident ongoing 📉

📰 Live Report: https://t.co/uVVZKchH5S pic.twitter.com/SoyZK2uYQ9

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) October 25, 2021

According to Al Hadath, those taken into custody include Industry Minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, Information Minister Hamza Baloul, and Prime Minister Faisal Mohammed Saleh’s media adviser.

Mohammed al-Fiky Suliman, the spokesman for Sudan’s ruling sovereign council, and Ayman Khalid, the governor of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, were also detained.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese Professional’s Association, the country’s main pro-democratic political group, called the military’s moves 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 group said in a statement.

Sudan has been on edge since a failed coup attempt last month sparked furious recriminations between military and civilian factions who were supposed to share power after the country’s long-serving leader, Omar al-Bashir, was deposed.

Following months of public protests in 2019, Al-Bashir was deposed, and a political transition agreed upon after his ouster was to lead to elections by the end of 2023.

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