Sudanese PM supporters plan major protest against military

Sudanese PM supporters plan major protest against military
Sudanese political forces are planning a major protest against the country’s powerful military as tensions between Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdok and acting head of state General Abdel Fattah Burhan grow.
2 min read
20 October, 2021
The protests plan to call for an end to military interference in government [Getty-file photo]

Sudanese political forces are planning a major protest on Thursday as continue to grow.

The National Consensus Forces group of political parties and the Sudan Professionals’ Association, which played , both called on their supporters to protest against what they described as the military’s growing interference in civilian government, according to the Arabi 21 news website.

Tensions between , who leads the mixed military-civilian Sovereignty Council and acts as Sudan’s head of state and civilian Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdok grew after a failed military coup blamed on supporters of ex-president Bashir.

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Burhan accused Hamdok’s government of failing to respond to the needs of the Sudanese people and tackle the country’s current economic crisis, which has seen inflation rise to triple figures, and later said that the government had to resign.

Hamdok has denied these allegations and his supporters have also said they will take part in Thursday’s protests.

Hamdok has described the impasse as Sudan’s “worst and most dangerous crisis” since Bashir was toppled in 2019.

Last week there were

On Twitter, Mohammed Hassan Taishi, a member of the Sovereignty Council supporting the protests, said that they would show “adherence to the principles of the December [2018] Revolution and the demands of the transition”.

Both the Sovereignty Council and Hamdok are in power on a transitional basis until 2022, when elections are planned.

Yasser Arman, a political advisor to Hamdok, said on Facebook that Thursday would be “a day of the December revolution which was launched against dismissed President Omar al-Bashir”.

The tensions between Hamdok and Burhan have divided Sudan’s political forces, with the Darfur-based Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) supporting Burhan and the military.

A , has been held in Khartoum since Saturday.