Sudan’s deposed prime minister allowed to return home
- It is not known if Abdallah Hamdok and his wife are free to move or make calls, and their house is ‘under heavy security’
- Coup leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan earlier said that the PM had been held for his own safety
Sudan’s deposed prime minister and his wife were allowed to return home on Tuesday, a day after they were detained when the military seized power in a coup, according to a statement issued by his office.
The release of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and his wife followed international condemnation of the coup and calls for the military to release all the government officials who were detained when General Abdel-Fattah Burhan seized power on Monday.
The statement by Hamdok’s office said other government officials remained in detention, their locations unknown.
The deposed prime minister and his wife were under “heavy security” at home in the upscale Kafouri neighborhood of the capital Khartoum, said a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media. The official did not say whether they were free to leave or make calls.
Earlier in the day, Burhan said Hamdok had been held for his own safety and would be released. But he warned that other members of the dissolved government could face trial as protests against the putsch continued in the streets.
A day after the military seized power in a move denounced abroad, pro-democracy demonstrators blocked roads in the capital of Khartoum with makeshift barricades and burning tyres. Troops fired on crowds a day earlier, killing four protesters, according to doctors.
The takeover came after weeks of mounting tensions between military and civilian leaders over the course and the pace of Sudan’s transition to democracy.
It threatened to derail that process, which has progressed in fits and starts since the overthrow of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising two years ago.
A look at 10 Africa coups in a decade, after Sudan’s second
The UN Security Council met to discuss the situation in Sudan, a nation in Africa linked by language and culture to the Arab world, at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world powers to come together to act decisively at the council, saying unity was needed to confront an “epidemic of coups d’état” recently. He said “geopolitical divides” were preventing the Security Council from taking strong measures as countries around the world grapple with the pandemic and social and economic problems.
“These factors are creating an environment in which some military leaders feel that they have total impunity, they can do whatever they want because nothing will happen to them,” Guterres said.
“We have seen that effective deterrence today is not in place. We have seen it in Myanmar and we have also seen it in several African locations,” he said, alluding to Guinea and Mali.
Diplomats said members at the meeting expressed concern about the volatile situation and indicated that negotiations about issuing a joint declaration were continuing.
A text could be adopted Tuesday evening or Wednesday, said one diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Unlike a first draft, it would no longer refer to denouncing the coup “in the strongest terms” but retains a condemnation of the putsch, said another diplomat.
It remains to be seen whether Russia and China – permanent members with veto power – will support the phrasing.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
