In a press statement approved by all 15 council members, the UN Security Council (UNSC) expressed “solidarity” with the Sudanese people and “called upon all parties to exercise the utmost restraint, refrain from the use of violence and emphasized the importance of full respect for human rights, including the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”
The statement is the first by the UNSC since the military dissolved the country’s power-sharing transitional government, expressing “serious concern” but falling short of issuing a stronger condemnation of the coup.
The statement also demanded the immediate release of all those detained and affirmed its readiness “to support efforts to realize Sudan’s democratic transition” and the peoples’ aspirations “for an inclusive, peaceful, stable, democratic and prosperous future.”
The text, which was drafted by the UK, is the product of days of laborious talks among council members that had started with an urgent session scheduled on Tuesday. Diplomats expressed that it went through several revisions, mainly to address objections from Russia, which did not want to “condemn” the military takeover as originally proposed.
The text explicitly indicates that deposed Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok returned home on Tuesday evening after having been arrested. However, the UN has maintained he is being denied freedom of movement. Foreign diplomats met Hamdok late on Wednesday at his residence and reported him being in good health.
Early on Monday, the Sudanese military arrested the country’s prime minister and members of the civilian government, according to a statement by officials in the capital Khartoum.
Since then, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the dissolution of the transitional government and the Sovereignty Council and declared a nationwide state of emergency.
