Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir steps down | Nairalaw

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has stepped down and
consultations are under way to form a transitional council to run
the country, government sources and a provincial minister said on
Thursday.

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 out outside the Defence
Ministry 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.