General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the Sudanese Army Leader ordered a significant re-organisation of the nation’s military hierarchy on Thursday, amid political and economic unrest.
Along with the general inspector, the military’s ground forces, operations, and supply chiefs have all changed.
The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mohamed Osman Al-hussein, remained his job despite the announcement of a change in the air force’s top brass.
This represents the biggest shift in army command since a coup headed by Burhan and other generals on October 25 terminated a transitional alliance with political organisations of the general public.
On October 25, 2021, the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, took control of the government in a military coup. At least five senior government figures were initially detained.
Civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok refused to declare support for the coup and on October 25 called for popular resistance; he was moved to house arrest on October 26.
Internet outages were reported. Later the same day, the Sovereignty Council was dissolved, a state of emergency was put in place, and a majority of the Hamdok Cabinet and a number of pro-government supporters were arrested.
As of November 5, 2021, the list of those detained included “government ministers, members of political parties, lawyers, civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and protest leaders”, who were held in secret locations, without access to their families or lawyers.