(Reuters) - 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 Mahjoub 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 and told Reuters
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
defense ministry and on major roads and bridges in the capital as thousands of
people flocked to an anti-government protest outside the ministry, a Reuters
witness said.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese took to the streets in the
center of Khartoum in jubilation, dancing and chanting anti-Bashir slogans.
Protesters outside the defense 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 United States 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. At least 11 people died in the clashes, including six members of
the armed forces, the information minister said, citing a police report.
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.
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