
<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> 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.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>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&#8217;s house, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sudan-coup-protesters-537e14871a64dbc634430c60b7c662b5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Associated Press</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1453071174460755973" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Agence France-Presse</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/26/protesters-in-sudan-return-to-the-streets-against-military-coup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Al Jazeera</a>, all of which cited an unnamed military source.</p>



<p>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&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/sudan-military-coup-leaves-no-clear-path-out-of-nations-political-economic-crises-11635272325" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appear to be in control</a>&nbsp;in Sudan.</p>



<p>Hamdok’s office urged the military to release him in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SUDANPMSOFFICE/?ref=page_internal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement on Facebook</a>&nbsp;Tuesday.</p>



<p>Earlier Tuesday, Sudanese army Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/world/africa/sudan-coup-protests.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/26/sudan-prime-minister-abdalla-hamdok-detained-for-own-safety-says-military-leader" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed</a>&nbsp;Hamdok was taken into custody for his own safety.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>On Monday, the Sudanese military arrested Hamdok and several other officials, declared a state of emergency and dismantled Sudan’s interim government, a move&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59052260" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">military leaders insisted</a>&nbsp;was designed to stave off a civil war. Demonstrators later took to the streets, where military officials reportedly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-doctors-committee-two-shot-dead-protests-military-takeover-2021-10-25/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gunned down some protesters</a>. 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&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/world/africa/abdalla-hamdok-sudan.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">former United Nations economist</a>, 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&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/world/africa/sudan-military-coup-civilian.html?action=click&amp;pgtype=Article&amp;module=&amp;state=default&amp;region=footer&amp;context=breakout_link_back_to_briefing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">have</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/led-sudans-military-coup-rcna3779" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">criticized</a>&nbsp;Hamdok for the country’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudan-inflation-slows-38756-august-2021-09-14/#:~:text=Sudan%20is%20in%20the%20midst,%2C%20bread%2C%20and%20essential%20medicines.&amp;text=According%20to%20government%20data%2C%20inflation,the%20highest%20rate%20of%20977.01%25." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rapid inflation</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/sudan/overview#1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deep economic woes</a>, and some civilians&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/explaining-what-led-to-sudan-coup-8e3609d1f573b6dd0383ed7a09f0d4aa" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">have</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/10/25/world/sudan-coup/civilian-leaders-say-the-military-deliberately-crippled-the-economy-to-justify-a-takeover" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accused</a>&nbsp;the military of undermining the country’s economy and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59035053" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">harboring</a>&nbsp;loyalists of al-Bashir, the&nbsp;<em>New York Times</em>&nbsp;and BBC report.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



<p>The Biden administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/10/25/us-cuts-off-700-million-in-aid-to-sudan-amid-military-coup/?sh=2d8d805d6637">paused</a>&nbsp;$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&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47898385" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lived in Sudan</a>&nbsp;in the 1990s).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>Other international actors also condemned Hamdok’s arrest. Leaders of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-demands-immediate-release-sudanese-leader-cabinet-members-2021-10-25/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">European Union</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20211025/statement-chairperson-au-commission-situation-sudan" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">African Union</a>&nbsp;urged the military to release all arrested civilian officials.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/10/25/us-cuts-off-700-million-in-aid-to-sudan-amid-military-coup/?sh=2d8d805d6637">U.S. Cuts Off $700 Million In Aid To Sudan Amid Military Coup (Forbes)</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/world/africa/abdalla-hamdok-sudan.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Who is Abdalla Hamdok, the Sudanese prime minister detained in a military coup? (New York Times)</a></p>



<p><em><strong>By <meta charset="utf-8">Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff</strong></em></p>


Tag: Abdalla Hamdok

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Sudanese Prime Minister Returns Home After Arrest In Military Coup