Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

UN Chief: Sudanese Detained PM Must Be Released


Tue 26 Oct 2021 | 09:51 PM
Ahmad El-Assasy

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded on Tuesday that the Sudanese prime minister, who was seized in a military coup, be released immediately.

"Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok "must be released immediately," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a press conference as the UN Security Council prepared to attend an emergency meeting on Sudan's putsch.

Soldiers detained the Sudanese prime minister, his ministers, and civilian members of Sudan's ruling council on Monday. Hamdok, his ministries, and civilian members of Sudan's ruling council had been leading the transition to complete civilian administration following the toppling of longstanding despot Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

As countries throughout the world battle with the pandemic and social and economic crises, Guterres said: "geopolitical differences" were preventing the Security Council from adopting forceful measures.

Guterres said that these conditions are creating a climate in which certain military officials believe they have complete impunity, that they can do whatever they want because they will not be held accountable.

"My appeal is for especially the big powers to come together for the unity of the Security Council in order to make sure that there is effective deterrence in relation with this epidemic of coups d'etat" in Africa and Asia, he said.