KHARTOUM: A state of emergency has been declared in Sudan and will be in place for three months, Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, the First Vice President and Defense Minister of Sudan, said in a televised address on Thursday.
The defense minister also announced the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who was forced to step down on Thursday by the military, after being in power for 30 years.
He also announced the suspension of the Sudanese constitution and the creation of a transitional military council, which will lead the country for two years. An election would be held after the transition period, Auf added.
Auf also assured that the judicial system will remain the same and has called on all armed groups to join the government and protect the people.
“The regime continued to make false promises in response to the demands of the people,” he said in his televised address.
A massive crowd of jubilant Sudanese people have thronged squares and streets of central Khartoum ahead of an ‘important announcement’ by the army.
The son of the head of Sudan’s main opposition party said Bashir was under house arrest along with a “number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders,” wires agency Reuters said, quoting Dubai-based Al-Hadath TV.
TIMELINE: Mounting protests in Sudan
Sudanese sources confirmed the report and told Reuters Bashir was at the presidential residence under “heavy guard.”
The minister of production and economic resources in North Darfur, Adel Mahjoub Hussein, also told Al-Hadath TV that “there are consultations to form a military council to take over power after President Bashir stepped down.”
The transitional council will be headed by Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, the First Vice President and Defense Minister of Sudan, Al-Arabiya TV earlier reported. The European Union has called for peaceful and civilian transition.
Watch crowds of Sudanese people celebrate the collapse of the Bashir regime #SudanProtest https://t.co/hLpCrc7Ldn pic.twitter.com/FOjgwsrePT
— Arab News (@arabnews) April 11, 2019
The country’s national intelligence and security service also announced the release of all political prisoners numbering about 5,000, the country’s state news agency reported.
One of those released was Mohammed Naji Elasam, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the main organizer of protests being held across Sudan since December, witnesses said. Elasam had been detained for more than three months.
Meanwhile, Sudanese protesters stormed a building of the powerful intelligence services in the eastern cities of Port Sudan and Kassala after the officers refused to release the detainees there, witnesses said.
“Protesters stormed the building and looted all the equipment that was there,” a witness from Kasala told AFP by telephone.
The military earlier deployed troops around the defence ministry and on major roads and bridges in the capital.
Jubilant Sudanese celebrate and exchange sweets after President Omar Al-Bashir’s ouster. Read more: https://t.co/MqQjPitDe4 pic.twitter.com/9et1fJPNgN
— Arab News (@arabnews) April 11, 2019
Al-Arabiya TV also reported that soldiers have raided the headquarters of Bashir’s Islamic Movement in Khartoum.
Huge crowds of jubilant Sudanese celebrate ouster of President Omar Al-Bashir. Read more: https://t.co/MqQjPitDe4 pic.twitter.com/c5eqntwnt5
— Arab News (@arabnews) April 11, 2019
Protesters gathered in front of the military headquarters as military vehicles were deployed on key roads and bridges in Khartoum. They were reportedly shouting “It has fallen, we won,” Reuters said.
The protests, which erupted in December, have become the biggest challenge yet to Bashir’s three decades of iron-fisted rule.
“We are waiting for big news,” one protester told AFP from the sit-in.
“We won’t leave from here until we know what it is. But we do know that Bashir has to go.
“We had enough of this regime — 30 years of repression, corruption, rights abuses, it’s enough.”
Crowds of demonstrators have spent five nights defiantly camped outside the sprawling headquarters complex, which also houses Bashir’s official residence and the defense ministry.
There has been an often festive mood at the sit-in with protesters singing dancing to the tunes of revolutionary songs. State television and radio played patriotic music, reminding older Sudanese of how military takeovers unfolded during previous episodes of civil unrest.
The SPA, which is spearheading the protests, said they will only accept the handover of power to a civilian transitional government. It also urged residents of the capital to mass outside army headquarters.
“We call on our people from across the Khartoum capital and the region around to immediately go to the sit-in area and not leave from there until our next statement is issued,” the SPA said.
(With Reuters and AFP)
