Here’s more from the statement by Sudan’s Minister of Defense, Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf. He confirmed that President Omar al-Bashir had been forced from power and his government dissolved after months of demonstrations calling for his ouster.
A two-year military council has been established to oversee a transition of power, ending Bashir’s three decades of rule. The defense minister said that Bashir had been forcibly removed and was now being “kept at a safe place.”
A three-month state of emergency has been declared, and a curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. imposed. Ports and medical facilities will be secured.
Sudan’s cabinet, its National Assembly and municipal bodies have been dissolved, and the country’s constitution suspended, Ibn Auf said. The judiciary, public prosecution, embassies and diplomatic entities will continue to function as normal.
All political prisoners, detained by the country’s security services since a wave of anti-government demonstrations first gripped the nation in December will be released, the defense minister added.
Sudanese activists have rejected an announcement by Sudan’s Minister of Defense, Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, that a two-year military council will oversee a transition of power following President Omar al-Bashir’s removal. The activists are demanding that power be handed to a civilian government.
“This is a game on the Sudanese people, the street refuses totally the announcement by Ibn Auf,” activist Omar Al-Neel told CNN following the defense minister’s televised address to the nation. “All of the Sudanese people are in the street and demanding the downfall of all the regime and not recycling the same people.”
Al-Neel said that demonstrators would remain at the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum until their demands are met. Protesters began a sit-in outside the headquarters and presidential palace over the weekend in the largest rally since anti-government demonstrations began in December.
“I expect the numbers to increase and protests get bigger than this and it will be on a wider scale of protests, because the street is totally disappointed and depressed by this announcement,” Al-Neel added.
Celebrations outside the compound on Nile Street stopped after the announcement and people started chanting against the defense minister, who they see as holdover of Bashir’s regime.
The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an umbrella group of doctors, lawyers and other activists that have been organizing demonstrations, have called on citizens across the capital and regions around the country to converge on the army headquarters for more protests.
“The regime has conducted a military coup to reproduce the same faces and entities that our great people have revolted against,” the SPA said in a statement
CNN
