The Sudanese have made it to the streets to protest outside army headquarters in the capital of Khartoum to stand up against the coup that toppled president Omar al-Bashir. Defense Minister Awad Ibnouf announced “the toppling of the regime” and said Mr al-Bashir had been detained in “a secure place”. With the coup ending thirty years of him being in power, Mr. al-Bashi was one of the continent’s longest-serving presidents who has been persecuted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes.
The international community had been calling for years for the establishment of civilian rule in the country with the US government urging Sudan to “exercise restraint and to allow space for civilian participation within the government”. In the words of the US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino, “the Sudanese people should determine who leads them and their future and the Sudanese people have been clear and are demanding a civilian-led transition.”
In a similar vein, the European Union has pressed the army to carry out a speedy handover of power to civilian rule. “Only a credible and inclusive political process can meet the aspirations of the Sudanese people and lead to the political and economic reforms the country needs,” EU’s head of diplomacy Federica Mogherini said. Sudanese Defense Minister, however, defied the wishes of the international community, stressing that his country would now have a transitional military council in lieu of the president. Still, the demonstrators in the streets of Khartoum see things differently, with one of them asserting that “we will not stop our revolution. We are calling for the regime to step down, not only Bashir.”
