2021 Sudanese coup d'état
Military overthrow of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On 25 October 2021, the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, took control of the Government of Sudan in a military coup. At least five senior government figures were initially detained.[7] Civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok refused to declare support for the coup and on 25 October called for popular resistance;[8] he was confined to house arrest on 26 October.[9] Internet outages were reported. Later the same day, the Sovereignty Council was dissolved, a state of emergency was put in place,[10] and a majority of the Hamdok Cabinet and a number of pro-government supporters were arrested.[11] As of 5 November 2021[update], the list of those detained included "government ministers, members of political parties, lawyers, civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and protest leaders", who were held in secret locations, without access to their families or lawyers.[12]
2021 Sudanese coup d'état | |||||||
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Part of the Sudanese transition to democracy and the Coup Belt | |||||||
A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Sudanese Professionals Association |
Sudanese Armed Forces Rapid Support Forces | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Shams al-Din Khabbashi Yasser al-Atta Ibrahim Jabir Karim Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
62 civilians killed, 140+ wounded during anti-coup protests[6] | |||||||
Key civilian groups including the Sudanese Professionals Association and Forces of Freedom and Change called for civil disobedience and refusal to cooperate with the coup organisers.[13] Protests started on 25 and 26 October against the coup and at least 10 civilians were reported as being killed and over 140 injured by the military during the first day of protests.[13][14][15] Protests and strikes continued, with 200,000 to 2,000,000 protestors participating around Sudan on 30 October[16][17] and 15 shot dead by security forces in protests organised by the Sudanese resistance committees on 17 November.[18][19]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs,[8][20] the Ministry of Information[1] and the Prime Minister's Office[9] refused to recognise the transfer of power, stating that the coup was a crime and that Hamdok remained prime minister.[1] On 26 October, the African Union suspended Sudan's membership, pending a return to power of the Hamdok government.[21] On 27 October, the European Union, the United States and other western powers stated that they continued to recognise the Hamdok cabinet as "the constitutional leaders of the transitional government" and insisted on their ambassadors having access to Hamdok.[22]
Faced with internal and international resistance, al-Burhan declared his willingness to restore the Hamdok Cabinet on 28 October, although the deposed Prime Minister declined this initial offer, making any further dialogue conditional on the full restoration of the pre-coup system.[23] On 21 November 2021, Hamdok and al-Burhan signed a 14-point deal that reinstated Hamdok as prime minister and stated that all political prisoners would be freed. Civilian groups including Forces for Freedom and Change and the Sudanese Professionals Association rejected the deal, refusing continued power-sharing with the military.[24] Hamdok resigned on 2 January 2022 amid continuing protests.