Sudanese PM , Abdalla Hamdok

Sudan’s military has placed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok under house arrest after moving him to an unknown location for refusing to support a coup, according to the information ministry.

The chairman of Sudan’s ruling body General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan later announced the dissolution of the transitional government and the sovereign council and declared a nationwide state of emergency.

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.

“The current crisis is artificial — and is taking the form of a creeping coup,” FFC leader Yasser Arman said at a press conference in the capital Khartoum on Saturday.

“We renew our confidence in the government, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, and in the reform of the transitional institutions, but without order or imposition,” Arman added.

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.”