Sudan’s Hamdok survives assassination attempt
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (Photo: Supplied)
March 9th 2020 (SSNN) – Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has survived an assassination attempt as his motorcade drove through the capital, Sudanese activist in Khartoum said.
The activist said the attack targeted Mr Hamdok’s convoy as it was heading to the prime minister’s office.
Details of the attempt remain unclear and neither the government nor the military have yet made an official statement. However, reports indicate an explosion targeted his convoy in the northeast of Khartoum.
A brief video clip posted on Twitter showed a cluster of white, Japanese-made SUVs of the kind used by top Sudanese officials parked haphazardly on a street with a small crowd of people gathered around the vehicles.
Photos posted online by a prominent activist showed undamaged white SUVs but a badly damaged black sedan that appeared to have been hit by a projectile. It was not immediately clear whether the sedan was part of the convoy.
In one clip shown by Sky News Arabia, one of the SUVs in the convoy was blackened and the windows broken but not smashed.
The station also aired footage showing crowds interspersed with soldiers gathering around the stopped convoy on a major road.
The activists also reported heavier than usual security in the Sudanese capital, particularly around the prime minister’s office.
Mr Hamdok took office in August after a power-sharing deal between an opposition movement and the military. The deal came four months after the ouster of dictator Omar Al Bashir amid a wave of street protests against his 29-year rule. Mr Hamdok, a reform-minded economist, has had a career of decades working for several UN agencies around Africa.
Sudanese activists have repeatedly warned that Al Bashir’s supporters were likely to derail Sudan’s passage to democratic rule by launching terrorist attacks to destabilize the country of 40 million people.
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