Sudan’s top general says the deposed prime minister is being held for his own safety at the general’s own house, not in a prison.
The military took power in a coup on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum on Tuesday, Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan said that Abdalla Hamdok was safe and kept away for his own safety.
The announcement comes a day after the military detained Hamdok and some civilian political leaders.
On Monday, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, dissolved the Hamdok government and the Sovereign Council, a joint military and civilian body created soon after al-Bashir’s ouster to run the country. He now heads a military council that he said would rule Sudan until elections in July 2023.
“Yes, we arrested ministers and politicians, but not all of them,” al-Burhan said, pointing out that Hamdok would “return home when the crisis is over”.
The top general further said the military has stepped in after talks with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the protest movement to resolve a dispute over the country's course reached a deadlock.
The top general defended the army's seizure of power, saying he had ousted the transitional government to avoid civil war.
"What we have done is not a military coup, but rather a correction to the course of the revolution…the whole country was deadlocked due to political rivalries,” Gen. Burhan said. “The experience during the past two years has proven that the participation of political forces in the transitional period is flawed and stirs up strife.”
The takeover came after weeks of mounting tensions between military and civilian leaders over the course and the pace of Sudan’s transition to democracy.
Western governments and the United Nations condemned the takeover and called for the release of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other senior officials, who were arrested Monday.
US President Joe Biden’s administration announced the suspension of $700 million in emergency assistance to Sudan, a nation in Africa linked by language and culture to the Arab world.