Sudan’s strongman fired at least six ambassadors, including the envoys to the US, the European Union and France, after they condemned the military's takeover of the country, a military official said Thursday.
The diplomats pledged their support for the now-deposed government of Prime Minister Abddalla Hamdok.
Also fired by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan late Wednesday were the Sudanese ambassadors to Qatar, China and the UN mission in Geneva, according to the official.
The state-run Sudan TV also reported the dismissals.
The ambassadors were fired two days after Burhan dissolved the transitional government and detained the prime minister, many government officials and political leaders in a coup condemned by the US and the West. The military allowed Hamdok to return home Tuesday after international pressure for his release.
Burhan said the military forces were compelled to take over because of quarrels between political parties that he claimed could lead to civil war. However, the coup also comes just weeks before Burhan would have had to hand over the leadership of the Sovereign Council, the ultimate decision-maker in Sudan, to a civilian, in a step that would reduce the military's hold on the country. The council has military and civilian members. Hamdok's government ran Sudan's daily affairs.
Protesters, meanwhile, took to the streets of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman late Wednesday in continued demonstrations against the coup amid heavy security across the capital. By Thursday morning, security forces had cleared several makeshift stone barricades that protesters had set up in a few residential neighborhoods.
No casualties were reported, but a young man died in a Khartoum hospital late Wednesday of wounds sustained in Monday’s protests, according to activist Nazim Siraj.
This raised to seven the number of protesters killed since Monday. More than 140 people have been wounded since the military’s takeover, according to the activist.
