Sudan Military Leader Denies Staging Coup Day After Government Deposed

Sudan’s top military leader Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan denied that the country’s armed forces staged a coup, but instead said they were trying to rectify the path of the transition.

“Condemnations are expected as countries see our actions as a coup, it is not,” Burhan said Tuesday in his televised address.

Burhan, who headed the transitional government through the Sovereign Council, earlier declared a state of emergency and announced the dissolution of the Sovereign Council following the takeover, which deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

“Hamdok is at my house carrying on a normal life,” Burhan said, but was being kept away for his own safety. The military leader later said Hamdok would be returned to his own home the same day.

“The state of emergency in Sudan will be scrapped as soon as institutions are formed,” Burhan said.
Burhan emphasized that the Constitutional Declaration 2019 had “not been scrapped, only the items pertaining to the civilian partners.”

He said the declaration outlined the transition to the civilian government.

“We are aiming to see through a transition to a civilian government,” he said.

“The mistrust between transitional parties occurred after the signing of the peace agreement in Juba,” Burhan said in his address.

Sudan’s interim government and the Al-Hilu movement, the main rebel group in the country, agreed in March to re-start peace talks in an agreement signed in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Burhan said there had been incitement and hostility towards the armed forces, and that danger would had led to a civil war in the country.

He added that he earlier discussed with US special envoy Jeffrey Feltman how to resolve the stalemate between political forces and the army.

Feltman met with Sudanese military and civilian leaders over the weekend in efforts to resolve a growing dispute.
He promised that judicial bodies would be formed in the coming days.

“The armed forces cannot continue the transitional period on its own, we need participation of Sudanese people,” Burhan said.

The military general also said that the legislature that will be formed will include young participants from the revolution.