Sudan: 3 Drastic Decisions Taken by Soldiers After Arresting PM Hamdok

The crisis-ridden African nation, Sudan, gained prominence again for negative reasons on Monday, October 25, after a gang of armed daredevil soldiers besieged the presidential palace in Khartoum and placed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on house arrest.

What now appears as a successful coup is sequel to a failed attempt to overthrow the Sudanese government back in September just two years after the former long-standing leader, Omar al-Bashir, was ousted.

Immediately after Hamdok was gotten hold of by the soldiers and some of his ministers in the capital city, they made certain terrorising moves to subdue any form of internal and international resistance.

Legit.ng highlights three of such moves

1. Disabling of telecommunications' services

In a bid to keep local news media in the dark, the military cut off all telecommunications services such that information from Khartoum cannot get elsewhere.

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Presently, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to communicate with persons in the city.

2. Land routes leading to Khartoum blocked

Obeying orders from their high-ranking superiors, soldiers have also barricaded all roads leading to the presidential palace where Hamdok is held hostage.

The implication of this is that rescue missions will have a hard time getting to the fear-gripped city if they ever succeed.

3. Bridges barricaded

Added to roadblocks manned by armed soldiers, pedestrians and motorists cannot use bridges leading to the area presently.

Commeting on this, an Al Jazeera's reporter said:

“The military has also blocked all roads and bridges leading into Khartoum city. We’ve seen soldiers blocking access and they are telling us these are the orders they got.

"They are saying access to Khartoum city is to be restricted, and this is raising concern because that’s where the government institutions are, that’s where the presidential palace and the prime minister’s offices are located.”

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Soldiers arrest Sudan's prime minister, officials, take over govt

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Hamdok had been placed under house arrest by a gang of soldiers in what might be another coup in Africa.

He and some of his ministers were arrested by the soldiers in the early hours of Monday, October 25.

Among Sudanese government officials nabbed by the soldiers were industry minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, Information Minister Hamza Baloul, and media adviser to Hamdok, Faisal Mohammed Saleh.

Source: Legit.ng