Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has stepped down after months of protests, according to government sources.
A transitional council is expected to replace him.
On Thursday morning, anti-government protesters marched through the streets of Khartoum chanting anti-Bashir slogans.
Protesters outside the defence ministry chanted: “It has fallen, we won.”
Bashir, a former paratrooper, seized power in 1989 after a coup. Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague after allegations of genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region surfaced.
The United States placed Bashir’s government in its list of terrorism sponsors for allegedly fostering Islamist militants. Because of that, Sudan was placed under extended periods of isolation since 1993 after Washington slapped sanctions four years later.
After 30 years in power, Bashir stepped down after anti-government protests escalated in the weekend. On Tuesday, clashes between soldiers trying to protect protesters and security personnel ended with 11 dead including six members of the armed forces.
Protests started in December after the government tried to raise the price of bread and an economic crisis lead to shortages in fuel and cash.
Russia’s foreign affairs committee chief Konstantin Kosaciov condemned the coup in a Facebook post:
“I don’t try to judge who is right there and who isn’t. I recall my principled position of denying the scenarios of unconstitutional change of power in principle – whether in Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, Venezuela, or anywhere else. And those who commit such coups must understand the enormous risks they place in their country,” he wrote.
