KHARTOUM: Sudanese authorities have released several civilian leaders detained since last month’s military coup, a former captive said on Monday, amid efforts to restore a fragile transition process towards full democracy.

“I was released late yesterday evening,” following a deal to reverse the military takeover, the head of Sudan’s Congress Party, Omar al-Degeir, who was among civilians arrested in the army’s October 25 power grab, said.

“I was in solitary confinement and completely cut off from the world throughout this period.” The Congress Party, however, slammed Sunday’s deal, saying it “explicitly legitimised the continuation of the coup regime”.

Other civilian politicians were also released, including Sedeeq al-Sadiq al-Mahdi of the Umma Party, Sudan’s largest political group.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s advisor Yasser Arman, a leading figure of Sudan’s main civilian bloc, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), was among those freed, according to Degeir. But other key civilian figures and ministers deposed in the coup have yet to be freed.

On Monday, 12 out of the 17 FFC members in Hamdok’s dismissed government, including foreign minister Mariam al-Mahdi, announced their resignation, refusing to collaborate with the coup leaders.

“We don’t question his integrity as a patriot or as a leader... but what happened yesterday was a setback, a setback in the trust,” she told the US think-tank, Atlantic Council, after Hamdok met with his cabinet.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2021