Sudanese PM Hamdok Resigns as Protesters Crack Down

Khartoum, MINA – Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned Sunday, more than two months after the coup, following another deadly crackdown on protesters, in recent days, over which the military is now in control.

Sudan has endured a fragile journey to civilian rule since the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar Al-Bashir, but fell into chaos when military leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan staged a coup on October 25 and detained Hamdok, Arab News reported.

Hamdok was reappointed as PM on November 21 under a deal promising general elections by July 2023, but local media reported he had been absent from office for days, with rumors circulating of his possible resignation.

“I have tried my best to stop the country sliding toward disaster,” Hamdok said late Sunday, addressing the nation on state television.

Sudan is “traversing a dangerous turning point that threatens its very survival,” he said.

Hamdok is the civilian face of the country’s fragile transition, while General Burhan has become the country’s de facto leader after Bashir’s overthrow.

Mass protests against the coup continued even after Hamdok was reinstated, as demonstrators distrusted veteran general Burhan and his promise to guide the country towards full democracy.

Protesters also alleged that the deal to reinstate Hamdok as prime minister was aimed at giving the generals a cloak of legitimacy, whom they accuse of trying to continue the regime built by Bashir.

Thousands of demonstrators on Sunday fought tear gas, massive troop deployments and telecommunications blackouts to sue the civilian government.

At protests near the Presidential Palace in the capital Khartoum and in its sister city Omdurman, demonstrators condemned the coup, chanted “power for the people” and demanded the military return to barracks.

At least 57 protesters have been killed since the coup, according to pro-democracy medics. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)