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KHARTOUM - 12 Feb 2021

Protests continue as Sudan cracks down on Bashir's loyalists

Protesters block roads and burn tires during a protest against the economic crisis and high cost of living in Khartoum, Sudan on 21 October 2020 [Photo: Mahmoud Hjaj/Anadolu Agency]
Protesters block roads and burn tires during a protest against the economic crisis and high cost of living in Khartoum, Sudan on 21 October 2020 [Photo: Mahmoud Hjaj/Anadolu Agency]

As violent protests continue across Sudan, a committee tasked with dismantling the government of overthrown former president Omar Al-Bashir has issued an order to prosecute members of Sudan’s ex-ruling National Congress Party.

The Dismantling of June 30 Regime Committee in a decree Thursday directed state governors to‮ ‬take action through the public prosecutor against “all leaders of the dissolved National Congress Party, and its active cadres and the leaders of its facades”.

It said in a statement that it had sufficient information about the activities of former ruling party members and: "How they committed arson acts, plundered properties and terrorized unarmed citizens, which contradicts the protest pattern that the revolutionary forces have been organizing."

The public prosecution also issued an order for the arrest of eight men including well-known Bashir allies suspected to have gone into hiding.

Military generals ousted Bashir in April 2019 and formed a fragile transitional arrangement with political parties that were part of the uprising against him.

However, recently, Bashir's loyalists have taken to the streets in violent protests in major cities across the country causing widespread destruction and lootings, denouncing the deteriorating living conditions, high prices, and the scarcity of basic commodities. 

Reuters reports that markets were looted in several cities, and a spokesman for the committee described the situation as an “economic war” against Hamdok’s government, which has struggled with price hikes and fuel and bread shortages.

According to the Middle East Monitor, seven Sudanese states among them South Darfur, West Darfur, North Darfur, East Darfur, North Kordofan, West Kordofan, and Sennar State on Thursday declared a state of emergency following the protests.