Sudan: Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok resigns

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, a key figure in the political transition process, announced late last night that he was stepping down, six weeks after returning to power, to end the political stalemate and end the bloodshed after the military coup. two months ago in the North African state.

“I have decided to announce my resignation, to give way to others,” said Hamdock, a former UN economist, during a televised address, as mass protests against the civilian-military transitional government have been going on for weeks. his leadership, encountering bloody repression.

The Central Committee of the Sudanese Doctors, a component of the anti-military junta movement, announced earlier yesterday that two other people had been killed by security forces during an operation to disperse a crowd protesting in Omdurman, the capital’s twin city. With the new deaths, the number of civilians who have lost their lives after the coup has reached at least 57.

The Sudanese army seized power in a coup on October 25. Faced with escalating international and domestic pressure, the junta then decided to reinstate ousted Prime Minister Hamdock on November 21st. His return, however, did not end the unrest.

Under an agreement reached between Mr Hamdock and the coup leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the prime minister has formed a government with members. But General al-Burhan remained its co-chair.

The council leading the political transition process includes several military officials accused of blatant human rights abuses and corruption.

The return of Mr. Hamdock did not stop the mass mobilizations against the military interventions in political affairs. The resigned prime minister has been accused of “betrayal” by much of the protest movement. In his speech yesterday, he warned that the very “survival” of the country is “threatened”.

It is not yet clear who will replace him. It seems that the generals are once again holding the helm of the country alone.

Many protesters chanted slogans such as “soldiers in the barracks” and “power to the people”. In the background, young people on motorcycles accompanied the crowd. They play the role of ambulances in every mobilization, since the security forces forbid the ambulances to pick up the wounded.

Protesters called for 2022 to be a “year of continued resistance” and demanded justice for the dozens killed after the coup, as well as for the more than 250 dead during the 2019 “revolution”, when the country was liberated from Omar al-Bashir, who held power with an iron fist for some thirty years.

An adviser to General Burhan on Friday described the mass mobilizations as a “waste of energy and time”, anticipating that they would bring “no political solution”.

In addition to the dozens of deaths and the disruption of telephone services and internet access, security forces reportedly used a new tool of repression in December: rape. The sexual abuse of at least 13 protesters has been reported, according to the UN.

Every day and in every neighborhood, the resistance committees, small groups that organize the mobilizations, announce new arrests and new disappearances.

Europeans are outraged, as are US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the United Nations. The international community is calling for a resumption of dialogue before considering the resumption of international aid to the country, one of the poorest in the world. The offer of aid was suspended when the October coup took place.

On Saturday, Mr Blinken warned that Washington would take action against “anyone who seeks to prevent the Sudanese from pursuing a political and democratic government”.

SOURCE: AMPE