Sudan: Protesters succeed as coup leader resigns

Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, the military chief who led the coup that ousted long-serving Omar al-Bashir has resigned his position.

The move comes barely 48-hours after the military high command announced taking power from Bashir.

He named Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan as his successor, following renewed protests that the coup leaders were too close to ousted leader al-Bashir.

Awad had only in February this year been named defense minister in what is now Bashir’s last cabinet reshuffle.

His appointment was seen by protestors as evidence that there had been no real change following Bashir’s fall.

The substitution may not be enough to satisfy pro-democracy campaigners who have called for civilian government and widespread reforms but is being taken as a positive sign that statements by their new rulers indicating they wanted a “dialogue” with protesters were sincere.

Burhan’s record appears to be cleaner than the rest of Bashir’s generals and he is not known to be implicated in war crimes or wanted by international courts. He was one of the generals who went to meet protesters at the encampment near the military headquarters and listened to their views.

Earlier another senior officer, Omar Zein Abedeen had told reporters during a televised press conference said that Bashir, 75, would not be extradited to the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, Netherlands as doing so would be “an ugly mark on Sudan.”

Zein Abedeen said Sudanese courts would hold Bashir “accountable,” but did not specify what charges he could face.

An association of Sudanese doctors said 26 people had died and more than 150 had been injured – 15 critically – since the sit-in began. Five of the dead were soldiers who were killed protecting the demonstrators during attacks by pro-Bashir militia.