Sudan’s army chief orders release of 4 ministers detained in coup

Sudan’s army General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has ordered the release of four civilian ministers detained since he led a military coup last week, state-run television said. Sudan TV on Thursday identified the four ministers as Hashem Hassab Alrasoul, telecommunications minister; Ali Geddo, trade minister; Hamza Baloul, information minister; and Youssef Adam, youth and sports minister. Several others remain detained. Also on Thursday, al-Burhan held a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, agreeing on the need to accelerate the formation of a government, according to al-Burhan’s office. The US State Department said Blinken in the call urged Burhan to immediately release all political figures detained since the coup and “return to a dialogue that returns Prime Minister [Abdalla] Hamdok to office and restores civilian-led governance in Sudan”. Alex De Waal, the executive director of the World Peace Foundation, told Al Jazeera that the US could use economic leverage to speed up the formation of a civilian government. “The US has quite a considerable leverage because of the very deep economic financial hole that Sudan is,” he said. “Other countries might have been able to get by on the bail out of the Gulf states, but in the case of Sudan, it can only actually stabilise its economy with major assistance, debt rescheduling, debt relief, assistance from the World Bank and the IMF, which requires the United States.” “So the US actually has very strong cards to play,” he said.

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Sudan’s army chief orders release of 4 ministers detained in coup