PM Abdallah Hamdok ‘deeply frustrated’ by Sudan’s political crisis

The news that Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok was considering submitting his resignation on Tuesday evening provoked widespread reactions in Sudanese public opinion, because it did not come definitively, and came amid a severe crisis in the country, just 48 hours after the December 19 Marches of the Millions, which witnessed excessive violence, two deaths, rapes, and injury to at least 300 demonstrators.

Informed sources told Radio Dabanga that Hamdok had already told a group of political and national figures in a meeting on Tuesday about his deep frustration and dissatisfaction concerning the charter for a new government, and his abandonment by political forces, in addition to the obstacles and difficulties of the military regarding the implementation of his plans in the transition process.

According to the sources, Hamdok informed the meeting that if the situation continues in this way, he will inevitably submit his resignation from the presidency of the Council of Ministers.

Last month, PM Hamdok said that he will tender his resignation if the Sudanese people see that the political agreement, signed with the coup leader Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, does not serve their interests.

Khaled Omar, former Minister of Cabinet Affairs, said that the current crisis is “a direct result of the military coup d’état of October 25, and the recurrent talk about political forces and their incompatibility is originally an identification with the putschists rhetoric and a justification for the crime they committed against the country”.

He said that “the thick dust that is being stirred up now should not obscure our eyes from the urgent duties of the hour”.

“What we now must do is to agree on a united popular front to defeat the coup, and to establish a real democratic civil authority that completes the tasks of the glorious December revolution, builds on the progress achieved in the past two years, and overcomes the obstacles and the many shortcomings that the forces of the revolution faced and are facing.”

The Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Commander of the Sudan Armed Forces and coup leader Lt Gen Abdelfattah Burhan, said that “the current critical stage in Sudan requires an evaluation of the performance during the last period and to embrace the meanings of the huge sacrifices made by the first generation who made this independence”.

El Burhan, who was speaking in front of the students of the joint command and staff course in Khartoum on Wednesday, expressed his hope that everyone would join the path of unity, construction and development. He affirmed that the Sudanese Armed Forces will continue to abide by their covenant with the Sudanese people, a support, and a righteous safety valve in their oath to protect Sudan and maintain its security and safety.