Sudan’s army denies involvement in jail break by ex-regime officials

The Sudanese army has denied it has had anything to do with the release of members of deposed President Omar Al-Bashir’s government from prison after an attack on the detention centre where they were being held.

Omar Al-Bashir was overthrown during a popular uprising in 2019 and is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide.

After he was forced from power Al-Bashir was sentenced by a judge in Khartoum to a range of charges including corruption and the killing of protesters, however Sudanese authorities refused to hand him over to the ICC.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has accused the army of releasing him from prison as part of a plan to bring him back to power.

The Sudanese army announced this morning that it has no relationship with Al-Bashir’s Party, the National Congress Party, and said it is holding Al-Bashir at a military hospital.

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It accused the RSF of attacking the prison and releasing leaders of the former regime, Abdel-Rahman Muhammad Hussein and Ahmed Haroun.

The RSF has denied the allegations.

Abdel-Rahman and Ahmed Haroun are wanted alongside Al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes in Darfur and crimes against humanity.

Yesterday, Haroun said that he had left Kober Prison in the north of Khartoum after conditions deteriorated inside the prison where there is insufficient water, bread and electricity and that he had been allowed to walk out.

Violence has spread across Sudan for almost two weeks now after a power struggle broke out between army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who leads the Sudanese Armed Forces, and paramilitary commander Lt. General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo who oversees the RSF.

Over 400 people, mainly civilians, have been killed, and thousands are trying to flee the country as warring parties exchange gunfire and shelling.

Residents trapped at home have little food, water and electricity. Doctors have warned that the healthcare system in the country is close to collapse.

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