SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – Al-Burhan wants Hamdok to lead Sudan’s new government

28/10/2021: Multiple sources – Al-Burhan wants Hamdok to lead Sudan’s new government

• Sudan Tribune

• Bloomberg, by Simon Marks and Mohammed Alamin

• AP, by Noha Elhennawy

The head of the military council, Abdulfattah al-Burhan, said he wants to appoint a “technocrat prime minister” to form a new transitional government to share leadership with the military, with Abdallah Hamdok his favourite candidate.

Al-Burhan sees Hamdok’s involvement as key to building international credibility for the new administration, with the US and World Bank freezing aid and the African Union suspending Sudan’s membership.

The overtures to Hamdok suggest the military is facing difficulties finding civilian representatives for the new administration, with most political parties rejecting the coup and no significant figure speaking favourably.

Hamdok’s refusal to join a military-appointed government dashes al-Burhan’s hopes for a credible prime minister, Jonas Horner of the International Crisis Group told Bloomberg. Al-Burhan would like a “pliant” new premier, “but such has been the military’s vast miscalculation that underpinned the coup, the position is likely to appear something of a poisoned chalice to many.”