Sudan’s post-uprising PM unharmed in assassination bid

Khartoum

Sudan’s post-uprising Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok survived unharmed after a bomb and gun attack targeted his convoy Monday on the way to work in the capital Khartoum, officials and state media said.

The attack on Hamdok, a seasoned economist named premier last August, was staged in the Kober district of northeast Khartoum, in an apparent sign of the shakiness of Sudan’s transition to civilian rule. “An explosion hit as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s car was driving by but thank God no one was hurt,” Ali Bakhit, his office director, said in a Facebook post.

Sudan’s official news agency SUNA said that Hamdok, who later chaired an extraordinary cabinet meeting, was in “good health and a safe place”. The unidentified attackers struck at “around 9 am at the entrance to Kober bridge... at the time when Hamdok usually heads to his office” in the city centre, SUNA said.

The cabinet said an explosion and multiple gunshots targeted the convoy. Images on state television showed at least two damaged vehicles at the blast site, which was quickly cordoned off by police. Hamdok, 64, wrote on his official Twitter account that he was unharmed and released two photos of himself beaming while seated at his desk.

“I would like to assure the people of Sudan that I am safe and in good shape,” he said. He appeared on television exchanging hugs with public figures who congratulated him for surviving the attempt on his life. US Assistant Secretary of State Tibor Nagy said Washington “strongly supports” Sudan’s transitional government and was “monitoring the situation closely”.

UNAMID, the United Nations-African Union mission in Sudan, for its part, said the “perpetrators of such a heinous act aim at derailing the transitional period”.