AU calls for immediate talks, release of detained officials in Sudan

African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat has called for the immediate release of arrested leaders in Sudan. 

Unidentified armed men arrested a number of Sudanese leaders early Monday, after weeks of tensions between the military and civilian transitional authorities.

The detentions came as tensions peaked between the military and civilian figures who shared power since August 2019 following the ouster of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir months earlier.

In a statement on Monday, Moussa said the arrest of political leaders goes against human rights.

Among those arrested are Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdock and other civilian officials.

Mousa further called for the immediate resumption of consultations between civilians and the military.

This, he said should be done within the framework of the Political Declaration and the Constitutional Decree.

''The Chairperson reaffirms that dialogue and consensus is the only relevant path to save the country and its democratic transition,'' he said.

Sudan has been undergoing a precarious transition marred by political divisions and power struggles since the April 2019 ouster of President Omar al-Bashir.

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

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 the Saturday press conference in the capital Khartoum.

By D Tarus