Sudan Prime Minister Under House Arrest

An unidentified military force besieged Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s home and placed him under house arrest along with other senior government officials on Monday, according to local media. The Sudanese Professionals’ Association said there were internet and phone signal outages in the country. The arrests come after a failed coup attempt in September and weeks of rising tensions between Sudan’s civilian and military leaders, the AP reported.

On Monday morning local time, protestors were seen gathering in the streets of the capital to protest the arrests, lighting bonfires and setting up roadblocks.

Bullets were fired at protesters demonstrating against the apparent coup outside Sudan’s General Command in the city, the Ministry of Information said in a statement on Facebook.

The ministry said there were casualties, but did not clarify how many, or who was shooting at demonstrators.

In multiple videos posted to social media, hundreds of demonstrators were seen walking towards army headquarters.

Protestors chanted: “We are walking holding worry in our hearts — and worry sleeps in people’s chests.”

Some videos showed protestors removing razor wire that had been placed across a road amid reports of street closures in several parts of the city. Flights from Khartoum International Airport have also been suspended, a Civil Aviation Authority source told CNN, while the Ministry of Information said internet services had been “cut off from mobile phone networks and bridges were closed by military forces.”

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military officer who heads a power-sharing ruling council, has announced a state of emergency across the country and the dissolution of the transitional sovereign council and the government.

He said the 2019 agreement on the transitional government with balanced power between the civilian and military leadership had turned into a struggle that was threatening peace and security.

The military needed to protect the country’s safety and security as stated in the constitutional declaration, he said, announcing the dissolution of the power-sharing ruling council and the government.

He also announced the removal of state governors, saying the elections will be held in July 2023.

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