Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir has stepped down and consultations
are underway to form a transitional council to run the country,
government sources and a provincial minister said on Thursday.
NAN reports that the Minister of Production and Economic Resources in
North Darfur, Adel Hussein, told the Dubai-based al-Hadath TV that
“there are consultations to form a military council to take over power
after President Bashir stepped down.”
Sudanese sources confirmed the report that al-Bashir was at the presidential residence under “heavy guard.”
The military will make an announcement soon, state television said as troops were deployed in Khartoum.
“The armed forces will present an important statement shortly. Be
ready for it,” the announcement on state television read, without giving
further details.
The army and security services deployed troops around the Defence
Ministry and on major roads and bridges in the capital as thousands of
people flocked to an anti-government protest outside the ministry, a
witness said.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese took to the streets in the centre of
Khartoum in jubilation, dancing and chanting anti-Bashir slogans.
Protesters outside the defence ministry chanted: “It has fallen, we won.”
State television and radio played patriotic music, reminding older
Sudanese of how military takeovers unfolded during previous episodes of
civil unrest.
Bashir, a former paratrooper who seized power in a bloodless coup in
1989, has been a divisive figure, who has managed his way through one
internal crisis after another while withstanding attempts by the West to
weaken him.
Sudan has suffered prolonged periods of isolation since 1993, when
the U.S. added Bashir’s government to its list of terrorism sponsors for
harboring Islamist militants.
Washington followed up with sanctions four years later.
Bashir has also been indicted by the International Criminal Court
(ICC) in The Hague over allegations of genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region
during an insurgency that began in 2003.
The latest crisis has escalated since the weekend, when thousands of
demonstrators began camping outside the Defence Ministry’s compound in
central Khartoum, where Bashir’s residence is located.
Clashes erupted on Tuesday between soldiers trying to protect the
protesters and intelligence and security personnel trying to disperse
them.
The Ifformation Ministry said a police report showed that at least 11
people died in the clashes, including six members of the armed forces.
Since Dec. 19, Sudan has been rocked by persistent protests sparked
by the government’s attempt to raise the price of bread, and an economic
crisis that has led to fuel and cash shortages.
Opposition figures have called for the military to help negotiate an
end to Bashir’s nearly three decades in power and a transition to
democracy.
The demonstrators at the defence ministry had said that they wanted
to submit a petition for the armed forces to take their side in their
attempt to remove Bashir and his Islamist-backed administration.
