Bashir ousted

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President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan in autocratic style for 30 years, was overthrown in a military coup on Thursday, but protesters’ jubilation was short-lived as they took to the streets demanding military leaders hand power to civilians.

Bashir (75) faced 16 weeks of demonstrations against his rule. Announcing his ousting, Defence Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf said Sudan would enter a two years of military rule followed by presidential elections.

Speaking on state television, he said Bashir was detained in a “safe place” and a military council would now run the country.

Ibn Auf, who Bashir appointed first vice president in February as protests intensified, will head the military council, state TV said. The Sudanese chief of staff Kamal Abdel Marouf al-Mahi will be deputy head.

Ibn Auf announced a state of emergency, a nationwide ceasefire and suspension of the constitution. He said Sudan airspace would close for 24 hours and border crossings would be shut until further notice.

The main organiser of protests against Bashir, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), rejected the minister’s plans. It called on protesters to continue a sit-in outside the defence ministry.

Shortly afterwards, thousands of demonstrators packed the streets of central Khartoum, their mood turning from celebration over Bashir’s expected departure to frustration at the announcement of the military-led transition.

National flags were waved over crowds, which included families, women and people of all ages. “Fall, again!” many chanted, adapting an earlier anti-Bashir slogan of “Fall, that’s all!”  Some wrote anti-Ibn Auf slogans on their clothes.

Sudanese sources told Reuters Bashir was at the presidential residence under “heavy guard”.

State television said there would be a night time curfew from 10 pm to 4 am.

In a clear challenge to the military council, protesters remained in front of the defence ministry compound and elsewhere in the capital, as the curfew went into effect.

They chanted “They removed a thief and brought a thief!” and “Revolution! Revolution!”

Some shops in Omdurman, across from central Khartoum, remained open after 10 pm, a Reuters witness said.

“To comply with the curfew is to recognise the clone rescue government,” SPA said. “Stay put and guard your revolution.”

SPA said the sit-in will not end until power is handed to a civilian transitional government. Omar Saleh Sennar, a senior SPA member, said the group expected to negotiate with the military over a transfer of power.

The United States was suspending talks with Sudan on normalising relations. The State Department ordered non-emergency US government employees to leave the country and warned Americans against traveling to Sudan due to “crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping and armed conflict.”

The State Department said Washington supported a peaceful and democratic Sudan and believed the Sudanese people should be allowed a peaceful transition sooner than two years from now.

“The Sudanese people should determine who leads them in future,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told a news briefing. “The Sudanese people are clear they demand a civilian-led transition. They should be allowed to do so sooner than two years from now.”

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called for a “swift move to an inclusive, representative, civilian leadership”, saying in a tweet a “military council ruling for two years is not the answer”.

ICC WARRANT

Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague and faces an arrest warrant over allegations of genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region during an insurgency in 2003 that led to the death of an estimated 300,000 people. He denies the allegations.

He defied the court by visiting several ICC member states. Diplomatic disputes broke out when he went to South Africa in 2015 and Jordan in 2017 and both failed to arrest him.

Bashir’s downfall was the second time this month an African leader was forced out after mass demonstrations. Algeria’s ailing former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power since 1999, stepped down on April 2 after six weeks of protests.

Names circulating about Bashir’s possible successors include the defence minister, an ex-military intelligence chief, also an Islamist, and former army chief of staff Emad al-Din Adawi.

Ibn Auf has long been among Sudan’s senior leadership.

Adawi is said to be favoured by regional neighbours at odds with Bashir over his Islamist leanings.

Osman Abubakar, a 27-year-old protester in Port Sudan, said some soldiers joined in chants against the military council in the eastern city.

Ibn Auf announced the release of all political prisoners and images circulated of freed detainees joining protests.

In Port Sudan and Kassala protesters attacked the offices of Sudan’s intelligence and security service, witnesses said.

Amnesty International expressed alarm at the “raft of emergency measures”.

FATE UNCLEAR

Bashir, a former paratrooper who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1989, has been a divisive figure who has managed through one internal crisis after another while withstanding Western attempts to weaken him.

Sudan suffered prolonged periods of isolation since 1993 when the United States added Bashir’s government to its list of terrorism sponsors for harbouring Islamist militants. Washington followed up with sanctions four years later.

A long civil war with southern separatists ended in 2005 and South Sudan became an independent country in 2011.

Since December, Sudan has been rocked by persistent protests sparked by government attempts to raise the price of bread and an economic crisis leadong to fuel and cash shortages.

From the start, protests called for Bashir’s downfall. Opposition unions of medical and other professionals were prominent, as were women and young people. Security forces responded with teargas, arrests and sometimes live ammunition, killing dozens.

Since the weekend, protests became more intense.

Clashes erupted between soldiers trying to protect the protesters and intelligence and security personnel trying to disperse them. Around 20 people died since the sit-in began.

Activists abroad pressed for Sudan to hand Bashir to the International Criminal Court.

“Victims of the gravest crimes in Darfur should not have to wait any longer for justice” said Jehanne Henry, associate director at the Africa division of Human Rights Watch.