Sudan’s Al-Bashir Evicted by Military Coup

摘要

The ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in a coup on Thursday has set Sudan on an uncertain path.Al-Bashir’s downfall and arrest follow four months of anti-regime protests and end his 30-year reign at the head of a brutish Islamist regime that turned Sudan into a pariah state.Al-Bashir’s removal comes barely a week after the forced resignation of Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and amid a surge in violence in Libya,evoking the chaos of the Arab Spring in 2011-12 when popular uprisings spread across oil-rich North Africa,toppling long-standing regimes in Tunisia,Libya and Egypt(IOD Apr.5’19).Protests sparked by growing economic hardship escalated in Sudan last weekend at a massive demonstration in the capital Khartoum,where army troops sided with the protestors and blocked attempts by state security to disperse the crowds.Five days of growing protests around the main military compound finally prompted army chiefs to move against al-Bashir overnight Wednesday(IOD Apr.9’19).Sudan’s defense minister,Lt.Gen.Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf,announced al-Bashir’s removal on state television and declared martial law,saying it would be followed by elections within two years.But it was unclear whether the military intervention would bring a peaceful end to the demonstrations.