World Bank halts operations in Sudan, blow to coup leaders.

In response to the military’s seizure of power from a transitional government, the World Bank froze disbursements for operations in Sudan on Wednesday, while state oil firm workers, physicians, and pilots joined civilian groups denouncing the move.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets since the military’s leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, staged a coup on Monday, and several people have been murdered in clashes with the security forces.

Burhan dismissed the mixed civilian-military council set up to shepherd the country to democratic elections after tyrant Omar al-Bashir was deposed in a popular rebellion in April 2019.

He claimed that he took steps to keep the country from devolving into civil war, but the World Bank’s decision to freeze payments and process new operations is a blow for one of Africa’s poorest countries.

Sudan re-engaged with the bank in March, after being cut off from the global financial system for three decades under Bashir’s government. Sudan now has access to a loan of $2 billion.

Abdalla Hamdok, the prime minister of the deposed transitional government, had praised the World Bank’s re-engagement as a major achievement and relied on the financing for a number of substantial development projects.

Hard economic reforms had been enacted by the administration, which resulted in quick arrear clearances, debt relief and ongoing World Bank and IMF support.

According to the United Nations office in Sudan, Hamdok, who was arrested on Monday and is being held under house arrest, was in good health when envoys from France, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations paid him a visit on Wednesday. The West has urged the reinstatement of the council as well as the release of civilian leaders.

Any retreat from the path to democracy, according to a source close to Hamdok, jeopardises Sudan’s stability and progress, and he warns against employing violence against protestors.

Burhan had withdrawn six Sudanese ambassadors from their seats, Sudan state television reported late Wednesday, probably because they opposed the military coup. The six included envoys to the United States, the European Union, China, Qatar, France, and the Geneva mission’s chairman.