Sudan PM Hamdok under house arrest, Khartoum airport shut

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok is under house arrest, Sky News Arabia reported on Monday citing his office.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 25 Oct 2021, 05:17 AM
Updated : 25 Oct 2021, 07:40 AM

A military force took the prime minister to "an unknown location", said another TV channel, Al-Arabiya, citing sources close to Hamdok, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, amid reports of a military coup, Al-Arabiya reported that the Khartoum airport was shut and international flights were suspended on the same day.

Most of the members of Sudan's cabinet and a large number of pro-government party leaders were arrested in the apparent coup after weeks of tension between the military and a civilian government, three political sources said, Reuters reports

Sudanese military and paramilitary forces deployed across the capital, Khartoum, restricting civilians' movements, as protesters carrying the national flag burnt tires in different areas of the city, a witness reported.

There was no immediate comment from the military. Sudanese state TV broadcast as normal.

Military and civilian groups in Sudan were supposed to share power after the 2019 ouster of former leader Omar al-Bashir. But a failed coup plot last month unleashed bitter recriminations.

Family sources of Hamdok told Reuters that military forces had stormed the house of Hamdok's media adviser and arrested him.

Reuters witnesses said internet services appeared to be down in Khartoum.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, or SPA, a main activist coalition in the uprising against Bashir, called on supporters to mobilise after what it called the arrest of cabinet members, Reuters said.

"We urge the masses to go out on the streets and occupy them, close all roads with barricades, stage a general labour strike, and not to cooperate with the putschists and use civil disobedience to confront them," the group said in a statement on Facebook.

A coalition of rebel groups and political parties joined the military and called to dissolve the civilian government. On the other hand, several cabinet ministers took part in a protest against the prospect of the military rule last week, Reuters said.