Fri 12 Apr 2019:
Demonstrators in Khartoum insist a civilian government must replace Omar al-Bashir
As rumours spread that their long-time ruler was finally on his way out, the atmosphere on the streets of Khartoum was victorious.
“The regime has fallen,” people chanted. Flags waved, people danced and sang, and everyone’s hands were up in victory signs. “Freedom, peace and justice,” read one banner. On Wednesday morning, it seemed that the long-fought battle for these values might be on the point of being won.
But when the army’s announcement came, stating that President Omar al-Bashir was to be replaced by a military council that would govern for two years, the mood shifted. This, protesters who have risked their lives said, was not the democratic outcome they sought.
When defence minister and first vice-president Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf said that a military council would take over, Salah followed with another statement: “The people do not want a transitional military council. Change will not happen with Bashir’s entire regime hoodwinking Sudanese civilians through a military coup. We want a civilian council to head the transition.”
Many protesters said that Auf, who is under US sanctions over alleged atrocities in Darfur, represented no change at all.
Security forces have used live ammunition and tear gas against protesters and 22 have died since Saturday alone. But this did not put them off: demonstrators who had long been out in the street without food or water prepared for a still longer wait.
Buoyed by the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in neighbouring Algeria, tens of thousands of people launched a sit-in outside the military headquarters last week.
Ayman Sadig, who was at the sit-in for six nights, said he feared there would be violence. “Auf was quite clear saying, ‘we will not allow the country to go to chaos’ and we feel that’s a clear indication that they will attack us. But we have already been attacked three times, on three nights, and we plan to stand tonight as well.
“Nobody’s satisfied with the decision that the vice-president [Auf] should lead the country. He’s someone we feel is too attached to Bashir and he’s got blood on his hands.”
“People are angry. They feel duped,” the Sudanese journalist Yousra Elbagir tweeted about demonstrators at the sit-in.
Opposition figure Mariam al-Mahdi told the Washington Post that the military’s takeover was “a dangerous move”. “Our demands are clear: We don’t want to replace a coup with a coup,” she said.
The Sudanese Translators for Change said they called “on Sudanese people to remain in the streets and sit-ins to guard the revolution. The internal regime’s military coup by Ibn Auf is another regime trick aiming to reproduce itself”.
“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.”
“We’re tired, but nobody can rest during the fight,” one protester was quoted as saying.
