“Release of Ousted President’s Regime Leaders Sparks Power Struggle in Sudan”

The announcement of the release of the leaders of the regime of the ousted president, Omar al-Bashir, who have been imprisoned on charges of death row for four years, from Kober Prison, caused a violent shake-up of the balance of power between the army and the Rapid Support Forces. And between the “Islamists” and the supporters of the “Salvation Government” who are trying to regain their authority through the officers loyal to them in the army, which hastened to disavow them.
The last president of the dissolved National Congress Party, Ahmed Muhammad Haroun, said, after announcing their release from the central prison in Kober, in an audio recording, that the remaining prison guards transferred them under a limited guard of three people to another place, until a judicial order for their release was obtained. However, the decision faltered.
Haroun explained that they made a special decision to take responsibility for providing protection for themselves, in the face of the intensifying clashes around their places of detention. He announced their readiness to appear before the judicial authority again whenever it was able to carry out its mission due to their confidence in their legal position.

The authorities released the prisoners of the Central Prison in Kober, last Sunday, after the prisoners organized large protests due to the lack of cooking gas and water, due to fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces near the prison headquarters, following accusations made by the army to the Rapid Support Forces of storming Al-Huda prison, north of Omdurman. And the release of detainees in it, while the Rapid Support said that a force impersonating him invaded the prison to release about twenty members of the General Intelligence Service who were sentenced to death, because they were convicted of killing a peaceful protester at the beginning of the revolution that overthrew the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir.
Haroun said that the leaders of what he called the “National Salvation Revolution” remained in prison and under the crossfire of the battle between the army and the Rapid Support Forces for 9 days, sharing with the rest of the prison inmates the security conditions and the lack of life necessities, and the interruption of electricity, water and health care, including the wounded of the prison force and the inmates. Those who were attacked caused deaths and injuries among them.
He explained that all the prison inmates left by force to escape the deteriorating conditions inside, with the exception of a few, not exceeding ten of the prison commanders and officers, who stayed with them. He said, “Over the past years, we have been held hostage to appease political, regional and international forces.”

Ibrahim Senussi

Haroun declared absolute support for the armed forces (the army) in the war between them and the support forces, saying: “We make a complete distinction between those in power and the institutions of the national state, foremost of which is our armed forces that fight with honor, courage and valor, as we pledge to them, and we call on all the masses of our people and our membership to further rally around and support them.” He called on the members of the Rapid Support Forces, which he described as dissolved, to join the army and leave their current leadership, which he considered leading a “personal and family project.”
In a statement, the Rapid Support Forces were quick to consider Haroun’s message as a revelation of exposed facts, and that the man who spoke on behalf of the leaders of the defunct regime revealed the role of what he called “the coup forces” and “the Mujahideen Brigades” in their release and their departure from prison, according to a plan agreed upon between the two parties. The army leaders and their partners from the defunct regime, whose aim is to “undermine the people’s revolution,” according to the Rapid Support statement.

Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hussain

The Sudanese army also responded with a statement in which it said that the “rebel militia” (the Rapid Support Forces) stormed Al-Huda, Soba, and women’s prisons in Omdurman, and forced the prison police to release the inmates, and killed and wounded some of the prison force’s employees, and that the central prison authorities in Kober released the prisoners. Due to the interruption of water, electricity and catering services.
The statement categorically denied its connection with the process of releasing the imprisoned rescue leaders, and held the prison administration fully responsible, saying: “The authority to manage/supervise the country’s prisons is outside its jurisdiction, and falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior – the Prison Police Department.”
The statement, signed on behalf of the military spokesman, denied the existence of any relationship between the army and the statements issued by any party or individuals who were released from prisons, “including the statement of Ahmed Haroun, who is being held on the background of political communications.” Ahmed Harun, nor his political party, or the administration of the country’s prisons, which fall under the responsibility of the Sudanese Ministry of Interior and Police.

Ahmed Haroun

In a second statement, appended to the first, the military spokesman said that some of the military “defendants of June 3” (meaning the rescue coup) were being held in Alia Military Hospital, due to their health conditions, before the outbreak of what he called the “rebellion”, and that they are still under the custody and responsibility of the judicial police while they are Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir, Bakri Hassan Salih, Abd Al-Rahim Muhammad Hussein, Ahmed Al-Tayeb Al-Khanjar, and Youssef Abdel-Fattah, in addition to the civilian Ali Al-Hajj Muhammad, who is being detained for treatment at Ahmed Qasim Hospital on a medical recommendation.
In light of widespread accusations of complicity with the “Kizan”, the armed forces’ statement warned of what the rebels called the media mouthpieces, accusing them of misleading and confusing the people, and said: “The position of the armed forces will remain clear on this matter, which is the categorical rejection of any desperate attempts to link what is happening in prisons to any Bidding on its national position, which it is now taking in confronting the militia of treachery and treason, the protégé of the defunct covenant and the guardians of the blessing of its leader, with the testimony of all the people of Sudan. The Ministry of Interior said in a statement, on Wednesday, that the Rapid Support Forces stormed five prisons, including Kober prison. She explained that the storming of Kober prison led to the killing and wounding of a number of prison administration employees, and the release of all inmates.

Ali Othman Taha

The “Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change” coalition, which signed the “framework agreement” with the army and the Rapid Support Forces, said that Haroun’s statement confirmed what some have said, that “the exterminated regime and its dissolved party”, and in conjunction with their elements in the armed and regular forces, are behind the “war”. To return to power again in any way. He considered that the choice of Harun to speak on their behalf illustrates the message intended to be delivered. And he warned that “this war was ignited by the defunct regime, which will lead the country to collapse and will not achieve any of the main issues that the civil and military parties sought to solve through the political process.”
A spokesman for the “Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change,” Yasser Saeed Arman, said in a tweet on “Twitter” that the statements of the prison escapee, Ahmed Haroun, on behalf of Al-Bashir and the others, are a call to expand the scope of the war, and are against the desire of the Sudanese and the regional and international community, and confirm the need for the Sudanese to mobilize their efforts to stop the war. And not to expand it.
The editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper, Al-Jarida, Ashraf Abdel Aziz, considered Harun’s statement a severe “embarrassment” to the Sudanese army, as it reinforced the hypothesis of the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, that the decision to ignite the war was supported by leaders from the defunct regime. Haroun used it in his statement, not only did she support the army, but considered his battle a battle of dignity.
Abdel Aziz referred to what he called the statement directing the party members to engage in war, and said: “This is what made the rumors rise, that there is a solid relationship and coordination between the two parties, which the army tried to deny in its statement after the negative influence on it in public opinion reached its extent.” for this relationship.”