Sudan’s army has detained President Omar al-Bashir after he was removed from power in the wake of the protests that escalated against his 30-year rule.

“I announce as minister of defence the toppling of the regime and detaining its chief in a secure place,” said Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, Sudanese defence minister and army general, on state television on Thursday.

Ibn Auf, according to Reuters, said the 75-year-old veteran leader had been detained in a “safe place” and a military council would now run the country.

“A military council will take control of the country for two years, after which elections would be held,” he added.

The army general disclosed that the African nation had been suffering from “poor management, corruption, and an absence of justice”.

The defence minister thereafter announced a state of emergency, a nationwide ceasefire and the suspension of the constitution.

The president was overthrown in a coup by the armed forces following a series of protests in Khartoum, capital of the country. The protesters had demanded his resignation.

There were also reports that some senior figures close to President al-Bashir in the ruling National Congress party had been detained. </s> KHARTOUM - Sudan’s deposed President Omar al-Bashir has been moved to Kober prison in the capital, Khartoum, family sources told Reuters news agency, but officials disputed the account. Citing a source at the prison on Wednesday, Reuters reported that al-Bashir was being held under tight security in solitary confinement since Tuesday. The ruling Transitional Military Council has yet to confirm the report.

Al Jazeera’a Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said officials disputed the report that al-Bashir was being held in the prison. “They said al-Bashir was being held in a safe place under house arrest until he is taken to court,” Morgan reported.

“The protesters who are conducting a sit-in at the defence ministry in the capital say that they will not end their action until they see al-Bashir in court to be held to account for crimes committed when in power,” she added. “They’re also saying they will not end their sit-in if the government does not hand over power to an independent civilian government.”

Witnesses said there was a heavy deployment of soldiers and members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force outside the Kober prison in north Khartoum. “There are troops in vehicles mounted with machine-guns near the prison,” a witness told a private news agency. Kober prison was built by the British during the colonial period and is located on the east bank of the Blue Nile in a northern district of the capital where al-Bashir grew up.

The area was previously known as Kober, taking its name from the prison, but al-Bashir later changed the name to Omar al-Mukhtar after a hero of Libya’s struggle against Italian colonial rule. The brick-built prison, which is surrounded by a high concrete wall, holds hundreds of inmates at any one time, many of them crammed in tiny cells.

It has a special wing for political prisoners where several opposition leaders and activists were held during the four months of protests which led to al-Bashir’s overthrow. The wing is run by the feared National Intelligence and Security Service rather than the police.

Since his removal by the military last Thursday, al-Bashir had been detained under heavy guard in the presidential residence inside the compound that also houses the defence ministry, the family sources said. The military removed al-Bashir after months of protests against him that culminated in a sit-in outside the defence ministry compound that began on April 6. Protesters are still camping there demanding the end of ‘deep-state’. Al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan since 1989, is facing arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the conflict in the western Darfur region. Meanwhile, Uganda said on Wednesday it would consider offering asylum to al-Bashir despite his indictment by the ICC. “Uganda would not be apologetic at all for considering an application by al-Bashir,” Okello Oryem, Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters. Oryem said al-Bashir had yet to contact Kampala for possible refuge, but added that there was no harm in considering the fallen Sudanese leader for political asylum.

There was no immediate comment from the ICC in The Hague. ICC member states, which include Uganda, are obligated to hand over indictees who enter their territory.

Though al-Bashir is under ICC indictment for suspected genocide in Darfur, the military council in Khartoum has said it will not hand him over and instead may try him in Sudan.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has in the past criticised the ICC, describing it as a tool of Western justice against Africans, and he once vowed to mobilise African countries to pull out of the court’s founding treaty.

Relations between Sudan and Uganda, where Museveni has been in power since 1986, were frosty in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Uganda accused al-Bashir-led Sudan at the time of supporting strongman Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), while Sudan alleged Uganda was offering assistance to an anti-Khartoum rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The SPLA later led South Sudan to independence from Khartoum while the LRA, still undefeated but mostly dormant, is believed to be hiding out in a patch of jungle between the borders of Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After South Sudan’s independence in 2011, Museveni and al-Bashir gradually reconciled and have since jointly championed efforts to end fighting in the newest African country.

Meanwhile, Sudan’s military council ordered the central bank to review financial transfers since April 1 and to seize “suspect” funds, state news agency SUNA reported on Wednesday.

The TMC also ordered the “suspension of the transfer of ownership of any shares until further notice and for any large or suspect transfers of shares or companies to be reported” to authorities. </s> Sudanese defense minister has announced the military has overthrown and arrested President Omar al-Bashir and has taken charge of the country for the next two years following nearly four months of protests against his rule.

Awad Mohammed Ibn Ouf appeared on state TV, in military fatigues, following an earlier announcement of an “important statement” coming from the army on Thursday.

Ibn Ouf says after the two years, “free and fair elections” will take place.

He says a state of emergency has been imposed for the next three months and that the military has also suspended the constitution, closed borders and the country’s airspace.

A transitional military council will lead the country for two years,

Ouf also said the government and the presidency have been dissolved, and imposed a night curfew. </s> Forces belong to the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support have surrounded the Nile Street in the capital Khartoum for reportedly implementing a "security plan" around the weeks-long sit-in.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, eyewitnesses said the security forces surrounded the street from the eastern and western directions. On Thursday, a civilian was shot dead in the same area, "as a result of fire opened by the regular forces," according to the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA).

On the same day, the country’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) announced that the sit-in, which has been staged in front of the army headquarters in Khartoum, became a "security threat and a threat to the cohesion of the country."

The deadly incident occurred on the second day of a nationwide general strike organized by opposition groups with a view to pressuring Sudan’s TMC to relinquish power to a civilian authority. Early in April, Sudan’s military establishment deposed President Omar al-Bashir following months of popular protests against his 30-year rule. </s> KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan’s defense minister said on Thursday that President Omar al-Bashir had been detained “in a safe place” and that a military council would run the country for a two-year transitional period.

In a statement broadcast on state TV Defense Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf said there would be elections at the end of the transitional period. </s> Sudan’s military rulers have transferred ousted president Omar al-Bashir to prison and also detained two of his five brothers Abdallah Hassan al-Bashir and Al-Abbas Hassan al-Bashir.

Following the dramatic end to Bashir’s rule of three decades last week, he was moved late Tuesday to Kober prison in the capital, a family source said without revealing his name for security reasons.

Witnesses near the prison in north Khartoum said there was a heavy deployment of soldiers and members of a paramilitary group outside.

The 75-year-old’s whereabouts have been unknown since a military takeover on Thursday, when the country’s new rulers said he was being held “in a secure place”.

The army council said it has also decided to integrate the Popular Defence Force into the army. The PDF is a type of reserve unit frequently used to support units of the regular army.

Amnesty International called for Bashir to be “immediately handed over to the International Criminal Court” in The Hague where he faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to the conflict in Darfur. He denies the charges.

“His case must not be hurriedly tried in Sudan’s notoriously dysfunctional legal system. Justice must be served,” said Amnesty’s Joan Nyanyuki.

Bashir’s detention has failed to pacify protesters, who launched anti-government demonstrations in December and have for days been camped out in front of Khartoum’s army headquarters.

Scores of doctors in white robes marched from Khartoum’s main hospital towards the sit-in, carrying banners and chanting: “freedom, peace, justice.”

Journalists held a separate rally, along with university students and scores of women from a Facebook group who call themselves “the Information Network of the Revolution”.

The women — who include doctors, lawyers and teachers — are renowned for monitoring security agents who target protesters and publishing their information online in order to hold them to account.

Later in the evening crowds of protesters flocked through Khartoum to join the sit-in chanting “revolution, revolution”, an AFP correspondent reported.

Sudan’s military rulers have made some concessions, including the sacking Tuesday of prosecutor general Omer Ahmed Mohamed, but demonstrators fear their uprising could be hijacked.

“We faced tear gas, many of us were jailed. We have been shot and many have died. All this because we said what we wanted to,” Fadia Khalaf told AFP.

Khalid Mohamed, a medic, said: “We got Bashir out, but we still have to get rid of the regime”.

Officials say at least 65 people have been killed in protest-related violence since December, with some of the dead memorialised in a Khartoum mural. </s> Protesters in Sudan called Thursday for new street demonstrations to pressure the ruling military council to speed up the transition of power to a civilian government as the new rulers announced the arrests of former president Omar al-Bashir's two brothers on corruption charges.

 

 Military council spokesman Gen. Shams Eddin Kabashi was quoted by the official SUNA news agency as saying that Abdullah and Abbas al-Bashir were taken into custody, without providing additional details or saying when it happened.

 

 The arrests were part of a broad sweep against officials and supporters of the former government.

 

 The Sudanese military ousted Omar al-Bashir last week, after four months of street protests against his 30-year rule marred by conflict, civil war and corruption. Al-Bashir is also wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court for atrocities committee in the western region of Darfur.

 

 "The arrests are ongoing of the ousted regime's figures in addition to those who are suspected of corruption," Kabashi said, adding that authorities are looking for a number of wanted fugitives. He said the detainees will be held in prisons in Khartoum and other cities.

 

 The English-language Sudan Tribune said the brothers and al-Bashir's wife are suspected of having accumulated illegal wealth through the years of al-Bashir's rule.

 

 The brothers' detention was likely another concession by the military to the protesters, who have demanded that all key figures and ranking officials from the former president's circle be arrested. A number of al-Bashir's close associates and former government officials have already been taken into custody since the military overthrew al-Bashir last Thursday. A number of them are also wanted by the International Criminal Court.

 

 The military council that now runs the country said the former president was transferred Tuesday to Koper Prison in the capital, Khartoum, a facility notorious for holding political prisoners under al-Bashir.

 

 Meanwhile, the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading anti-government street protests since mid-December, released Wednesday together with several opposition groups a proposed blueprint for the transfer of power from the military to a civilian government.

 

 Though the street protesters were overjoyed at al-Bashir's ouster, they were not happy with the military taking over and have demanded a swift handover of power to civilian rule. The military council has said it plans to rule for a maximum of two years as the country prepares for new elections.

 

 The protesters fear the army, dominated by al-Bashir appointees, will cling to power or select one of its own to succeed him. They have vowed to continue to protest, focusing on a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum, until the transfer of power is complete.

 

 The two-page blueprint posted online envisages a civilian presidential council made up of "revolutionary figures" and a defense minister, the only representative from the military.

 

 It also proposes the formation of a Cabinet of technocrats to run daily affairs of the state and a legislative council to draft laws and oversee the Cabinet until a new constitution is written.

 

 "We have to continue our sit-ins until a transitional civilian authority takes over," the document says. "We have faith that our people's victory is coming and that no power can stop our people from achieving all their goals."

 

 The military did not immediately comment on the document. The organizers of the protests urged the Sudanese to join their rally on Thursday in massive numbers as a way to pressure the military to meet the demands of the protest movement.

 

 It's not clear what will happen next to al-Bashir, a pariah in any countries. The military has said it would not extradite him to the ICC but has not ruled out that a future civilian government could someday hand him over to the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

 

 Meanwhile, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir offered to mediate in Sudan's political crisis. In a letter seen by The Associated Press, Kiir this week pledged his support for a transition in which the rights of the Sudanese people are protected and offered to ``mediate the on-going negotiations'' among various groups.

 

 Some in South Sudan are concerned that al-Bashir's departure will hurt their countries' fragile peace deal, which al-Bashir helped broker. South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in 2011, following decades of civil war.

 

 But the new country subsequently sank into its own civil war, which ended with an agreement signed in September. The deal calls for opposition leader Riek Machar to return to South Sudan next month to once again become Kiir's deputy, though that looks increasingly unlikely as tensions continue.

 

 One political analyst called Kiir's offer of mediation over al-Bashir a ``hypocritical public relations'' stunt.

 

 "It doesn't make sense. You cannot leave your house in a mess and claim to clean your neighbor's house,'' Jacob Chol, professor at the University of Juba, told the AP. </s> Sudan's Defense Minister Awad ibn Auf was sworn in Thursday as chairman of the new Military Transitional Council following the overthrow of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Ibn Auf took the constitutional oath in the capital Khartoum in a ceremony presided over by Chief Justice Abdul Majid Idris which was broadcast live on state television. Kamal Abdul-Marouf Al-Mahi, chairman of the Joint Staff Command, was sworn in as deputy chairman of the council.

The Sudanese military earlier Thursday announced the removal of al-Bashir, who had ruled Sudan since 1989, and the imposition of a two-year "transitional phase" following mass demonstrations calling for the president to step down.

Ibn Auf also announced in a televised statement the imposition of a one-month curfew to take effect Thursday evening along with a three-month nationwide state of emergency. He further announced the suspension of Sudan’s 2005 Constitution and the dissolution of the Sudanese presidency, parliament and council of ministers. He said a military council would be drawn up to run the country’s affairs during the post-Bashir interim phase.

Sudanese opposition parties and professional associations voiced “total rejection” of what they described as a "military coup". Al-Bashir came to power on the back of a 1989 military coup against the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. </s> In the African country, Sudan, the army has ousted the long-ruled president of the country. Sudan’s army has ousted and arrested President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday. Country’s defence Minister Awad Ibnouf confirmed this on state television

He informed that the President has been removed from power and detained by the army. He also said a three-month state of emergency was being put in place. Sudan’s constitution was being suspended, border crossings were being closed until further notice and airspace was being closed for 24 hours. Awad Ibn Ouf said the army had decided to oversee a two-year transitional period followed by elections.

Meanwhile, Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) service announced that it was freeing all the political detainees across the country.

Protests against Bashir, who has governed Sudan since 1989, have been underway for several months.

Bashir is the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which accuses him of organising war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
The Sudanese military surrounds the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum, and takes over state media buildings amid protests against President Omar al-Bashir. Several senior ministers are reportedly arrested, including former Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein.