Blast targets Sudanese PM’s convoy in apparent assassination attempt Explosion went off near convoy as Abdalla Hamdok was heading to office in Khartoum
Sudanese rescue teams and security forces gather next to a damaged vehicle at the site of an apparent assassination attemptagainst Abdalla Hamdok. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images
Sudan’s prime minister has survived an apparent assassination attempt after an explosion went off near his convoy in the capital, Khartoum, according to state media.
Abdalla Hamdok’s family confirmed he was safe following the explosion. Sudanese state TV said Hamdok was heading to his office when the blast took place, and that he was taken to a safe place.
The attack highlighted the fragility of Sudan’s transition to civilian rule, almost a year after pro-democracy protesters forced the military to remove the autocratic president Omar al-Bashir from power and replace him with a joint military-civilian government.
However, military generals remain the de facto rulers of the country and have shown little willingness to hand over power to civilians.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, and it was unclear what type of device caused the explosion.
Abdalla Hamdok was appointed prime minister last August. Photograph: AP
Footage posted online showed two white, Japanese-made SUVs vehicles used by Sudan’s top officials parked on a street, damaged and their widows broken. Another vehicle was also badly damaged in the blast. Several dozen people were seen at the site of the attack, chanting: “With our blood and soul, we redeem you, Hamdok.”
The protest movement that led the uprising against Bashir called the blast a terrorist attack. The statement by the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change called on people “to take to the streets to show our unity and cohesion … and protect the transitional authority”.
After months of negotiations, the military and the pro-democracy movement reached a power-sharing deal in August, at which point Hamdok took office. The deal established a joint military-civilian sovereign council to govern Sudan for the following three years.
Khalid Omar, a prominent activist and secretary general of the Sudanese Congress party, said the attempt on ’Hamdok’s life was a new chapter in the conspiracy against the Sudanese revolution.
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The blast came less than two months after an armed revolt from within Sudan’s security forces shut down the capital’s airport and left at least two people dead. The standoff between the armed forces and rogue intelligence officers paralysed street life in several parts of Khartoum, along with another western city.
Bashir came to power in 1989 in an Islamist-backed military coup and imposed a strict interpretation of religion on its citizens, limiting personal freedoms. The country was an international pariah because of its support of extreme Islamists.
Transitional authorities suggested in February that they were prepared to hand over Bashir to the international criminal court along with other former officials wanted by the ICC.
Hamdok has confirmed the government will cooperate with the court’s efforts to prosecute those wanted for war crimes and genocide in connection with the Darfur conflict in Sudan in the 2000s.
Sudan’s transitional government is under pressure to end wars with rebel groups as it seeks to rehabilitate the country’s battered economy, attract much-needed foreign aid and deliver the democracy it promises.
Nearly a year after Bashir was ousted, the country faces a dire economic crisis. Inflation stands at 60% and the unemployment rate in 2019 was 22.1%, according to the International Monetary Fund. The government has said 30% of Sudan’s young people, who make up more than half of the over 42 million population, are without jobs.
