Region

KHARTOUM — Angry Sudanese stood their ground Tuesday in street protests against a military coup which has been condemned internationally, and raised fears for the fate of its civilian prime minister.

But at a news conference on Tuesday the country's top general Abdel Fattah Al Burhan said Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, an international economist who had carved an image as a champion of good governance,  was "at my home" and "in good health", able to return to his own house "when the crisis is over".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called Tuesday for the immediate release of Hamdok, who was detained in a military coup.

Hamdok "must be released immediately", Guterres told a press conference as the UN Security Council prepared to hold an emergency meeting on the putsch in Sudan.

On Monday soldiers detained Hamdok, his ministers and civilian members of Sudan's ruling council, who have been heading a transition to full civilian rule following the 2019 overthrow of Omar Al Bashir.

Guterres said "geopolitical divides" were preventing the Security Council from taking strong measures as countries around the world grapple with the pandemic and social and economic problems.

"These factors are creating an environment in which some military leaders feel that they have total impunity, they can do whatever they want because nothing will happen to them," Guterres said.

“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,” he said.

“No to military rule”, “The revolution will go on” and “Returning to the past is not an option”, protesters chanted, a day after the armed forces seized power and shot dead at least four people.

Burhan’s declaration of a state of emergency and dissolution of the government provoked an immediate international backlash.

The United States, a key backer of Sudan’s transition, strongly condemned the military’s actions and suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

The UN demanded Hamdok’s “immediate release”, while diplomats in New York told AFP the Security Council was expected to meet to discuss the crisis on Tuesday.

Announcing the state of emergency on Monday, Burhan said the army took action “to rectify the revolution’s course”.

Sudan’s ambassadors to Belgium, France and Switzerland did not see it that way. They announced their defection on Tuesday.

They condemned the coup and declared their diplomatic missions as “embassies of the Sudanese people and their revolution”, according to the information ministry.

Despite the previous day’s deadly violence, protesters remained on the streets of Khartoum overnight and into Tuesday.

Shops around the capital were shuttered following calls for a campaign of civil disobedience.

“We will only leave when the civilian government is restored,” said 32-year-old demonstrator Hisham Al Amin.

‘Betrayal’ 

Clashes erupted in Khartoum after Burhan’s speech on Monday.

Internet services were cut across the country and roads into Khartoum were shut, before soldiers stormed the state broadcaster in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman.

It was the latest coup in one of the world’s most underdeveloped countries, which has experienced only rare democratic interludes since independence in 1956.

Analysts said the generals are trying to maintain their historic control.

Demonstrators blocked streets with burning tyres and bricks, and marched waving the Sudanese flag and chanting anti-coup slogans.

The information ministry said soldiers “fired live bullets on protesters... outside the army headquarters”.

Along with at least four deaths, at least 80 demonstrators were wounded, said the independent Central Committee of Sudan Doctors.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern over the reported use of live ammunition against protesters.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said US officials had been unable to contact the prime minister.

A troika of countries previously involved in mediating Sudanese conflicts, the US, UK and Norway — said “the actions of the military represent a betrayal of the revolution, the transition, and the legitimate requests of the Sudanese people for peace, justice and economic development”.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the detention of the civilian leaders was “unlawful” and condemned “the ongoing military coup d’etat”.

The European Union, African Union and Arab League also expressed concern.

Divisions 

Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades, is in jail in Khartoum following a corruption conviction.

He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide over the civil war in Darfur.

A 2019 power-sharing deal after his fall saw Sudan ruled by a Sovereign Council of civilian and military representatives tasked with overseeing a transition to a full civilian government.

In recent weeks, the cracks in the leadership had grown wide.

Days before the coup, two factions of the movement that spearheaded demonstrations against Bashir protested on opposite sides of the debate.

One group sought military rule but critics said that call was being driven by the military and security forces. The other camp sought a full handover of power to civilians.

Tensions have long simmered within the movement, known as Forces for Freedom and Change, but divisions ratcheted up after what the government said was a failed coup on September 21 this year.

Burhan had dismissed as “slander” suggestions that the army was involved in that manoeuvre.

The mainstream FFC appealed on Monday for a nationwide campaign of “civil disobedience”.

Analysts have expressed concern that resistance to the coup could be brutally repressed.

“The military will have little option but to crush it by force,” said Magdi el-Gizouli of the Rift Valley Institute.

DARBANDIKHAN, Iraq — Iraqi officials warned on Tuesday of a drastic drop in the flow of water in a river from Iran due to low rainfall and dam-building in the neighbouring Islamic republic.

The Sirwan river begins in Iran, flowing to Darbandikhan Dam in north-eastern Iraq before going through the rural province of Diyala and joining the Tigris.

“There has been an unprecedented decline,” said Rahman Khani, the director of Darbandikhan Dam. “The water level has fallen by 7.5 metres in one year.”

The drop was attributed both to low levels of precipitation and “the building of more dams in Iran which retain water”, he told AFP.

Khani said the dam had this year received 900 million cubic metres of water — a fraction of the annual average of 4.7 billion cubic metres.

The decline had led to a 30 per cent fall in electricity production from the dam, he added, warning against the impact on agriculture in Diyala province.

The situation has prompted Iraq’s Water Resources Minister Mahdi Al Hamdani to call on his government to file a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

A foreign ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the matter.

Aoun Thiab, a senior adviser at the water ministry, said Iran was “violating international law by diverting a river flow” based on the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention on the use of water that cross international borders.

Thiab acknowledged however that seeking justice would be “a political decision and not a technical one”.

“The waters of the Sirwan River have been completely cut off,” he told AFP.

Iraq — which relies on Iran for much of its electricity — has suffered extreme water shortages in many areas in recent years.

This is owing in large part to upstream dam-building in Iran and Turkey, but also to factors relating to climate change and droughts, which have affected the wider region.

Iran has also suffered due to low rainfall, experiencing its own decline in water levels due to droughts, according to a report from the Iranian space agency cited by Mehr news agency.

By Jihad Dorgham
Agence France-Presse

ASHAAFEAN RESERVE, Libya — A nature reserve near the capital of war-scarred Libya that has long been a sanctuary for hyenas, rare birds and plants is now under threat due to climate change and human activity.

A two-hour drive east of Tripoli into the Nafusa Mountain range, the Ashaafean park was added to UNESCO’s list of biosphere reserves last month.

It includes dry woodland, grassland and desert on the edge of the Sahara — ideal habitats for the increasingly rare houbara bustard, a large bird.

“Ongoing climate change, the associated lack of rainfall and long waves of drought in the summer have made the reserve vulnerable to repeated fires in recent years,” said Anas Al Qiyadi, of the Libyan Wildlife Trust.

Along with unauthorised logging and construction, these factors have “damaged the diversity of flora and fauna”, he said.

But Qiyadi is hoping that the UNESCO listing will help protect the park.

“The biosphere reserve’s 83,060 hectare core area is home to a variety of rare and/or endangered species,” the UN cultural agency said on its website.

They include 350 plant species, some medicinal or aromatic, as well as threatened birds, reptiles and mammals.

Some 65,000 people also live in the wider park area.

Ashaafean was designated as a nature reserve under dictator Muammar Qadhafi in 1978.

But in the decade of violence that followed Qadhafi’s 2011 overthrow in a NATO-backed revolt, the fragile and divided Libyan state has provided little protection to its nine nature reserves, increasingly threatened by human activity.

Qiyadi said several initiatives were underway to protect the reserves, including a programme to breed endangered tortoises in captivity and release them into the wild.

“A few days ago, we released 36 endangered tortoises into the [Ashaafean] park,” he said.

Volunteers have also signed up to water trees throughout Libya’s long periods of drought, Qiyadi said, adding that irrigation networks alone were not enough.

“Because the water source is a long way from the reserve, we and a group of volunteers have started campaigns to irrigate and plant more trees, but that needs ongoing attention.”

Drought and deadly forest fires hit several countries across the Mediterranean this year, notably in neighbouring Algeria.

Libya was largely spared this time, but since 2015 it has seen huge fires that have killed many endangered animals and trees over a century old.

Ashaafean is the first Libyan site to be categorised as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

The designation aims to promote sustainable development, protect ecosystems and help support research and education.

Tareq Al Jdeidy, a scientist at the University of Tripoli who led a campaign for the listing, said it was a step towards better protection for one of Libya’s most precious reserves.

The designation means “it will attract attention internationally from organisations focusing on the environment, plant and animal life — there will be studies on how to develop it”, he said.

According to UNESCO, most of the reserve’s residents make a living from traditional sustainable agriculture as well as wood gathering and beekeeping.

“The region is known for the quality of its olives and oil,” it said when announcing the designation.

Jdeidy hopes the park will both help the local economy and serve as an example of efforts to combat desertification.

“It will support local residents both directly and indirectly through development programmes linked to the reserve,” he said.

KHARTOUM — By ousting senior civilian figures and disrupting a transition to democracy, Sudan’s generals have ensured they maintain control in the East African country, as they have for most of its post-independence history, analysts say.

On Monday security forces detained civilian leaders, including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who have shared power with the military following the ouster of the autocratic president Field Marshal Omar Al Bashir more than two years ago.

Gen. Abdel Fattah Al Burhan declared a state of emergency and dissolved the Cabinet, as well as the ruling Sovereign Council of military and civilian figures which he has led since August 2019.

The Council was supposed to pave the way for full civilian rule.

Since its independence from Britain and Egypt in 1956, Sudan has experienced rare democratic interludes, but overwhelmingly years of rule under military leaders.

The latest putsch “looks very much like an attempt by the security forces to maintain control over economic and political interests, and to resist the flip” to a civilian order, said Jonas Horner of the International Crisis Group.

The army’s move “epitomises their fears” of civilian rule “in a country which was under the control of the military for 52 out of its 65 years of independence”, Horner said.

To Magdi El Gizouli of the Rift Valley Institute “the coup was far from surprising”.

The Sovereign Council ruled the country alongside a transitional government led by Hamdok, an economist, but the role of civilian leaders had been receding.

The main civilian bloc, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) which led anti-Bashir protests, splintered into two opposing factions, one of which held demonstrations in support of the military.

An ‘engineered’ crisis 

Critics alleged those protests were being driven by members of the military and security forces, and involved counter-revolutionary sympathisers with the former regime.

“The crisis at hand is engineered — and is in the shape of a creeping coup,” mainstream FFC leader Yasser Arman said two days before the military made its move.

Last month the government said it had thwarted a coup attempt, and Burhan dismissed as “slander” suggestions that the army was involved in that manoeuvre.

Ahmed Soliman, an analyst from Britain’s Chatham House think-tank, told AFP the military has resisted significant reforms including “professionalisation and civilian oversight” of its institutions, as well as its business interests.

The military dominates lucrative companies specialising in everything from agriculture to infrastructure projects.

Hamdok said last year that 80 per cent of the country’s public resources were “outside the finance ministry’s control”, although he did not specify the proportion controlled by the army.

Such “really critical issues in the transition have fuelled very recent turmoil that is taking place in Sudan and perhaps set the stage for this hostile takeover by the military”, Soliman said.

The military’s actions are likely to lead to more instability, he added, so “apart from securing their own interests” it is difficult to know what the officers are trying to achieve, Soliman added.

Protests against the coup have already led to three deaths on Monday, and there will be “heavy civilian resistance”, Gizouli said.

“The military will have little option but to crush it by force,” he said.

Gizouli believes Burhan will remain in power for the foreseeable future but might talk with civilian leaders who remain free, like Foreign Minister Mariam Al Mahdi.

“He still needs a civilian face for the government,” Gizouli said.

KHARTOUM — Sudan's top general declared a state of emergency, dissolved the authorities leading country's democratic transition, and announced the formation of a new government after soldiers detained civilian leaders Monday in what activists denounced as a "coup".

General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan's announcement in a televised address came after armed forces detained figures of the government in charge of leading the transition to democracy since the April 2019 ouster of autocratic president Omar Al Bashir.

"To rectify the revolution's course, we have decided to declare a state of emergency nationwide... dissolve the transitional sovereign council, and dissolve the cabinet," Burhan said.

His statement came as clashes erupted in the capital Khartoum, with soldiers firing live rounds at people who took to the streets to protest against the power grab.

The violence was largely centred outside the army headquarters in the capital hours after soldiers detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, ministers in his government and civilian members of Sudan's ruling council, the information ministry said.

They were taken away after "refusing to support the coup", it said on Facebook.

Internet services were cut across the country around dawn and the main roads and bridges into Khartoum shut, before soldiers stormed the headquarters of Sudan's state broadcaster in the capital's twin city of Omdurman, the ministry said.

People took to the streets soon after, setting tyres ablaze and piling rows of bricks across roads to block them in protest against the military move, an AFP correspondent reported.

“Military forces have fired live bullets on protesters rejecting the military coup outside the army headquarters,” the information ministry said.

Around a dozen people have so far been wounded in the clashes, according to the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, an independent medics union.

International concern 

The power grab, which comes after weeks of tensions between the military and civilian figures sharing power since Bashir’s ouster, was condemned by the international community.

The European Union called for the release of the civilian leadership and insisted “violence and bloodshed must be avoided”.

“The EU is very concerned about Sudan’s military forces reportedly putting Prime Minister Hamdok under house arrest, as well as detaining other members of the civilian leadership, and we urge for their fast release,” said European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali.

America’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman said “the US is deeply alarmed at reports of a military takeover of the transitional government”.

“Any changes to the transitional government by force puts at risk US assistance,” he said on Twitter.

The UN described the detentions as “unacceptable”.

“I call on the security forces to immediately release those who have been unlawfully detained or placed under house arrest,” said Volker Perthes, its special representative to Sudan.

The African Union and Arab League also expressed concern.

‘Military coup’ 

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of trade unions which were key in leading the 2019 anti-Bashir protests, denounced what it called a “military coup” and urged demonstrators “to fiercely resist” it.

The developments come two days after a Sudanese faction calling for a transfer of power to civilian rule warned of a “creeping coup”, at a news conference that was attacked by an unidentified mob.

Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades, is behind bars in Khartoum’s high security Kober prison.

The ex-president is wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Since August 2019, the country has been led by a civilian-military administration tasked with overseeing the transition to full civilian rule.

But the main civilian bloc, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), which led the anti-Bashir protests in 2019, has splintered into two opposing factions.

“The crisis at hand is engineered, and is in the shape of a creeping coup,” mainstream FFC leader Yasser Arman told Saturday’s news conference in Khartoum.

“We renew our confidence in the government, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, and reforming transitional institutions — but without dictations or imposition,” Arman added.

Sudan’s bankers’ association and doctors’ union on Monday declared campaigns of “civil disobedience”.

Protesters marched through the streets of Khartoum carrying the Sudanese flag.

“Civilian rule is the people’s choice”, and “No to military rule”, some of them chanted.

“We will not accept military rule and we are ready to give our lives for the democratic transition in Sudan,” said demonstrator Haitham Mohamed.

“We will not leave the streets until the civilian government is back and the transition is back,” said Sawsan Bashir, another protester.

Rival protests 

Tensions between the two sides have long simmered, but divisions ratcheted up after a failed coup on September 21 this year.

Last week tens of thousands of Sudanese marched in several cities to back the full transfer of power to civilians, and to counter a rival days-long sit-in outside the presidential palace in Khartoum demanding a return to “military rule”.

Hamdok has previously described the splits in the transitional government as the “worst and most dangerous crisis” facing the transition.

On Saturday, Hamdok denied rumours he had agreed to a Cabinet reshuffle, calling them “not accurate”.

The premier also “emphasised that he does not monopolise the right to decide the fate of transitional institutions”.

Also on Saturday, Feltman met jointly with Hamdok, Burhan and paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

“Feltman emphasised US support for a civilian democratic transition in accordance with the expressed wishes of Sudan’s people,” the US embassy in Khartoum said at the time.

Analysts have said the recent mass protests showed strong support for a civilian-led democracy, but warned street demonstrations may have little impact on the powerful factions pushing a return to military rule.

KHARTOUM — Sudan’s civilian leaders were detained on Monday in a “coup”, the information ministry said, before a top general dissolved the government and sovereign council and declared a state of emergency.

The events unfolded as Sudan was navigating a precarious transition to civilian rule, and came more than two years after the end of decades of rule under president Omar Al Bashir.

Here’s what we know about Monday’s developments:

What happened? 

The Internet and phone lines were largely cut around dawn, shortly before reports began emerging that armed forces had “arrested” the leaders of Sudan’s transitional authorities.

“Civilian members of the transitional sovereign council and a number of ministers from the transitional government have been detained,” the information ministry confirmed later.

It said Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was among them.

They were taken away “to an unidentified location” after “refusing to support the coup”, it said.

People took to the streets of Khartoum later to protest against the power grab, AFP correspondents reported, before soldiers opened fire on them with live rounds near the army headquarters, wounding at least 12, according to an independent doctors group.

General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan appeared on television later to announce the removal of the transitional authorities and declare a state of emergency.

Who is behind the detentions? 

The information ministry said “joint military forces” were behind the detentions.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of trade unions which were key in leading anti-Bashir protests in 2019, denounced a “military coup”.

Soldiers stormed the headquarters of Sudan’s state broadcaster in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, the information ministry said, before the general made his appearance.

Apart from Burhan’s televised address, the information ministry’s statements on Facebook have been the only channel providing regular announcements.

Who organised protests? 

The prime minister’s office urged people to take to the streets.

“We call on the Sudanese people to protest using all peaceful means possible... to take back their revolution from the thieves,” it said in a statement.

Sudan’s bankers’ association and doctors’ union declared campaigns of “civil disobedience”.

People set alight tyres and blocked Khartoum’s roads in protest, while others marched through the streets of the capital chanting anti-coup slogans and carrying the Sudanese flag.

The latest protests come after tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied on Thursday across Sudan to counter a week-long sit-in supporting pro-military rule in central Khartoum.

Critics charged that the sit-in was orchestrated by senior figures in the security forces, Bashir sympathisers and other “counterrevolutionaries”.

The United States reacted quickly, saying it was “deeply alarmed at reports of a military takeover of the transitional government”.

“This would contravene the Constitutional Declaration [which outlines the transition] and the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people,” said US special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman.

UN special representative to Sudan Volker Perthes said the detentions were “unacceptable”.

“I call on the security forces to immediately release those who have been unlawfully detained or placed under house arrest,” he said on Twitter.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit “expressed deep concern over the developments in Sudan” and urged all sides to adhere to an August 2019 power-sharing deal.

African Union commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat called for the “immediate resumption” of dialogue between Sudan’s military and civilians and expressed “deep dismay” at the developments in Sudan.

The European Union called for the “fast release” of Sudan’s civilian leaders and insisted “violence and bloodshed must be avoided”.

Germany said that “the attempted overthrow must come to an immediate end”.

ANKARA — Turkey’s relations with Western allies edged on Monday toward their deepest crisis of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 19-year rule, as world capitals braced for Ankara’s possible expulsion of ambassadors from the US and nine other countries.

The lira broke through historic lows ahead of a Cabinet meeting that could prove fateful to Turkey’s economic and diplomatic standing for the coming months — and some analysts fear years.

The Cabinet session will address Erdogan’s decision next Saturday to declare the Western envoys “persona non grata” for their joint statement in support of jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala.

Expulsion orders are officially issued by foreign ministries and none of the Western capitals had reported receiving any by Monday.

Some analysts said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and a few other Cabinet members were still trying to talk Erdogan out of following through on his threat and to change his mind.

But the Turkish lira — a gauge of both investor confidence and political stability — lost more than 1 per cent in value on fears of an effective break in Ankara’s relations with its main allies and most important trading partners.

“Typically, the countries whose ambassadors have been kicked out retaliate with tit-for-tat expulsions, potentially in a coordinated manner,” Eurasia Group’s Europe Director Emre Peker said.

“Restoring high-level diplomatic relations after such a spat would prove challenging.”

‘False justification’ 

The crisis started when the embassies of the United States, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden issued a highly unusual statement last Monday calling for Kavala’s release.

The 64-year-old civil society leader and businessman has been in jail without a conviction for four years.

Supporters view Kavala as an innocent symbol of the growing intolerance of political dissent Erdogan developed after surviving a failed military putsch in 2016.

But Erdogan accuses Kavala of financing a wave of 2013 anti-government protests and then playing a role in the coup attempt.

The diplomatic escalation comes as Erdogan faces falling domestic approval numbers and a brewing economic crisis that has seen life turn more painful for ordinary Turks.

Main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused Erdogan of trying to artificially deflect attention from Turkey’s economic woes ahead of a general election due by June 2023.

“These actions are not to protect the national interests, it’s an attempt to create false justifications for the economy that he has destroyed,” Kilicdaroglu tweeted on Saturday.

‘More difficult days’ 

Erdogan’s rule as prime minister and president has been punctuated by a series of crises and then rapprochements with the West.

But analysts believe his latest actions could open up the deepest and most lasting rift to date.

They could also cast a pall over a G-20 meeting in Rome this weekend at which Erdogan had expected to discuss with US President Joe Biden his hopes of buying a large batch of US fighter planes.

Erdogan this month further threatened to launch a new military campaign in Syria and orchestrated changes at the central bank that infuriated investors and saw the lira accelerate its record slide.

A dollar now buys about 9.75 liras. The exchange rate stood at less than 7.4 liras at the start of the year — and at 3.5 liras in 2017.

“I am really sad for my country,” Istanbul law office worker Gulseren Pilat said as the country awaited Erdogan’s next move.

“I really hope that it will not be as bad as we fear,” said Pilat. “But I am convinced that even more difficult days await us.”

‘Skipping confrontation’  

Turkey’s financial problems have been accompanied by an unusual spike in dissent from the country’s business community.

The Turkish Industry and Business Association issued a veiled swipe at Erdogan last week by urging the government to focus on stabilising the lira and bring the annual inflation rate — now at almost 20 per cent — under control.

But some analysts pointed out that some European powers — including fellow NATO member Britain — refrained from joining the Western call for Kavala’s release.

“The conspicuous absence of the UK, Spain, and Italy... is telling, pointing at the emergence of a sub-group within the Western family of nations adept at skipping confrontation with Ankara,” political analyst Soner Cagaptay wrote.