Sudan ministers detained in apparent military coup; PM said under house arrest

Sudanese officials said military forces detained at least five senior government officials on Monday, including a number of ministers.

The officials said the detained include Industry Minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh; Information Minister Hamza Baloul; Mohammed al-Fiky Suliman of the ruling Sovereign Council; and Faisal Mohammed Saleh, a media adviser to Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

The whereabouts of Hamdok were not immediately clear, amid media reports that security forces were stationed outside his home in Khartoum. Photos circulating online showed men in uniform standing in the dark, allegedly near his home.

The Al Jazeera network cited unconfirmed reports that he was under house arrest.

Ayman Khalid, governor of the state containing the capital, Khartoum, was also arrested, according to the official Facebook page of his office.

The Sudanese Professionals’ Association, Sudan’s main pro-democratic political group, also said there were internet and phone signal outages in the country. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

NetBlocks, a group that tracks disruptions across the internet, said Monday it had seen a “significant disruption” to both fixed-line and mobile internet connections across Sudan with multiple providers.

“Metrics corroborate user reports network disruptions appearing consistent with an internet shutdown,” the advocacy group said. “The disruption is likely to limit the free flow of information online and news coverage of incidents on the ground.”

Demonstrators gathered on the streets to protest the arrests, setting fire to tires.

Men in military uniform cut off the main roads leading to the capital, and state television was broadcasting patriotic songs.

The arrests come after weeks of rising tensions between Sudan’s civilian and military leaders. A failed coup attempt in September fractured the country along old lines, pitting more conservative Islamists who want a military government against those who toppled autocratic former ruler Omar al-Bashir in mass protests.

In recent days, both camps have taken to the street in demonstrations.

The arrests have come as the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, met with Sudanese military and civilian leaders Saturday and Sunday in efforts to resolve the growing dispute. Feltman called for a democratic transfer to civilian rule, VOA reported. Sudan’s Stat News website highlighted his meetings with military officials.

Sudan has been undergoing a precarious transition marred by political divisions and power struggles since the April 2019 ouster of al-Bashir.

Since August 2019, the country has been led by a civilian-military administration tasked with overseeing the transition to full civilian rule.

The main civilian bloc — the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) — which led the anti-Bashir protests in 2019, has splintered into two opposing factions.

Hamdok has previously described the splits in the transitional government as the “worst and most dangerous crisis” facing the transition.

The government has been seeking better ties with Washington and the West — in January, Sudan signed onto the Abraham Accords with the United States, paving the way for the African country to normalize ties with Israel. The deal was met with demonstrations in Sudan.