SUDAN has declared a "state of emergency" after the country's army dissolved the government in what the nation's PM is calling a "complete coup".
Thousands have taken to the streets in protest in the capital Khartoum after the interim prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, and five other senior officials were detained.
The military takeover was announced on TV on Monday by General Abdel Fattah Burhan – the chair of the sovereign council that has been overseeing the new government.
General Burham said the military was intervening due to arguments among political factions and that he would appoint a technocratic government – a system where decision-makers are chosen for their expertise, not popularity.
The military would prepare for the country for the next election in July 2023, he said.
On Monday Mr Hamdok's office said on Facebook that he and his wife had been arrested in a "complete coup".
Forces from the military and from the powerful, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who are led by a ruthless former warlord, are stationed in the streets in Khartoum.
"Civilian members of the transitional sovereign council and a number of ministers from the transitional government have been detained by joint military forces," the information ministry said.
"They have been led to an unidentified location."
In response, the country's main pro-democracy group and the largest political party urged people to take to the streets.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of trade unions that were key in ending the rule of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, denounced what it called a "military coup" and urged demonstrators "to fiercely resist" it.
Thousands of people flooded the streets of the capital city Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman.
At least seven people have been killed and another 140 injured in the protests, Al Jazeera has stated.
Footage shared online appeared to show protesters blocking streets and setting fire to tires as security forces used tear gas to disperse them.
Internet services were cut across the country and the main roads and bridges connecting Khartoum were closed, the information ministry said.
GRIPPED BY ECONOMIC CRISIS
Khartoum airport was shut and international flights were suspended, according to the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel.
Sudan has been on edge since a failed coup plot last month unleashed bitter recriminations between military and civilian groups.
They had shared power following the ousting al-Bashir, who was toppled and jailed after months of street protests.
A political transition agreed after his ouster has seen Sudan emerge from its isolation under three decades of rule by Bashir and was meant to lead to elections by the end of 2023.
Sudan remains in the middle of an economic crisis with high inflation and shortages of basic goods.
US Special Envoy Jeffrey Feltman said the United States was deeply alarmed at reports of a military takeover of the transitional government in Sudan.
The US has suspended $700 million in aid to Sudan following the military takeover.
"The civilian-led transitional government should be immediately restored and represents the will of the people," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday.
"In light of these developments, the United States is pausing assistance."
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