(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a phone call with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi on Thursday, condemned Sudan's military takeover and the arrest of the country's civilian leaders.
He said on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) that they also discussed how the United States can best support the Sudanese people's call for a return to a civilian-led transition to democracy.
Thousands of people in the African country have taken to the streets since Monday's military's seizure of power from a transitional government, and several have been killed in clashes with security forces.
The armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who led the military takeover, has dismissed the joint civilian-military council set up to steer the country to democratic elections following the overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising in April 2019.
Blinken discussed Washington's support for a civilian transition in accordance with the Sudanese Constitutional Declaration, the U.S. State Department spokesperson Nid Price said.