Sudan police chief, his deputy dismissed

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Saturday dismissed the country’s police chief and his deputy.

A cabinet statement said Lieutenant-General Khaled Mahdi Ibrahim Al-Emam and his deputy Al-Sadiq Ali Ibrahim were removed from their posts.

The statement said Lieutenant-General Anan Hamed Mohammed Omar was appointed as a new police chief and Major General Muddathir Abd al-Rahman Nasr al-Din as his deputy.

The move came days after Hamdok was reinstated after signing an agreement with the military that put an end to a weeks-long crisis that threatened to undermine Sudan’s political transition.

Saturday’s dismissals came after several protesters were killed in protests against last month’s military takeover.

Last week, Al-Emam denied reports that police forces had opened fire on protesters during demonstrations against the military.

Before the military takeover on Oct. 25, Sudan was administered by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials which was overseeing the transition period until elections in 2023 as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara