SUDAN is at a “dangerous turning point,” Abdalla Hamdok said yesterday as he announced his resignation as the country’s prime minister.

Mr Hamdok made his announcement just hours after two people were killed in mass protests against last October’s military coup.

In his speech, the prime minister said discussions were needed to agree on a new “national charter” and to “draw a road map” for a transfer to civilian rule.

“In view of the fragmentation of the political forces and conflicts between the [military and civilian] components of the transition … despite everything that has been done to reach a consensus … it has not happened,“ he said in a televised address.

Sudan is “crossing a dangerous turning point that threatens its whole survival,” he said, adding that he had “tried his best to stop the country from sliding towards disaster.”

His shock resignation came just two months after he was reinstated as prime minister, having been held under house arrest following the coup.

Mr Hamdok was accused of betraying the revolutionary movement after he signed an agreement with the military junta allowing it to hold on to power until planned elections in July 2023.

Protests have continued but have been met with violence by the authorities and the notorious Rapid Support Forces, formerly known as the Janjaweed.

Security forces were accused of mass rape and gang rape during a protest on December 19 last year before they shot four people dead at the end of the month.

The shooting of two men during yesterday’s protests in the city of Omdurman brought the total death toll since October to 56, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors.

News channel Al Hadath quoted an adviser to military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as saying that the armed forces would not allow anyone to plunge Sudan into chaos, labelling the protests a “physical, psychological and mental drain on the country.”

Protesters have said that 2022 will be “the year of the continuation of the resistance” as they push for an immediate transition to civilian rule.

The Sudanese Communist Party, which played a leading role in the popular movement that ousted former president Omar al-Bashir in 2019, called for the liberation of the people “from the grip of the bloody military regime and its domestic and foreign supporters.

“Victory for the revolution of the great Sudanese people and shame on the military system, the servants of imperialism,” the party said. Morning Star