"We must return to the situation as it was on October 24", the day before the coup d'état in Sudan.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, under house arrest since, said Sunday, October 31 that "the way to a way out of the crisis" was through the return of his deposed cabinet.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Information, Abdallah Hamdok - during a meeting with American, British and Norwegian ambassadors, members of the "Troika" operating in Sudan - also called for the release of the civilian leaders.

The latter have still not been found since their arrest, their lawyer Kamal al-Jizouli told AFP, demanding that "the place where ministers and politicians are being held be made public."

The ministry added that the US envoy for the Horn of Africa will return to Khartoum on Tuesday.

A government promised "within a week"

The country, stuck in political and economic stagnation for decades, is now at a standstill between intransigent soldiers and anti-coup demonstrators in "civil disobedience" since the coup d'état of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane which dissolved all the institutions.

Abdallah Hamdok, who embodied the civilian face of Sudan's difficult transition to democracy after thirty years of Omar al-Bashir's dictatorship, was arrested "because he refused to support the coup", according to the ministry .

Held for a time with General Burhane before being finally brought home, where he is under "close surveillance", the former UN economist has been speaking since last Monday via press releases which are published on the Facebook page of the Ministry of 'Information entered in dissent.

He met diplomats, such as the UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes who spoke of "mediation" efforts, spoke on the phone with the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, but did not so far not allowed to receive its few ministers who have not been arrested.

General Burhane said he had no objection to Abdallah Hamdok retaining his post and pledging a government "within a week", according to an interview with the Russian press published on Monday, one of the few countries to not to have condemned his coup.

But Mariam Sadeq al-Mahdi, Sudanese Foreign Minister still at large, told AFP on Saturday that neither she nor the Prime Minister will agree to "participate in this grotesque act, this betrayal carried out by the putschists".

With AFP

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