Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has announced his resignation just weeks after he was reinstated in a controversial deal with the military.
The army seized power in October and put Mr Hamdok under house arrest but he was reinstated the next month after signing a power-sharing deal with the coup’s leader.
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Protesters rejected the deal, demanding an entirely civilian political rule.
Mr Hamdok said Sudan was now at a “dangerous turning point”.
He said he had tried his best to stop the country from “sliding towards disaster”, but that “despite everything that has been done to reach a consensus… it has not happened”.
“I decided to give back the responsibility and announce my resignation as prime minister, and give a chance to another man or woman of this noble country to… help it pass through what’s left of the transitional period to a civilian democratic country,” he added in a televised address.
Civilian and military leaders entered an uneasy power-sharing agreement aimed at moving the country towards democratic rule after a popular uprising led to the overthrow of Sudan’s long-term authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Coup leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has defended October’s coup, saying the army had acted to prevent a civil war that was threatening to erupt. He says Sudan is still committed to the transition to civilian rule, with elections planned for July 2023.
Under the agreement reached with Mr Hamdok in November, the reinstated prime minister was supposed to lead a cabinet of technocrats until elections were held. But it was unclear how much power the new civilian government would have, and protesters said they did not trust the military.
Mr Hamdok’s resignation on Sunday followed more mass protests across the country, including in the capital Khartoum, where security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators.
At least two people were killed by security forces in the city of Omdurman, according to the pro-democracy Sudan Central Doctors’ Committee. In total, at least 56 people are reported to have been killed in protests since the coup.
