Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir has been forced out by the military after 30 years of autocratic rule in a dramatic army-led takeover prompted by months of anti-government protests.
The country’s defence minister said on Thursday that Mr Bashir had been deposed and that a military council would run the country for a two-year transitional period.
Government and opposition sources said the president had been put under house arrest. State media reported that all political prisoners, including the many hundreds arrested since anti-government protests began in December, were being released.
The end of Mr Bashir’s often brutal rule is momentous for both the Arab-speaking world and Africa, marking the latest instance of the military ousting an autocrat after prolonged protests by frustrated young citizens.
It comes a week after Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to step down after 20 years as Algerian president.
However, protesters who have been camped out in front of the defence headquarters in Khartoum since Saturday said they would not accept another military government.
Ibrahim Taha Ayoub, a former foreign minister and member of the Sudanese Professional Association, which has been at the forefront of protests, said: "We appealed for the army to be on the side of the people to help us oust the regime. We will continue pressurising until . . . we can build a proper democratic Sudan and take the country forward."
A message from the official Twitter feed of the group said: “Revolutionaries: The sit-ins for all our groups of people continues until the objectives of the revolution are achieved.”
Some opposition forces had been pressing for a four-year transitional government led by civilian technocrats.
‘Sudanese revolution’
Demonstrations in Sudan began in December after a sharp rise in the price of bread but escalated into what protesters called a “Sudanese revolution” aimed at ousting the regime, which is blamed for corruption, repression and a failing economy.
The regime has found it increasingly hard to finance itself since 2011, when South Sudan seceded, taking with it the country’s oil-producing regions.
Mr Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 coup, has been an international pariah, accused first of harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and then of mounting a genocide against the people of Darfur in the west of the country. He faces charges by the International Criminal Court.
On Thursday morning, after the army said it would make an important announcement, thousands of additional protesters streamed to where tens of thousands of demonstrators had been holding their sit-in. They modified an earlier call, “Fall, that is all” to “It has fallen, we have won”.
On previous nights, security services and militia loyal to Mr Bashir had attacked demonstrators but been repelled by soldiers. More recently, several low-ranking officers have openly called for the end of the Bashir regime, saying they were on the side of the people.
Post-Bashir regime
Wednesday was the second consecutive night in which there was no confrontation between security forces and the demonstrators. That suggested that the feared National Intelligence and Security Service, run by powerful intelligence chief Salah Abdallah Gosh, might play an important role in the new government. Mr Gosh is believed to have participated in Thursday’s talks to discuss the post-Bashir regime.
Such a development would not satisfy protesters who have explicitly said they do not want a coup, but rather an army-assisted transition to democracy. “They are calling specifically for the leadership to hand over power to a civilian transitional government,” said Ahmed Soliman, an expert on Sudan at Chatham House, a UK think tank. “They are gearing up for the protests to continue and strengthen.”
More than 80 people have been killed since protests began last year.
Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt are believed to have offered Mr Bashir exile. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019