The generals have blinked and replaced one of their own
AWAD IBN AUF was leader of Sudan for just over a day. In his brief spell as head of state the former vice-president and defence chief declared a three-month state of emergency, suspended the constitution, arrested a few senior officials and announced a curfew. “The people asked us to take over...and we did,” he said in a stony-faced televised address on April 11th, shortly after placing his boss, Omar al-Bashir, under house arrest.
Sudan’s demonstrators, who have been camped outside the headquarters of the armed forces in central Khartoum since April 6th, were having none of it. Though they had called on the army to side with them in order to topple Mr Bashir, who has ruled since 1989, his bloodstained deputy was far from the replacement they had in mind. Mr Auf has had sanctions placed on him by America for his role in war crimes . Faced with a storm of popular outrage, the short-lived autocrat stepped down on April 12th.
On April 13th the opposition nominated delegates to begin negotiating with a military council headed by Mr Burhan. In the first meeting the council promised to repeal all repressive laws and to oversee a predominantly civilian administration, according to the Sudanese Professionals’ Association , which organised many of the protests. Alongside this, the military council moved to weaken the power of the former tyrant.
But the protesters remain dissatisfied. “We can’t live on promises,” says Hamid Murtada, an activist. The SPA has called for the sit-in outside the defence ministry to continue until the “deep state” is fully dismantled. Many people are particularly worried by the appointment of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo as the military council’s deputy leader.
Whether the junta will actually relinquish power remains to be seen. “It’s very possible the military said all that just to end the sit-in,” says Mohammed Osman, an analyst in Khartoum. Indeed, on the morning of April 15th it tried again to disband the protest, this time asking demonstrators to help clear roadblocks. After a brief stand-off the soldiers retreated. “Clean up the regime and we’ll clean up the square,” shouted protesters as they departed.
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