Telecommunications interrupted in Sudan after coup

Telecommunications were interrupted in Sudan, a Reuters witness said on Tuesday, a day after the country’s military seized power in a coup and a health ministry official said seven people were killed in clashes  between soldiers and street protesters.

There was no official confirmation of the interruption of the communications. A Reuters witness said internet and phone services were severely limited.

Life is at a standstill in the capital Khartoum, where shops and services are closed and some roads are still blocked by the military after a mostly quiet night.

The leader of the takeover, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, dissolved the military-civilian Sovereign Council that had been established to guide the country to democracy following the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising two years ago.

Burhan announced a state of emergency, saying the armed forces needed to protect safety and security. He promised to hold elections in July 2023 and hand over to an elected civilian government then.

Events in Sudan mirror those in several other Arab countries, where the military has consolidated its grip following popular uprisings.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an activist coalition in the uprising against Bashir, has called for a strike. The call for a general strike could be heard from the loudspeakers of mosques in Khartoum.

The Sudan information ministry, which is still loyal to ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, said on its Facebook page the transitional constitution gives only the prime minister the right to declare a state of emergency and that the military’s actions are a crime. Hamdok is still the legitimate transitional authority, it said.

Hamdok, an economist and former senior U.N. official, was detained and taken to an undisclosed location after refusing to issue a statement in support of the takeover, the information ministry said.

The governments of the United States, UK and Norway condemned the coup in Sudan, saying they were deeply concerned about the situation in the country.

They called on security forces to release those who were detained unlawfully, according to a joint statement released by the U.S. State Department.