Sudan lifts Emergency for first time since coup to facilitate fruitful dialogue

Sudan’s transitional government has lifted State of Emergency in all parts of the country, months after a coup sent the African country into political turmoil. On Sunday, Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel FattahAl-Burhan signed a decree announcing the same, reported Xinhua News. As per the council, the order would “prepare the atmosphere for a fruitful dialogue that achieves stability for the transitional period.”

On October 25 last year, the Sudanese military took control of the country's administration in a coup d’état. While the country was already being governed by the Transitional Military Council, security forces by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized complete power last month. The coup has resulted in dozens of people getting killed in addition to “numerous arrests” and disappearances of civil society members, journalists, and activists. 

Sunday's decision came after senior military leaders of the country met and agreed on lifting the draconian emergency law. They also affirmed that all protesters detained under emergency should be released. Notably, UN representative to the country Volker Perthes had also called for the revocation after two protesters were killed on Saturday. 

"I am appalled by the violent death of two young protesters in Khartoum yesterday. One again: it is time for the violence to stop, time to end the state of emergency, time for a peaceful way out of the current crisis in Sudan," he said in an online statement.

Former leaders released to build trust 

Last month, Sudan's transitional authorities released two outspoken former government officials from prison, lawyers said Wednesday, part of trust-building measures amid efforts to end the country’s political impasse. According to Associated Press, Khalid Omar, a former minister of Cabinet Affairs, and Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former member of the ruling Sovereign Council, walked free from a prison in the capital of Khartoum. The Criminal Court in northern Khartoum rejected prosecutors' request to renew their detention pending investigations into an array of vague charges, including betrayal of the public trust, according to their lawyers.

(Image: AP)