Sudanese prime minister Abdalla Hamdok survives assassination attempt

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said an attempt on his life on Monday will not stop the "march of change" shortly after an explosion hit his convoy in Khartoum.

A top aide to the prime minister said that Mr Hamdok was safe and well after the explosion.
"I assure the Sudanese people that I am well and completely healthy," the prime minister tweeted.
"What happened will never halt the march for change and will only give an additional boost to the fierce revolutionary wave." The attack took place at the northern end of Kober bridge that connects the suburb of Khartoum North with the city centre, Reuters reported. An activist in Khartoum told The National that Mr Hamdok had been taken to a safe location after the attack, which took place as he was travelling to his office.
Earlier, Ali Bakhit, his office director, said that an explosion hit as Mr Hamdok's car was driving by but no one was hurt.

A brief video clip posted on Twitter showed a cluster of white, Japanese-made SUVs used by top Sudanese officials parked haphazardly on a street with a small crowd of people gathered around.
In a clip shown by Sky News Arabia, one of the vehicles was blackened and the windows broken.

The activists reported significantly heavier security in the Sudanese capital, particularly around Mr Hamdok’s office.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack.

The attempt on Mr Hamdok’s life underlines the fragility of Sudan’s transition to democracy nearly a year after the military removed dictator Omar Al Bashir after months of street protests against his 29-year rule.

Mr Hamdok, an economist with years of experience in UN agencies, took office after a power-sharing agreement reached in August between the country’s top generals and the opposition movement who led the anti-Al Bashir protests.

The deal provides for more than three years of transition rule before free elections are held.
But analysts and activists say that amount of time is long enough for Al Bashir’s hardcore supporters and army officers to plan for a halt to the transition.

Since independence in 1956, Sudan has had a series of shifts from democratic to military rule along with countless failed coup attempts.

That and seemingly endless civil wars in the south and west of the country meant that Sudan, despite its vast natural resources, has had little stability and even less economic health.
Most of the country’s oil wealth was lost when the south seceded in 2011 after about two decades of civil war, depriving the country of a shot at relative prosperity.

Monday’s assassination attempt also comes as the country is in the grip of its latest economic crisis.
An acute shortage of basic goods such as bread and fuel is feeding popular discontent.

In turn, this could embolden stalwarts of Al Bashir’s regime and their allies in the military to try to retake the country.