Alyurae-France24-Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok returned home on yesterday, a day after he was detained as the army seized power in a coup that has claimed at least seven lives.
The release of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and his wife followed international condemnation of the coup and calls for the military to release all the government officials who were detained when Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan seized power on Monday.
Burhan had said earlier Tuesday that Hamdok had been held for his own safety and would be released. But he warned that other members of the dissolved government could face trial as protests against the putsch continued in the streets.
This comes after the military seized power Monday in a move that was widely denounced abroad. On Tuesday, pro-democracy demonstrators blocked roads in the capital of Khartoum with makeshift barricades and burning tires.
In his second public appearance since seizing power, Burhan said Tuesday the military had been forced to step in to resolve a growing political crisis.
There were people who were talking about discriminating against others, and that was driving this country to reach a civil war that would lead to the fragmentation of this country, tearing apart its unity, its fabric and society. These dangers were in front of us,” Burhan told a televised news conference.
The coup came less than a month before Burhan was supposed to hand the leadership of the Sovereign Council that runs the country to a civilian — a step that would have decreased the military’s hold on power.
