Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has on Friday declared a one-year state of national emergency and called on the parliament to delay the constitutional amendments that would allow him to seek to remain in the power in a 2020 presidential election. The country is facing the biggest popular mass protest since Bashir came into power 30 years back.
According to Reuters news reports, in a televised speech, the Sundanese president said he would step to dissolve the state government as well as the central government.
While stating that he would not assign any task to a qualified official team, Bashir said, “Firm economic measures should be taken in a new government.”
Meanwhile, addressing the opposition, Bashir said: “I extend a sincere invitation to the opposition forces, who are still outside the path of national reconciliation … to move forward and engage in the dialogue regarding the current issues of our country”.
Bashir, in a subsequent decree, set up a caretaking administration which comprises of senior officials from each ministry but did not involve the justice, foreign and defence ministers.
The anti-government mass demonstration has begun on December 19 which was triggered by a hike in prices and cash storage but quickly turned into a mass protest against Bashir’s ruling.
After Bashir’s speech, protesters chanted “Freedom!” in Omdurman city and also set fire to tires and blocked the main road. Police forces there fired tear gas and chased protesters through the streets, a Reuter witness reported.
One of Sudan’s main opposition groups, the National Consensus Forces, said more protest should be the done to retaliate Bashir’s declaration of a state of emergency.
In a statement, the opposition group said: “The regime declared a state of emergency to counter our popular revolution, which will not stop, God willing before we achieve our goals and topple the regime.”
The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the main protest organizer, has issued a call for more demonstration. In a statement, the SPA said: “The demands of this revolution are clear … foremost that this regime and its head step aside, including its repressive institutions.”
The International Criminal Court wanted Bashir to charge him with masterminding genocide in the Darfur region, the allegation which Bashir fully denies.