Ex-official of Sudan Sovereign Council detained ahead of anti-coup demonstrations

Sudan’s military authorities have again arrested a former senior government official, his party said, as pro-democracy groups on Monday readied more protests against a military coup that plunged the country into turmoil.

The Unionist Alliance party said Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, former member of the ruling Sovereign Council, was detained Sunday in the capital of Khartoum. It said security forces stopped his vehicle as he was heading from his home to the party’s headquarters.

Suliman was also deputy head of a government-run agency tasked with dismantling the legacy of former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir’s regime.

Also Sunday, security forces arrested two former members of the agency, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The agency is known as The Committee to Dismantle the Regime of June 30, 1989, in reference the Islamist-backed military coup that brought al-Bashir to power.

The official said the three were taken to the Souba prison in Khartoum. He said they were facing charges related to the work of the agency, which the military disbanded following the 25 October takeover.

Suliman had been detained in the coup and was released a month later as part of a deal between the military and then-Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

He was the latest of a series of former government officials and activists to be detained in recent weeks as military rulers stepped up crackdown on anti-coup groups.

Last week, authorities rearrested Khalid Omar, a minister in the ousted transitional government. Also arrested Wagdi Saleh, another committee member.

The detentions have intensified in recent weeks as Sudan plunged into further turmoil with near-daily street protests since the coup.

The takeover upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of international isolation under al-Bashir, who was removed from power in 2019 after a popular uprising.

Protest groups have called for street demonstrations Monday in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country, demanding the establishment of a fully civilian government to lead the transition.

Sudan has been politically paralysed since the coup. The turmoil has worsened since the resignation last month of Hamdok, who complained of failure to reach a compromise between the generals and the pro-democracy movement.