UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Tuesday for the immediate release of Sudan’s prime minister, who was detained in a military coup.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok “must be released immediately,” Guterres told a press conference as the UN Security Council prepared to hold an emergency meeting on the putsch in Sudan.
Read Also: Cannabis Is No Longer A Dangerous Drug – United Nations
On Monday soldiers detained Hamdok, his ministers and civilian members of Sudan’s ruling council, who have been heading a transition to full civilian rule following the 2019 overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
Guterres said “geopolitical divides” were preventing the Security Council from taking strong measures as countries around the world grapple with the pandemic and social and economic problems.
‘These factors are creating an environment in which some military leaders feel that they have total impunity, they can do whatever they want because nothing will happen to them,’ Guterres said.
‘My appeal is for especially the big powers to come together for the unity of the Security Council in order to make sure that there is effective deterrence in relation with this epidemic of coups d’etat,’ he said.
The Sudanese military leader who took power in a bloody coup has said he is keeping the deposed prime minister detained at the general’s personal residence “for his own safety”, as concerns mount over the wellbeing of senior arrested officials.
The prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, and other ministers have not been seen since their detention and there have been international demands for their immediate release. They were seized by security forces loyal to general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan early on Monday and remain missing.
On Tuesday Hamdok’s office, in a message on its official Facebook page, called for people to take to the streets and conduct acts of civil disobedience, as it voiced concern over his safety and that of the other missing ministers.
Burhan denied that the army takeover amounted to a coup and said Hamdok was being kept at the general’s house “for his own safety” but was in good health and would be allowed to return to his own home later in the day.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK