Internet disrupted in Sudan ahead of protests for civilian rule

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudan has seen internet service cut off on Saturday, hours before planned protests demanding civilian rule.

Telecommunications companies in Sudan disrupted internet service across the country since early morning, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

The move came hours before the start of planned protests called by the Sudanese Professionals Association, a movement leading protests against the military, to demand the handover of power to civilians.

Sudan has been in turmoil since Oct. 25 when the Sudanese military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency.

Hamdok, however, was reinstated on Nov. 21 under an agreement with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese army chief, in a move that aimed to resolve a political crisis that threatened to undermine Sudan's transition to democracy.

While countries and regional and international organizations, including the United Nations, welcomed the agreement, Sudanese political and civil forces rejected it, considering it an "attempt to legitimize the coup."

Before the military takeover, Sudan was administered by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials overseeing the transition period until elections in 2023 as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar