Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir forced out in coup

We’re concluding our live coverage of the coup in Sudan, which saw former president Omar al-Bashir ousted from power and his government dissolved after months of demonstrations, but stay with CNN as we follow the story.

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Human Rights Watch calls the ouster of long-time Sudan strongman Omar Bashir “momentous” and welcomes the release of political detainees, according to a statement from HRW Associate Africa Director Jehanne Henry.   

But Henry goes on to ask Sudan’s leaders to respect the rights of Sudanese to continue to protest peacefully and enact reforms to “reverse the entrenched patterns of repression and immunity.”

Henry also says a curfew set in place by the government is a “test” for how they will deal with the continuing sit-in, and a test for acting leader, Sudan’s Defense Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, who has declared a two-year military council to oversee a transition of power in the wake of the coup. 

Henry says of Ibn Auf, “He doesn’t have a good record at all” and the “US has sanctioned him for his role in Darfur atrocities.” For that reason, she adds, “protestors watching are right to be skeptical.”

Henry also calls on Sudanese authorities to execute the 2009 International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Bashir stands accused of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the country’s Darfur region. 

State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said on Thursday that “the Sudanese people should determine who leads them and their future,” and that they “should be allowed to do so sooner than two years from now.”

Palladino said the US is “monitoring” the situation and that the “big focus for the United States right now is the safety and welfare of our embassy team on the ground as well as private citizens, American citizens in Sudan.”

After three decades of rule, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been arrested and forced from power in a military coup.

Bashir’s government has been dissolved, and a military council has assumed control for two years to oversee a transition of power, Sudanese Defense Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf said in a televised statement Thursday.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement in support of developments in Sudan, emphasizing it stands by “all choices made by the brotherly people of Sudan and their desire to freely shape the future of their country at this crucial stage.”

Egypt will continue to “respect the complete sovereignty of Sudan and its national decision,” the statement goes on to say.

Egypt also says it has “full confidence” in the ability of the people of Sudan and “their loyal national army in overcoming this critical state”.  Egypt also calls on the international community to support the decision made “by the people of Sudan” and to assist Sudan in its efforts for a “peaceful transition towards a better future,” adds the statement issued Thursday.

Egypt of course shares a border and much history with its neighbor to the south.

The United Nations has released $26.5 million from its emergency relief fund to provide “food, livelihood, nutrition, health, water and sanitation assistance” to over 800,000 people “affected by a worsening economic crisis and food insecurity” across Sudan over the next six months.

Read the UN’s statement:

Sudan’s anti-government demonstrations, which have led to the fall of one of the world’s longest-serving dictators, originally began over a rise in the cost of living, fuel shortages and a hike in food prices.

Human Rights Watch has called on Sudanese authorities to execute the 2009 International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Bashir stands accused of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the country’s Darfur region. He was nearly arrested in 2015 while visiting South Africa. He faces five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes in connection to Sudanese military actions in Darfur.

Jehanne Henry, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said that the release of political prisoners following the coup announcement was a necessary start, but that Sudan’s leaders must do more to respect human rights.

Here’s what Henry said:

CNN just spoke to two residents of Khartoum, Sudan, about the Sudanese military’s announcement of a two-year transitional council.

Tarek, an engineer in Khartoum, told CNN:

Mohammad, a student in Khartoum, told CNN:

Sudanese activist and filmmaker Hajooj Kuka says he was held for three weeks in a secret detention center known as Al Talaja, or the “Refrigerator,” where sub-zero temperatures are allegedly used to torment prisoners.

Speaking to CNN after news of the military coup broke, Kuka said he was excited to hear that Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), which has waged a brutal crackdown on dissent, had nearly collapsed.

“One thing we’re excited about is the national intelligence service, which was the main service oppressing and killing people, almost collapsed … It’s not as strong an institution as it was,” Kuka said.

A CNN investigation released on Monday revealed details of the indiscriminate violence that has become synonymous with Sudan’s security forces, including torture techniques deployed at detention sites like Al Talaja.

Kuka said protesters were still out in force and demonstrations would continue until the military had handed over power to the people.

The photographer who captured the now iconic image of a young woman leading anti-government protests in Khartoum told CNN on Thursday that demonstrations would pick up pace following the military coup.

“Protest will continue because we have a lot of needs and we said it clearly to the government. Now because the old government is still at its place – only Omar Bashir left his chair – everyone here in the street is protesting even more than this morning,” Lana Haroun said.

“The protest will continue until things will change. Nobody knows what will happen, but this is not the way,” she added.

Protesters were out in force on Thursday evening in the streets of Khartoum, near the nation’s army headquarters, demanding the military hand the country over to its people.

One demonstrator shared a video of the scene, where people were hanging off a banner-draped bridge and waving Sudanese flags, with the message: “Do you think these people will leave the sit-in and allow Ibn Auf to be president?”

Demonstrators are rallying against Sudan’s Minister of Defense, Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, who declared a two-year military council to oversee a transition of power after a coup forced President Omar al-Bashir from office.

CNN’s senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir grew up in Sudan’s capital Khartoum. She was a pre-teen when President Omar al-Bashir came to power and recently returned to the country to cover his regime’s brutal crackdown on dissent. Here are her thoughts on his ouster:

Read more from Nima on the military coup that toppled Bashir.

The ouster of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, after three decades of a brutal dictatorship, should be seen as a “wake-up call” to other leaders denying their people of basic freedoms, human rights organization Amnesty International said in a statement on Thursday.

In recent months, widespread protests in Sudan and Algeria have forced their longtime leaders from office, bringing back memories of the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa in late 2010.

The demonstrations have drawn parallels for their spread, sustained momentum and interconnectivity. Similar to what we saw nearly a decade ago, they’ve also risen beyond socio-economic grievances into political movements.

Dr Georges Fahmi, associate fellow for the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, a UK-based think tank for international affairs, wrote in late March that this new wave will “not be as quick” as it was in 2011, given the lack of international support, but that it does show the momentum for change is still there.

“Just like the first wave taught us, democratic outcomes in Algeria and Sudan are not guaranteed. Nevertheless, the protest movements in both countries do show that authoritarianism remains contested by the people of the region,” Fahmi wrote.

CNN’s senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir, who is from Khartoum and recently reported undercover from the capital on human rights abuses carried out by the nation’s security forces, said that activists are calling for a civilian-led transition of power and won’t leave the streets until their demands are met.

“The same people who had the courage to stand up and say ‘enough is enough,’ are now saying to us over the phone … ‘We know what we want and what we want is to be truly free. We know what that means, and what that means is elections and what that means is democracy and we will not leave until we get that,’” Elbagir said, speaking from New York.

A CNN investigation released on Monday revealed details about the brutal crackdown on dissent in Sudan, including the arbitrary detention and torture of activists. It also underlined that the Trump administration was holding talks on whether to normalize relations with Sudan, despite evidence that the north African country was failing to comply with a key US requirement to improve “human rights protections and practices.” In a statement to CNN, the State Department denied the US was in “normalization talks” with Sudan, but acknowledged that ongoing negotiations offered the possibility of “improved relations.”

“It’s pretty extraordinary that just as the West, just as Europe and the US, was making itself comfortable in accommodation with President al-Bashir in spite of the fact that he is a multi-time indicted war criminal, the FBI signed a counter-terror agreement just in November, the European Union was giving him money to block illegal migration. It seems his own people had had enough,” Elbagir said.

The Forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, a group of organizations that have been coordinating anti-government demonstrations in recent months, have rejected the military coup that overthrew President Omar al-Bashir, saying that the proposed transitional council was just more of the same.

The group said in a statement that the military coup had simply “reproduced the same faces and institutions that our courageous people have revolted against.”

“Those who have ravaged our country and massacred its citizens intend to steal every drop of blood and sweat that the Sudanese people have shed in their glorious popular revolution,” it added.

Demonstrators are rallying against Sudan’s Minister of Defense, Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, who declared a two-year military council to oversee a transition of power after a coup forced President Omar al-Bashir from office.

A video shared on Thursday captures women in headscarves chanting: “Auf’s government - Falls!”

Women have played a central role in the months-long anti-government demonstrations that have gripped Sudan, organizing rallies and coordinating medical treatment for those injured in clashes.

The female protesters have been dubbed “Kandakas,” a title given to the Nubian queens of ancient Sudan who fought to empower women. Earlier this week, a young woman became a symbol of the protest movement after a photo of her leading demonstrations went viral.

Female demonstrators out in force on Thursday in the streets of Khartoum.

On Saturday, crowds converged on the heart of Omar al-Bashir’s rule – Sudan’s presidential palace and the nation’s military headquarters – for a mass sit-in calling for the dictator to be deposed. Five days later, the Sudanese strongman had been forced from office, his government dissolved and a military council put in place to oversee a transition of power over the next two years.

Here are some of the scenes from the days-long rally, the biggest since anti-government demonstrations began in December:

Demonstrators rally demanding Bashir's removal from office on Wednesday, April 10.

Alaa Salah, a Sudanese woman propelled to internet fame earlier this week after clips of her leading powerful protest chants against Bashir went viral, addresses protesters during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters on Wednesday, April 10.

A person writes "Down with Bashir" as demonstrators take part in a protest demanding the departure of Bashir on Tuesday, April 9.

The US embassy in Khartoum released a statement on Thursday following the military takeover, saying that while the atmosphere in the capital was currently “festive,” there was still a “possibility for a deterioration of the situation.”

Sudanese security agents have the authority to arbitrarily detain and arrest anyone they deem to be undermining public order, including foreigners, the embassy said. Sudan does not recognize dual citizenship, and has previously considered US-Sudanese dual citizens as Sudanese citizens only.

At least three US-Sudanese dual-nationals are known by CNN to have been detained by Sudanese authorities since demonstrations began in December.

Rudwan Daoud, a Sudanese-American activist who was arrested at a protest in January and detained for six weeks in the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) headquarters without charge, told CNN in an interview last month that he was beaten and questioned repeatedly.

Daoud said he didn’t think he would have been released if it hadn’t been for the intervention of the US embassy.

UN human rights officials have called on authorities to lift the state of emergency imposed by the military and address the legitimate grievances of the Sudanese people.

UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, said:

Announcing the ouster of Sudan’s longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir on Thursday, defense minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf declared a three-month state of emergency and imposed a curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

The curfew will hamper calls from activists to ramp up protests outside the military headquarters in Khartoum and could set the stage for clashes later tonight.

“In this moment of crisis, the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly needs to be protected and guaranteed,” said Voule, along with Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye. 

At least 22 people, including five soldiers, have been killed in demonstrations since Saturday, according to the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors.

Sudanese activists have rejected an announcement by Sudan’s Minister of Defense, Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, that a two-year military council will oversee a transition of power following President Omar al-Bashir’s removal. The activists are demanding that power be handed to a civilian government.

“This is a game on the Sudanese people, the street refuses totally the announcement by Ibn Auf,” activist Omar Al-Neel told CNN following the defense minister’s televised address to the nation. “All of the Sudanese people are in the street and demanding the downfall of all the regime and not recycling the same people.”

Al-Neel said that demonstrators would remain at the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum until their demands are met. Protesters began a sit-in outside the headquarters and presidential palace over the weekend in the largest rally since anti-government demonstrations began in December.

“I expect the numbers to increase and protests get bigger than this and it will be on a wider scale of protests, because the street is totally disappointed and depressed by this announcement,” Al-Neel added.

Celebrations outside the compound on Nile Street stopped after the announcement and people started chanting against the defense minister, who they see as holdover of Bashir’s regime.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an umbrella group of doctors, lawyers and other activists that have been organizing demonstrations, have called on citizens across the capital and regions around the country to converge on the army headquarters for more protests.

“The regime has conducted a military coup to reproduce the same faces and entities that our great people have revolted against,” the SPA said in a statement.

Videos filmed earlier Thursday outside Sudan’s military headquarters and shared on social media showed gunfire outside the military headquarters in central Khartoum.

Some angles of the footage appear to show soldiers shooting at a nearby building.

An official military source denied reports of a shootout around the Army General Command, Sudan’s official state news agency SUNA reported. The source told SUNA that bullets were fired in the air in “jubilation.”