Sudan: Calls grow for Omar al-Bashir to step down
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is facing growing calls to step down following deadly protests over a dire economic crisis in the East African country.
Twenty-two Sudanese opposition political parties and groups demanded on Tuesday that Bashir transfer power to a "sovereign council" and a transitional government that would set a "suitable" date for democratic elections.
The groups, calling themselves the National Front for Change, include some Islamist factions that were once allied with Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 military coup, as well as breakaway groups from large traditional parties.
"This government does not have the ability to overcome the economic crisis because the economic crisis is basically a political crisis," Mubarak Elfadel, Chairman of the Umma Party, told reporters at a press conference in Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
"The government needs to end its rule and step down. We need to form a provisional council and a transitional government that will run this new stage and prepare us for new elections."
The groups said they will submit a memorandum with their demands to the president on Wednesday. They warned that failure to transition to a new political system would have "dire consequences" for Sudan.
The move came as a second party, Sudan Reform Now, announced it was withdrawing from the coalition government. …
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/sudan-calls-grow-omar-al-bashir-step-190101195901621.html