Veteran Sudan opposition figure accuses army of ‘coup’

KHARTOUM (AA) – Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi, deputy head of Sudan’s opposition National Umma Party, accused the army on Thursday of ousting President Omar al-Bashir in a “military coup”.

Earlier the same day, Defense Minister Awad ibn Auf announced the “removal” of al-Bashir -- who has ruled Sudan since 1989 -- and the imposition of a two-year “transitional phase”.

Speaking to Qatar’s Al Jazeera television channel, al-Mahdi accused the Sudanese army of carrying out a “military coup” against al-Bashir.

She also accused ibn Auf of heading up a special “committee”, which, she asserted, had “carried out a falsification campaign [against al-Bashir] with the help of Sudan’s security apparatus”.

She went on to urge the Sudanese people to continue staging countrywide demonstrations until all of their demands had been met.

Al-Bashir came to power on the back of a 1989 military coup against the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, Maryam al-Mahdi’s father.