Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok has been put under house arrest after an unidentified military force besieged his house early on Monday, reported various media outlets.
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Citing Arab News daily, Sputnik reported that four of Sudan's Cabinet ministers and one civilian representative of the Sovereign Council were also arrested in the early hours of Monday. Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald said that so far no independent confirmation was immediately available.
Pro-military protesters briefly blocked major roads and bridges in the capital Khartoum on Sunday, amid growing tensions between the generals and the pro-democracy movement that fuelled the uprising that led to the toppling of former president Omar al-Bashir.
The police have deployed tear gas against demonstrators demanding a transfer of power from the military to the civilian government, as per Sputnik correspondent. On Thursday, several thousand demonstrators held protests in the cities of Khartoum, Omdurman, Nyala, Ed Dueim and others, shouting the slogan "Hand over power, Burhan" addressing the head of the council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
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The term of the eleven-member transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan expires next month, according to Sputnik. After that, the military council is to transfer power to the civilian government.
Sudan saw a military coup in April 2019, which was prompted by popular protests amid a deep economic crisis and a steep decline in living standards. As a result, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who ruled for 30 years, was ousted and later imprisoned.
Later that year, the head of the transitional military council of Sudan, al-Burhan, took office as head of the country's Sovereignty Council, which promised to hand over power to the civilian authorities after a transitional period, reported Sputnik.
-PTC News with inputs from ANI
