Categories
-Top News Africa News Politics

Sudan prosecutors accuse ex-PM Hamdok of ‘inciting war’

Fifteen other people, including journalists and politicians who like Hamdok live abroad, face similar charges such as “violating the constitution.”…report Asian Lite News

Sudan’s prosecution accused on Wednesday former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok of “inciting war against the state” and other charges that could carry the death penalty, according to state television.

The prosecutor’s office is loyal to military chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, whose regular armed forces have been at war since April 2023 with paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Fifteen other people, including journalists and politicians who like Hamdok live abroad, face similar charges such as “violating the constitution.”

Hamdok, Sudan’s most prominent civilian politician, was the country’s first premier in a fragile transition following a popular uprising after decades under Omar Al-Bashir’s rule.

Hamdok was placed under house arrest after an October 2021 coup by former allies Dagalo and Burhan.

After a brief reinstatement, Hamdok resigned in January 2022 and fled to Abu Dhabi.

He has since re-emerged as part of a new coalition known as Taqadum.

Sudan’s war has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than 8.5 million people, according to the UN.

Hamdok has been in talks for several months with Sudanese and regional figures in a bid to put an end to the war.

These efforts have seen Dagalo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), embrace Hamdok.

Dagalo, a former camel and sheep trader, rose to prominence under Bashir, who unleashed Janjaweed militias after an ethnic minority rebellion began in Darfur in 2003.

The militia campaign led to war crime charges against Bashir and others.

When security personnel attacked pro-democracy demonstrators in Khartoum in June 2019 after Bashir’s overthrow, it was the RSF, which emerged from the Janjaweed militia, that witnesses said was at the forefront of the bloodshed, killing at least 128 people.

However, Dagalo’s embrace of civilian partner Hamdok offers the chance to gain international legitimacy, analysts have told AFP.

Tom Perriello, a former congressman recently named to a new position of US special envoy for Sudan, had said that talks to end the Sudan war could start around April 18.

ALSO READ: Congo appoints its first female PM

Categories
-Top News Africa News

Sudan’s Hamdok resigns amid turmoil

It is not immediately clear who will succeed Hamdok and there seemed to be no visible candidates as the country has been experiencing a political crisis…reports Asian Lite News

Amid the continuing mass protests and political crisis in Sudan, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has announced his resignation from the post.

“I announce to you my resignation from the post of Prime Minister to make way for another person from the daughters or sons of this generous country,” Xinhua news agency quoted Hamdok as saying in an address to the nation on Sunday night broadcast by the official Sudan TV.

“You have granted me the honour to be Prime Minister at this delicate and hopeful circumstance, and I have tried my best to prevent our country against the danger of sliding into disaster.

“Under the differences within the political forces and the nihilistic conflicts among all the components of the transition, and despite what I have done to achieve the desired and necessary consensus to fulfil what we have promised the citizens with of security, peace, justice and stopping of bloodshed, yet that did not happen,” he added.

Hamdok stressed the importance of initiating a comprehensive dialogue to end the political crisis in the country.

“The key word towards a solution to this dilemma, which continued for over six decades of the nation’s history, is to resort to a round-table dialogue involving all components of the Sudanese society and the State to agree on a national charter and set a road-map to complete the civil democratic transformation,” he said.

Sudan protesters reach Presidential palace to demand civilian rule

It is not immediately clear who will succeed Hamdok and there seemed to be no visible candidates as the country has been experiencing a political crisis after General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, launched a coup on October 25 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and government.

On November 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating the latter as Prime Minister, but the deal has so far failed to calm the street.

Demonstrators have since continued to take to the streets to demand an entirely civilian political leadership.

Security forces killed two people on Sunday during protests against the military’s rule, according to the pro-democracy Sudan Central Doctors’ Committee.

Security forces have not commented on the deaths.

At least 56 people have been killed in protests since the coup, the committee says.

ALSO READ: Sudan declares curfew in North Darfur state