KHARTOUM: The head of Sudan’s ruling transitional military council has fired the three highest-ranking public prosecutors, after protesters demanded an overhaul of the judiciary as part of steps toward civilian government.
The Sudanese Professionals’ Association spearheading the revolt has issued a long list of demands for wholesale change to end repression and ease an economic crisis after the military deposed veteran autocrat Omar Al-Bashir last week.
In a statement, the military council said its chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan had sacked chief prosecutor Omar Ahmed Mohamed Abdelsalam and deputy public prosecutor Hesham Othman Ibrahim Saleh, as well as head of public prosecutions Amer Ibrahim Majid.
Alwaleed Sayed Ahmed Mahmoud was appointed to carry out Abdelsalam’s duties, it said. Mahmoud’s background was not immediately known.
The announcements came as the military council received important international backing from Egypt. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called Al-Burhan to offer his support, a spokesman for El-Sisi said.
The Egyptian president affirmed "Egypt's full support for the security and stability of Sudan and its support for the will and choices of the Sudanese people."
In its first news conference on Monday, the Sudanese Professionals’ Association — which led weeks of protests that led to Al-Bashir’s overthrow after 30 years in power — called for the military council to be dissolved in favor of an interim civilian ruling council with military representatives.
It also called for Abdelsalam’s removal along with the chief of the judiciary and his deputies, and added that mass protests would not cease until the demands were met. The judiciary chief was not mentioned in the council's statement.
On Tuesday, hundreds of University of Khartoum professors carrying signs reading “civilian transitional government” and “democracy” marched to a protesters’ sit-in outside the Defense Ministry that began on April 6, a Reuters witness said.
Academics are among the most respected groups in Sudanese society, adding powerful symbolism to the march.
Military council member Jalal Al-Deen Al-Sheikh met African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat in Addis Ababa and gave him a letter from Burhan on the situation in Sudan and inviting Mahamat to visit, the state news agency SUNA said.
It quoted Sheikh as saying Mahamat had expressed “understanding” for the decisions the military council had taken so far.
On Monday, the AU’s Peace and Security Council called for the military council to transfer power to a transitional civilian-led authority within 15 days or risk Sudan being suspended from the AU.
On Monday, Sheikh told a news conference in Addis Ababa, where the African Union is based, that the military council was already in the process of picking a prime minister for civilian rule — ahead of elections promised within two years.
