Top Sudan military official reappoints himself head of interim government after coup

Sudan’s top general has reappointed himself as head of the interim government after the military coup two weeks ago. 

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said Thursday he will run the new 14-member transitional board called the Sovereign Council, Reuters reported.

Burhan is keeping the position he had before the military coup in October, along with his deputy, who is still in charge of the Rapid Support Forces.

The council does not include anyone from the Forces of Freedom and Change, the civilian group with which the military had been sharing power since the creation of the transitional democratic government in 2019.

The Sovereign Council does include some civilians from different regions in Sudan, with one telling Sky News the constitutional declaration that made the blueprint for a democratic transition will still be intact, according to Reuters.

“We are civilians, the civilians are not only Hamdok,” Aboulkassem Mohamed Burtum, a member from North Sudan, said. 

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other civilians in the government were arrested after the coup, with only some of them released in the past two weeks. 

Disposed Information Minister Hamza Balloul said Thursday the new council is just an extension of the coup, and that the civilians will eventually defeat the military, Reuters noted.

Burhan denies he has conducted a coup, saying his actions were necessary to prevent a civil war and he will hold elections in 2023.

The military coup occurred just weeks before Burhan and other military leaders would have to give up their power to civilians. 

At least 14 pro-democracy protesters have been killed in Sudan since the coup with the international community, including the U.S., condemning the military’s actions and cutting off aid from the government.