Sudan’s PM Abdalla Hamdok Under House Arrest

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Unidentified military forces have stormed Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's house, who is now under house arrest, the Arab News daily reports.

Four Sudanese cabinet ministers and one civilian representative of the Sovereign Council were also arrested in the early hours of Monday, the newspaper said citing an Al-Hadath TV report.

A picture began circulating on social media allegedly showing the arrest of Sudan Minister of Industry and Trade, Ibrahim al-Sheikh. The country’s information minister, as well as Hamdok’s media adviser, were also among those arrested.

According to local media reports, people took to the streets in the capital, Khartoum, in order to protest against the military coup attempt.

People on social media reported internet and phone service outages.

Khartoum police used tear gas on demonstrators calling for the military to hand over power to the civilian government. Protesters had congregated near the presidential palace, blocking multiple avenues in Khartoum's central business district, according to a Sputnik correspondent.

Thousands of people marched in Khartoum, Omdurman, Nyala, Ed Dueim, and other cities on Thursday, chanting "Hand over power, Burhan," addressing the leader of the Sovereign Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The eleven-member Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council's mandate ends next month. The military council will then hand authority over to the civilian government.

Sudan witnessed a military coup in April 2019, sparked by mass protests in the midst of a profound economic crisis and a steep decrease in living conditions. President Omar al-Bashir, who had reigned for 30 years, was deposed and imprisoned as a result.

Al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's transitional military council, was appointed to the country's Sovereignty Council later that year, with the promise of handing over authority to civilian authorities after a transitional phase.