Prime minister of Sudan survives motorcade attack
SUDAN’S reformist prime minister has pledged to press ahead with his country’s “democratic revolution” after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt yesterday.
A motorcade carrying Abdalla Hamdok was rocked by an explosion and sustained gunfire as it approached Cooper Bridge in the capital Khartoum shortly after 9am, officials said.
Mr Hamdok’s armoured vehicle was damaged in the attack but he escaped unharmed, although a police outrider was injured. A little-known group, the “Sudanese Islamic Youth Movement”, claimed responsibility for the attack, seen as an attempt to thwart efforts to make Sudan a civilian democracy after years of military dictatorship.
The prime minister, a Manchestereducated economist who was made head of a transitional government in August, said he would not be deterred.
His appointment helped ease tensions between Sudan’s powerful generals and civilian protesters in the months after a popular revolution forced the military hierarchy to oust Omar al Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years.
A power-sharing agreement between the civilian protest movement and the generals remains uneasy at best, while Mr Hamdok’s position is further undermined by opposition from Islamist and political factions previously aligned with Mr Bashir.
Although Sudan remains under US sanctions, the prime minister enjoys considerable Western support, enraging Islamist groups.
The Sudanese Islamic Youth Movement, which has called itself as the “Sudanese Taliban”, calls Mr Hamdok “an American agent”.
Irfan Siddiq, Britain’s ambassador to Khartoum, called the attempt “deeply worrying”, adding that it “reaffirmed the fragile nature of this transition and the vital role being played by the PM.”