KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir is now under ‘house arrest’ after being forced to step down on Thursday, reports say.
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.
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.”
TIMELINE: Mounting protests in Sudan
The transitional council will be headed by Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, the First Vice President and Defense Minister of Sudan, Al-Arabiya TV has reported. The European Union has called for peaceful and civilian transition.
The military will make an announcement soon, state television said as troops deployed around the defence ministry and on major roads and bridges in the capital.
Al-Arabiya TV also reported that soldiers have raided the headquarters of Bashir’s Islamic Movement in Khartoum.
The Sudanese opposition party said they reject any changes that do not meet the demands of the public, also adding how the Sudanese youth have the power to affect change in the country.
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 Sudanese Professionals Association, 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 Sudanese Professionals Association said.
#Sudan :flag-sd:: the streets of #Khartoum screaming for freedom on the third night of the ongoing protests.
This country is giving us all hope!#موكب8ابريل pic.twitter.com/KK49uSzoIT
— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) April 8, 2019
(With Reuters and AFP)
