This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/world/africa/sudan-omar-hassan-al-bashir.html

The article has changed 20 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 10 Version 11
Omar Hassan al-Bashir Is Removed as Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir Is Removed as Sudan’s President
(32 minutes later)
GULU, Uganda — Sudan’s military ousted President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday, the defense minister announced, ending a 30-year authoritarian rule in the face of mass street protests that have swept the country. GULU, Uganda — President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the authoritarian leader of Sudan wanted on genocide charges in connection with atrocities in Darfur, has been ousted by his nation’s military after nearly four months of mass protests shattered his grip on the country.
Defense Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf said that Mr. al-Bashir had been taken into custody, the government had been dissolved and the Constitution had been suspended. He said there would be a two-year transition period, with the military in charge, and announced a 10 p.m. curfew. The nation’s defense minister, Lt. Gen. Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, announced on Thursday that Mr. al-Bashir had been taken into custody, the government had been dissolved and the Constitution had been suspended. He said there would be a two-year transition period, with the military in charge, and announced a 10 p.m. curfew.
Mr. al-Bashir, 75, who has long been regarded as a pariah in the West and is wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges in connection with atrocities in Darfur, had ruled Sudan longer than any leader since the country gained independence in 1956. Mr. al-Bashir, 75, who ruled Sudan longer than any other leader since the country gained independence in 1956, has long been regarded as a pariah in the West.
Before the announcement was made, protesters demanding Mr. al-Bashir’s ouster had gathered outside the military’s headquarters in Khartoum, the capital. Before the announcement, protesters demanding Mr. al-Bashir’s ouster had gathered outside the military’s headquarters in Khartoum, the capital. They addressed a chant to the president: “You’ve been dancing for 30 years. Today it’s our turn to dance.”
They shouted a chant addressed to the president: “You’ve been dancing for 30 years. Today it’s our turn to dance.” “He has been such a burden for us,” said one protester, Eltahir Abdelrahman, who at age 25 has lived his entire life under Mr. al-Bashir’s rule. “We can’t wait to build the new Sudan with freedom, justice and peace.”
“It’s a huge day for Sudan’s people, it’s a revolution day,” a man in the crowd, Elsamawal Alshafee, 32, said by phone. But protesters’ jubilation was tempered by a wary uncertainty about what would happen after Mr. al-Bashir was toppled, and there were anxieties that Sudan might descend into instability, with rivals vying for power.
The jubilation was tempered by a wary uncertainty about what will come next. A senior official said that leaders of the military and security services were debating privately about the membership and structure of the transitional government. There was no statement about the membership or structure of the transitional government, which a senior official said was still being debated privately by leaders of the military and security services.
A state news agency reported that political detainees were being released. “We’re also nervous because we don’t know who is replacing” Mr. al-Bashir, said Mr. Abdelrahman, a doctor who spoke by telephone from outside the army headquarters. “If he’s from the same system, we’ll continue protesting.”
Some leaders of the demonstrations called for caution. The demand for Mr. al-Bashir’s ouster would not be satisfied if he were simply replaced by another general, said Sara Abdelgalil, a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which is organizing the protests. Sara Abdelgalil, a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been organizing the protests, said the defense minister’s announcement fell far short of satisfying the demonstrators.
“We have asked for people to continue the sit-in,” she said. “The uprising continues.” “What has been just stated is for us a coup, and it is not acceptable,” she said. “They are recycling the faces, and this will return us to where we have been.”
The protests will continue “until there is a complete step down of the whole regime,” she said. “We insist on a civil government, and we don’t support any coup.” She said the demonstrations would continue “until there is a complete step down of the whole regime.”
Mr. al-Bashir came to power as a little-known general in 1989 during an Islamist and military-backed coup. In the following years, he purged Islamists and insiders from his party, and demonstrated a knack for political survival. “We insist on a civil government,” she added, “and we don’t support any coup.”
He tightened his control by building up an array of competing security forces and militias, as well as the regular army. Sudan analysts have warned that those forces will begin to tussle for dominance once the longtime ruler is out of the picture. On Thursday, there was no sign of that kind of break with the past.
The United States has previously accused General Auf, a former diplomat and head of Sudan’s military intelligence, of playing a significant role in violence and atrocities committed in Darfur.
“It’s basically Bashir’s henchmen taking over,” said Alex de Waal, a Sudan expert at Tufts University. “It stops a civil war among Sudan’s rivalrous military oligarchs, but it won’t satisfy the demands for democracy.”
General Auf said that Mr. al-Bashir was in “a safe place” after his arrest. Several leading Islamists with the ruling National Congress Party, which was viewed as a potential political rival to the military, have also been taken into custody.
Mr. al-Bashir came to power in 1989 as a little-known general during an Islamist and military-backed coup. In the following years, he purged Islamists and insiders from his party, and demonstrated a knack for political survival.
He tightened his control by building up an array of competing security forces and militias, as well as the regular army. Sudan analysts have warned that those forces are likely to begin tussling for dominance once the longtime ruler is out of the picture.
For much of the last 30 years, Mr. al-Bashir waged war across the south and west of his country. His regime bombed civilians in the Nuba Mountains with warplanes and, according to the International Criminal Court, presided over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the western region of Darfur.
Mr. al-Bashir himself is under indictment before the international court accused of playing “an essential role” in atrocities in Darfur, overseeing forces that killed, raped and terrorized hundreds of thousands of civilians. Before his ouster, he was the only active leader of a nation to be wanted by the court.
The country ultimately divided in 2011, when South Sudan gained independence.
Mr. al-Bashir also sent thousands of Sudanese soldiers to fight elsewhere, including in the civil war in Yemen, and it is not clear whether a new government will call them home.
But in the end, the wars and atrocities did not topple Mr. al-Bashir. Instead he was brought down by mass protests set off by the price of bread.
Protests began in December over rising food costs but quickly expanded to a broad challenge to Mr. al-Bashir’s hold on power. In recent days, rival factions within the security services have battled each other, raising fears of a complete breakdown in order as armed military groups fight for control.Protests began in December over rising food costs but quickly expanded to a broad challenge to Mr. al-Bashir’s hold on power. In recent days, rival factions within the security services have battled each other, raising fears of a complete breakdown in order as armed military groups fight for control.
A striking photo of one protester standing on a car and wearing a white thoub, a long robe, and gold earrings as she urged on a crowd this week was called an iconic image of the demonstrations and was shared widely online. A striking photo of one protester standing on a car and wearing a white thoub — a long robe — and gold earrings as she urged on a crowd this week was widely shared online and called an iconic image of the demonstrations.
Mr. al-Bashir’s three decades of rule have been marked by famine and war, with the country dividing and a new nation, South Sudan, gaining independence in 2011. South Sudan and Libya, Sudan’s neighbor to the northwest, are each now gripped by armed conflict, raising the threat of widespread regional instability should Sudan also fall into civil war. Protests over Mr. al-Bashir’s rule had surfaced — and been crushed — before, and for months his security forces tried to contain the latest uprising through arrests, interrogations and gunfire.
For months the security services have detained and attacked protesters in an effort to prevent the demonstrations from swelling, but in recent days, crowds opposed to Mr. al-Bashir have grown outside the compound in Khartoum that houses his residence and the military’s headquarters. But the demonstrations gained strength in early April when huge crowds began to gather outside army headquarters. Instead of dispersing the crowd, Sudanese soldiers permitted the protesters to stay and soon began to block — and in a few cases fire upon — other security and intelligence forces seeking to crack down.
The sit-in marked a new stage of the protests, with numbers swelling far beyond those of previous demonstrations, organizers said. Their mood ranged from delight at the display of people power to fear that the authorities would soon crack down. To the protesters, that rift between government forces suggested that Mr. al-Bashir’s support within the army was slipping — though the military, which has been accused of many rights abuses, is not seen as a unifying force.
In recent days, soldiers protected demonstrators from other security services that were attempting to disperse them. Some protesters called on the regular army to oust Mr. al-Bashir, but analysts have warned that the military, which has waged war with rebel groups for decades and is accused of widespread abuses, is not seen as a unifying force across the country. But the division also highlighted how a number of armed groups and factions have grown in power under Mr. al-Bashir’s long rule — and their potential to be a destabilizing force in Sudan.
Mr. al-Bashir is the only active leader of a nation who faces charges before the International Criminal Court. As word of his possible ouster emerged, human rights groups called for him to stand trial over his role in crimes against humanity and genocide in the Darfur region. “The monopoly of gun power has been fragmented for many years in this government,” said Magdi el-Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, a think tank based in Kenya.
“If the Sudan military’s important announcement is that Pres Bashir will finally step down, it should demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law and an end to mass atrocities by delivering him to the International Criminal Court to face charges,” Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter. Mr. el-Gizouli, who is from Sudan, said that fragmentation now poses an urgent question: “What to do with all these armed men in the country and what will you turn them into?”
Sudan is also listed by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism, although it does cooperate with the United States on some counterterrorism efforts, the State Department said in a 2017 report. In recent days, the numbers of demonstrators swelled far beyond those of previous crowds, marking a new stage in the protests, organizers said. Their mood ranged from delight at the display of people power to fear that the authorities would soon crack down.
Last week another leader in the region, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, stepped down as president of Algeria after weeks of street protests, bringing an end to his 20-year rule. The events in Sudan have raised fears of a wider regional instability. South Sudan and Libya, Sudan’s neighbor to the northwest, are themselves gripped by armed conflict, and the leader of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, stepped down as president this month after weeks of street protests.
Washington has listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism, although the country does cooperate with the United States on some counterterrorism efforts, the State Department said in a 2017 report. The designation dates from the 1990s, when American officials determined that Sudan had harbored militants intent on attacking several sites in New York. For a time, Osama bin Laden lived in Sudan.
Andrew Natsios, a former United States special envoy to Sudan, said he believed that Mr. al-Bashir might have ceded power earlier, but feared that it would mean facing trial before the international court.
At one point years ago, Mr. Natsios said, Mr. al-Bashir “went so far as to collect dossiers on two dozen African leaders who committed atrocities and sent them to those leaders” in an effort to get those countries to withdraw from the court and weaken its reach.
In recent years, Mr. al-Bashir had taken some steps to try to repair his standing — and that of his country — in the international order. The United States removed some economic sanctions against Sudan and had even come to view him as a counterterrorism partner in some respects.
European countries were hopeful that Sudan’s security forces could stem the flow of Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean.
Under international pressure, Mr. al-Bashir agreed to South Sudan’s independence after decades of civil war. But because much of the country’s oil is in the south, the separation took a major toll on the Sudan’s economy.
Protesters from Khartoum or the city of Omdurman, just across the Nile from the capital, listed corruption as their top grievance.
“They Sudanese people, they are unable to stand the corruption of this corrupt regime,” a teaching assistant at the University of Khartoum who asked only to be identified by her first initial, S, said on Tuesday.
“I say that if 100 percent of the state’s budget was allocated to the army to secure the country then that is still not enough,” Mr. al-Bashir said in a 2015 speech calling for Sudan to develop its own arms industry.
But at bakeries people sometimes stand in line for hours for bread. Patients awaiting medical procedures are often told by doctors to bring their own sterile gauze and sutures, for the hospital may not supply any. Inflation that has whittled down salaries over the years.
But for many people, the demonstrations have been a moment of exultation over a break with the past, not anxiety over the future.
“I’ve never felt so hopeful as I have during these protests,” Sheraz Ibrahim, a 30-year old human rights advocate, said in an interview.
She said that as a woman in Sudan, she had sometimes felt unsafe walking down the street and was careful about what she wore to avoid harassment. In Sudan, after all, some police officers consider it a crime for women to wear trousers.
Yet she noted, “I felt secure during these protests, even though I did not know the people all around me.”