Sudan's Defence Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf makes an announcement in Sudan in this still image taken from video on April 11, 2019. Sudan TV/ReutersTV
KHARTOUM: 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.
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.
Thousands of people flocked to an anti-government protest outside the defence ministry on Thursday, while huge crowds took to the streets in central Khartoum, dancing and shouting anti-Bashir slogans. Protesters chanted: "It has fallen, we won."
Demonstrators called for a civilian government and said they would not accept an administration led by military and security figures, or by Bashir's aides.
Omar Saleh Sennar, a senior member of the Sudanese Professionals' Association, one of the main protest groups, said it expected to negotiate with the military over a transfer of power. "We will only accept a transitional civilian government," Sennar told Reuters.
Kamal Omar, 38, another demonstrator, said: "We will continue our sit-in until we prevail."
Some demonstrators, who have rallied against Bashir since Dec. 19, said they feared the delay would allow him to go into exile.
Troops deployed around the defence ministry and on major roads and bridges in the capital.
Soldiers stormed the headquarters of Bashir's Islamic Movement, the main component of the ruling National Congress Party.
Protesters also attacked the offices of Sudan's intelligence and security service in the eastern cities of Port Sudan and Kassala on Thursday, witnesses said.
The security service earlier announced the release of all political prisoners.
