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Sudan's military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
Photo: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / REUTERS
In Sudan, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan formed a transitional council headed by himself after the military coup. The body set up on Thursday is made up of 14 people, including civilians, but no representatives of the so-called Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), which had ruled the African country together with the military since 2019. Observers assume that this will harden the attitude of opposition groups. They called for strikes, civil disobedience and mass rallies.
UN General Secretary António Guterres called the events very worrying.
A UN spokesman also called for Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other political leaders to be released.
The military dissolved the government at the end of October and declared a nationwide state of emergency.
Germany, the USA, the EU and the UN are pushing for the restoration of the civilian government.
There is already resistance in the country to the actions of al-Burhan, as reported by the Reuters news agency.
Protesters in eastern Sudan's capital, Khartoum, blocked roads and burned tires late Thursday, shortly after al-Burhan announced it would form a new governing council, witnesses told Reuters.
The protests took place in Burri, a stronghold for pro-democracy demonstrations since the uprising in which the former authoritarian ruling President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, was overthrown.
Images posted on social media appeared to show similar protests in other parts of the capital.
Most of the Internet and many telephone lines in the country have been blocked since the coup.
There are repeated mass protests against the military rulers in the capital and other parts of the country.
According to estimates by the United Nations, security forces fired live ammunition at demonstrators and arrested members of the opposition and journalists.
jso / Reuters / dpa