Unidentified gunmen arrested several Sudanese leaders early today at their homesafter weeks of tension between the military and civilian transitional authorities in the East African country.
The internet was cut off throughout the country while demonstrators gathered in the streets to protest against the arrests, setting fire to tires.
The events come just two days after a Sudanese faction calling for a transfer of power to civilian rule warned of a “creeping coup” at a press conference that a crowd of unidentified people sought to prevent.
Sudan has been undergoing a precarious transition marred by political divisions and power struggles since the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. Since August 2019, the country has been ruled by a civilian-military administration charged with overseeing the transition to an all-civilian regime.
The main civilian bloc — the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) — which led the anti-Bashir protests in 2019, has split into two opposing factions.
Tensions between the two sides have long existed, but the divisions were exacerbated after the failed coup on September 21. Last week, tens of thousands of Sudanese marched in several cities to support the full transfer of power to civilians, and to counter a rival multi-day sit-in outside the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum, which demanded a return to “military rule.”
