The military in Sudan has announced an end to President Omar Bashir’s thirty-year rule and proposed a two-year transition period.
In a highly anticipated statement on state radio, the Defense minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf on Thursday declared: “The supreme committee decided to implement what was not in the mind of other people and for a transitional period of two years the armed forces will take power with the representation of the people to pave the way for the people.”
Auf told the Sudanese nation that the government has been dissolved and Presdient Bashir has been arrested and was being taken to a safe location.
Bashir has been in power since a military coup in 1989.
Justifying the protests Defense minister Auf added: “For a long time, examining what’s going on in the state and the corruption that is going on… the poor are poorer and the rich are still rich and there are no equal chances for the same people.”
There was tense expectation in the air earlier on Thiursday after the army said it would make an annoumcement shortly about its position on the state of unrest in the country.
Protesters who have been camping near the army’s headquarters in Khartoum for a sixth day running on Thursday expected the military to announce their support for the popular will of the people who were demanding an end to President Omar Bashir’s 30-year rule.
Since the army promised to issue a statement on state radio earlier on Thursday, ordinary Sudanese have been guled to their radio sets.
For several hours state radio has been airing martial music.
The military which has been largely silent since angry street protests began in December has been increasingly drawn toward protecting protesters against a crackdown by security forces.
WN/as/APA