UPDATE - Sudan’s Hamdok held at house of military council head

UPDATES WITH REACTION OF HAMDOK’S OFFICE

By Mohamed Amin

KHAROTUM, Sudan (AA) – Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is held at the house of Sudan’s ruling military council head, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, according to the Sudanese general.

Addressing a press conference in Khartoum on Tuesday, al-Burhan said the army placed Hamdok in his house to "keep him safe after receiving death threats."

“We feel that there are threat against the premier’s life, that is why we kept him away,” al-Burhan said. “He is in my house and journalists are free to visit him.”

Commenting on al-Burhan’s remarks, Hamdok’s office called for the immediate release of the Sudanese premier.

“Claims of the head of the coup [al-Burhan] that his acts aim protect the revolution will not deceive the Sudanese people and the world," Hamdok’s office said in a statement.

"We are confident that the Sudanese people will not be deceived by attempts and sweet words about correcting the revolution,” it added.

Hamdok and a number of ministers in his civilian government were detained by the Sudanese military on Monday amid tension in the country.
Al-Burhan on Monday announced a state of emergency, dissolved the transitional sovereign council and the government and suspended some provisions of the constitutional document outlining the political transition in Sudan.

After a failed military coup last month, deep tensions erupted between the military and the civilian administration in Sudan following recent rival protests in the capital Khartoum.

Before the military takeover, Sudan was administered by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials, which oversaw the transition period until elections slated for 2023, as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces for Freedom and Change coalition.