Sudan faces another apparent coup

Sudan’s military forces detained the interim prime minister and several other senior members of the country’s transitional government, the information ministry said Monday. The military cut off the internet, closed bridges into the capital city, and played patriotic music on the state news channel. Thousands of people crowded the streets of the capital city of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman to protest the takeover. In a televised address hours later on Monday, Sudan’s leading Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan said he had dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency.

Why is this happening? Tensions have remained high since a failed coup last month worsened disagreements between the power-sharing military and civilian leaders. The failed plot pitted the conservative Islamists, who want a military government, against those who overthrew longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir with protests two years ago. U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman met with the civilian and military leaders on Saturday and Sunday, hoping to quell the dispute. Gen. Burhan was expected to hand over leadership of the transitional council to civilians in less than a month. He said a new technocrat government will pave the way to elections.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read my World Tour report on the regional significance of al-Bashir’s ouster.