Sudan’s crisis deepens after resignation of prime minister

First he was appointed, then arrested, and then reinstated. Now, barely six weeks after emerging from house arrest to be reinstalled as Sudan’s prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok has resigned, leaving the country’s generals confronting a constitutional crisis.

For Muzan Alneel, a participant in the rolling mass street protests that have shaken the north-east African country of 44m people for years, Hamdok’s resignation on Sunday night was inevitable.

“He was starting to be called the ‘secretary of the coup’,” she said, referring to Hamdok’s perceived role as a civilian “fig leaf” for a military dictatorship that has consistently shown its willingness to turn its guns on the people.

At least 56 civilians have been killed and hundreds injured by security forces since October 25 when the military ousted Hamdok in what was effectively its second coup in three years and the 17th since Sudan became independent in 1956.

In April 2019, after months of mass demonstrations, the military moved against longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, who had run a repressive state for 30 years. The generals, led by Abdel Fattah Burhan, then began a putative transition towards what they said would be democratic elections.

“This makes the situation more clear because it puts the military and civilians in direct confrontation,” said Amjed Farid, a former assistant chief of staff to Hamdok, referring to the prime minister’s televised resignation on Sunday. “The military have now pushed all the civilians outside the government.”

The country, said Farid, would become ungovernable if the generals did not chart a clear path towards civilian rule. “The Sudanese people have been taking to the street on an almost daily basis against the coup. There is no space for stability or any way to govern the country.”

Protesters have declared themselves unwilling to accept the dominance of a military establishment regarded as brutal, corrupt and insincere in its stated objective of returning to barracks. Civilians willing to work with the military, including the once-popular Hamdok, have faced increasingly vocal criticism.

“We are asking for the military to remove themselves completely from the political arena,” Alneel said.

Elections had been scheduled for 2023, but there is scepticism about whether the generals would risk relinquishing power, opening themselves up to potential prosecution for past human rights abuses and allegedly corrupt business practices. It is unclear whether the generals intend to appoint a new prime minister to replace Hamdok, something that experts said would be illegal under the transitional constitution.

Many Sudanese hope that international pressure, and continued protests, will persuade the generals to negotiate their own exit. The World Bank paused disbursement of $2bn in potential payments after the October coup, jeopardising progress towards debt relief on Sudan’s $60bn of international arrears.

David Malpass, World Bank president, said he feared the coup and subsequent breakdown of relations with international donors could have a “dramatic impact . . . on the country’s social and economic recovery”.

It was hoped that Hamdok, a British-trained economist first appointed prime minister four months after the 2019 coup that removed Bashir, could steer a hybrid military-civilian government towards democracy.

Although he registered some successes, such as getting Sudan removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, Hamdok struggled to bridge the gap between popular expectations and the reality of an isolated, near-bankrupt economy.

Now that he is gone, and with him any veneer of civilian respectability, Farid said, the generals are left facing the people. “The blood that continues to be spilled since 25 October must stop flowing. If not, the military will find itself fighting the entire Sudanese population.”