Sudan’s Bashir not to seek new term as president: Official

By Mohamed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir will not run for president in the polls slated for 2020, the intelligence chief of the country said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters in the capital Khartoum, Salah Abdallah Gosh said al-Bashir will declare a state of emergency across the nation and dissolve the government.

Sudanese president will also step down as the chairman of the ruling National Congress Party, Gosh added.

Bashir is expected to deliver a speech to nation on Friday.

Sudan has been rocked by popular protests for the last two months, with demonstrators decrying al-Bashir’s failure to remedy the country’s longstanding economic woes.

Sudanese officials say around 31 people have been killed since the protests began in December, although the opposition puts the number at closer to 50.

A nation of 40 million people, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of three quarters of its oil output -- its main source of foreign currency -- when South Sudan seceded in 2011.