TOPLINE Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok returned to his home Tuesday, news outlets reported, amid international outrage after Sudan’s military arrested Hamdok on Monday and dismantled a fragile temporary government formed as the country emerged from dictatorship two years ago.
KEY FACTS
The military allowed Hamdok and his wife to return to their home in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, after he was detained in a top military leader’s house, according to the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera, all of which cited an unnamed military source.
It’s not clear whether Hamdok is now free to leave his home, or if the military has imposed any conditions on his release, the AP and Al Jazeera say — and military officials appear to be in control in Sudan.
Hamdok’s office urged the military to release him in a statement on Facebook Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, Sudanese army Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan reportedly claimed Hamdok was taken into custody for his own safety.
KEY BACKGROUND
On Monday, the Sudanese military arrested Hamdok and several other officials, declared a state of emergency and dismantled Sudan’s interim government, a move military leaders insisted was designed to stave off a civil war. Demonstrators later took to the streets, where military officials reportedly gunned down some protesters. The apparent coup disrupted an already-tenuous transition to democracy in Sudan that began in 2019, when the military ejected brutal ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir — who ruled the country for three decades — and later agreed to hand over power to a joint civilian-military council. That council appointed Hamdok, a former United Nations economist, to helm the Sudanese government until it could hold democratic elections, but this power-sharing arrangement has teetered near collapse in recent months. Some allies of the military have criticized Hamdok for the country’s rapid inflation and deep economic woes, and some civilians have accused the military of undermining the country’s economy and harboring loyalists of al-Bashir, the New York Times and BBC report.
CHIEF CRITIC
The Biden administration paused $700 million in emergency economic aid to Sudan on Monday, and the State Department did not rule out sanctions if the military doesn’t release civilian leaders and restore the interim government. U.S.-Sudan relations warmed last year: The United States removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, and Sudan agreed to a nine-figure reparation payment for al-Qaeda-organized terror attacks on U.S. embassies in West Africa in 1998 and the USS Cole in 2000 (Osama bin Laden lived in Sudan in the 1990s).
TANGENT
Other international actors also condemned Hamdok’s arrest. Leaders of the European Union and African Union urged the military to release all arrested civilian officials.
FURTHER READING
U.S. Cuts Off $700 Million In Aid To Sudan Amid Military Coup (Forbes)
Who is Abdalla Hamdok, the Sudanese prime minister detained in a military coup? (New York Times)
By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff