KHARTOUM: Roads were blocked, shops shut, phones down and mosque loudspeakers blared calls for a general strike in Sudan on Tuesday, a day after the army seized power in a coup.
At least seven persons were killed in unrest triggered by the military takeover, which brought a halt to Sudan’s transition to democracy two years after a popular uprising ended decades of authoritarian rule.
Plumes of smoke rose over Khartoum from tyres set ablaze by protesters. Life came to a halt in the capital and in its twin city Omdurman across the Nile, with roads blocked either by soldiers or by protester barricades.
The night appeared to have passed comparatively quietly after Monday’s unrest, when protesters took to the streets after soldiers arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other civilians in the cabinet. A health ministry official said seven persons had been killed in clashes between protesters and the security forces. On Monday, takeover leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolved the military-civilian Sovereign Council set up to guide Sudan to democracy following the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. — Reuters
‘Ousted govt to avoid civil war’
Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan defended army’s seizure of power, saying he had ousted the government to avoid civil war. He said the army had no choice but to sideline politicians who were inciting people against the armed forces.