On 25 October 2021 Sudan's military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, seized full power in a coup against the civilian led half of the transitional government, detaining Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and dissolving the power-sharing institutions created after the 2019 fall of Omar al-Bashir. Since Bashir's ouster, Sudan had been governed by an uneasy partnership between the military and civilian forces under a 2019 constitutional deal, with a Sovereign Council chaired by Burhan and a civilian cabinet under Hamdok, meant to lead to elections and eventual civilian rule. Tensions mounted as the date neared for the military to hand the council's leadership to civilians.
On 25 October soldiers arrested Hamdok, his wife, and several ministers and civilian officials; Hamdok was pressured to endorse the takeover and refused, instead calling from house arrest for peaceful popular resistance. Burhan announced on television that he was dissolving the Sovereign Council and the government, declaring a state of emergency, suspending parts of the constitution, and removing state governors, and said a new technocratic government would lead to elections in 2023. He denied it was a coup, calling it a correction of the transition.
Mass protests erupted and security forces killed demonstrators. International donors condemned the takeover and the US paused 700 million dollars in aid. Hamdok was briefly reinstated in November before resigning in January 2022.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: PM Abdalla Hamdok, detained and placed under house arrest; the civilian side of the transition was dissolved as the military took full control
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (military leader who seized full power)
Abdalla Hamdok (civilian prime minister detained)
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo / Hemedti (RSF commander and Burhan's deputy)
Sources
On 25 October 2021 the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, took control of the government in a military coup, detaining at least five senior government figures; civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok refused to declare support for the coup, called for popular resistance, and was confined to house arrest on 26 October as the Sovereignty Council was dissolved and a state of emergency imposed.
Sudan's military seized power on 25 October, dissolving the transitional government hours after troops arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other senior officials, and as thousands protested, security forces opened fire, killing at least three and wounding at least 80; the takeover came just weeks before the military was supposed to hand leadership of the ruling council to civilians.
The military dissolved the power-sharing Sovereign Council and transitional government and temporarily detained Prime Minister Hamdok; Burhan said the agreement with civilian members had become a conflict threatening peace and unity, suspended several articles of the constitution, and removed state governors, while Hamdok and his wife, first placed under house arrest, were detained in an undisclosed location.
Al-Burhan said a new technocratic government would lead the country until elections in July 2023 and denied he had carried out a coup, saying he was trying to rectify the path of the transition, and on 21 November 2021 Hamdok was reinstated as prime minister under a deal rejected by civilian groups, before resigning on 2 January 2022 amid continuing protests.
Coded fate house arrest is verified: Hamdok was detained then placed under house arrest. Coded as a military coup on 10-25, matching the sources. This ties DIRECTLY to the Sudan 2019-04-11 record (62504112019): the SAME General Burhan who led the military side of the 2019 ouster of Bashir and headed the transitional Sovereign Council here turned against his civilian partners, dissolving the power-sharing arrangement and seizing full control just as he was due to hand the council's leadership to civilians. Burhan denied it was a coup, calling it a correction; the summary notes that framing alongside the near universal coup characterization. Hamdok's brief November reinstatement and January 2022 resignation are noted.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: PM Abdalla Hamdok, detained and placed under house arrest; the civilian side of the transition was dissolved as the military took full control.
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; placed under house arrest. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Associated Press
“Sudan’s military takes power in coup, arrests prime minister,” October 25, 2021
New York Times
“Who is Abdalla Hamdok, the Sudanese prime minister detained in a military coup?,” October 25, 2021
“Sudan’s Prime Minister Was Detained at Home of General Who Led Coup,” October 26, 2021 Suriname
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →