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Sudan's Rulers Round Up Bashir's Brothers as Protests Continue

Sudan's Rulers Round Up Bashir's Brothers as Protests Continue

(Bloomberg) -- Sudan’s ruling military said it arrested two of ousted leader Omar al-Bashir’s brothers and is hunting down other loyalists, as the long-time president was reportedly moved to a notorious prison.

The arrests of Abdallah and Abbas al-Bashir were announced late Wednesday by the transitional military council’s spokesman, Shamseddine Kabbashi. In a televised address, he said dozens of members of al-Bashir’s former regime had already been jailed and the offices of a militia loyal to the ex-president seized.

They’re the latest moves by Sudan’s new rulers to check at least some of the influence of al-Bashir, who the army ousted on April 11 after four months of mass protests in which dozens of people died. Protesters are keeping up a long-running sit-in outside army headquarters, saying many of the pillars of al-Bashir’s rule remain and demanding the military council be replaced by a civilian government.

Kabbashi said the military council had met recently with delegations and envoys from nations including Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates.

On Wednesday, local media reported that al-Bashir had been moved from house arrest to Kober prison in the capital, Khartoum -- a facility where his opponents have been tortured and beaten in the past. Amnesty International called for the ex-president’s immediate handover to the International Criminal Court, which has indicted him for alleged war crimes and genocide.

As pro-democracy protests continued, the main opposition alliance submitted a road map for a civilian-led transition to the military council. Its proposals include a mainly civilian council with some military representation, a powerful 17-member cabinet and a parliament of 120 lawmakers, said Mohamed Nagi Alasam, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Alamin in Khartoum at malamin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn

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