Sudanese President Announces One Year of National Emergency

Khartoum, MNA – Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir declared one year of National emergency, dissolved his cabinet and regional governments throughout the country.

In a televised address on Friday, Bashir also called on the Sudanese parliament to postpone a constitutional amendment that would allow him to run for the next term in the 2020 presidential election, according to Al Jazeera as quoted by MINA.

As the protests have rocked his government in recent months, the 75-year-old said, “our people’s demands for better living conditions are legitimate.”

“I will not stop asking all parties to sit at the dialogue,” Bashir said, adding that he would remain “the youth side representing Sudan’s future.”

Every months of almost daily protests took place against his government, with thousands of people taking to the streets across the country since December 19 ask him to step down after nearly three decades in office.

The protests, which were initially triggered by rising bread and fuel prices in Sudan, quickly developed into demands for more political freedom and ended Bashir’s rule.

Activists say nearly 60 people have been killed since the protests began, while authorities say the death toll was 31 people.

The Sudanese leader’s term of office will end in 2020 and he has repeatedly promised for years not to run for president again.

Without changing the country’s constitution, he cannot run for a third term. (T/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)