Who is in control after government was dissolved?
Sudanese military leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has dismissed the government and declared a national state of emergency.
He said the military would take control until a new government of technocrats was formed to rule under the direction of the army.
Here is everything you need to know about what has happened in the country and who is involved:
Q Who is in charge of Sudan?
AThe country began its transition to democracy after a popular uprising led to the removal of long-time president Omar Al Bashir in April 2019.
Al Bashir, who is in jail, is wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes in the western region of Darfur.
A power-sharing deal was agreed to by pro-democracy alliance the Forces of Freedom and Change and the military in August 2019.
The Sovereign Council, led by Gen Al Burhan, was then formed to oversee a transitional government until elections were held in 2023.
Under the deal, the military was to be in charge for the first phase of the transitional government, before handing control to a civilian leader next month to begin the second phase.
The events yesterday came after weeks of tension between the military and civilian leaders.
Internet activity tracking website Net Blocks reported cuts to services in Sudan yesterday morning and residents told The National they were unable to go online.
Internet cuts were common during the 2019 uprising and were used by authorities to prevent public gatherings from growing.
Who is Gen Al Burhan?
He was chairman of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council before announcing it would be dissolved yesterday along with the transitional government.
He is a veteran of the armed forces and came to prominence when he was assigned a senior role under Al Bashir’s government.
Born in 1960 to a Sufi family in the village of Gandatu, north of Khartoum, Gen Al Burhan studied at a Sudanese military academy and later in Egypt and Jordan. He is married and has three children.
What is the military’s role? Although it is role is supposed to be largely honorary, civilians have repeatedly complained about military overreach in foreign policy and peace negotiations.
The military has, meanwhile, accused civilian parties of mismanagement and monopolising power.
A coalition of rebel groups and political parties recently aligned themselves with the armed forces and called for the civilian-led Cabinet to be dissolved.
One of the disputes between military and civilian leaders in the transitional government involved the issue of bringing Al Bashir to justice over his involvement in the Darfur conflict in the early 2000s.
The military and the government were at odds over whether to hand him over to the ICC for trial, with the generals reluctant to do so.
Another issue of contention was an investigation into the killings of pro-democracy protesters on June 3, 2019, in which military forces have been implicated for violently dispersing a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum.
Activists and civilian groups have been frustrated by delays in making the findings of the investigation public.
Civilians have also pushed for oversight and restructuring of the military, particularly through the integration of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.
What led to Al Bashir’s downfall?
A worsening economic crisis that sent the currency plunging and created frequent shortages of bread and fuel.
The transitional government introduced reforms monitored by the International Monetary Fund in a successful effort to secure debt relief and attract foreign financing.
This came after Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok led efforts to remove Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, opening the country up for investment.
After the reforms were introduced, inflation rose to more than 400 per cent and many Sudanese have complained of struggling to get by. There have been protests against economic conditions.
What about Sudan’s neighbours?
The country is part of a volatile region. Several of its neighbours, including Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan, have been affected by political upheaval and conflict.
Since late last year, violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has pushed tens of thousands of refugees into eastern Sudan and caused tension in agricultural lands along the border.
Sudan and Egypt have also called for a binding deal over the operation of a dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile.
Talks have stalled but Ethiopia has started filling the reservoir behind the dam, which Sudan says will put its people, dams and water centres at risk.