Sudan’s military ousts President Al-Bashir and appoints a new prime minister

(CNN) — Sudan’s military chief reinstated his country’s former prime minister in a statement on Sunday, one day after the military toppled the regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan’s new military leaders have installed Abdel Fattah el-Sudani as prime minister, while Sudan Liberation Movement Secretary General Salah Gosh remains acting president.

Sudan’s currency is down a staggering 85% against the U.S. dollar since January, while the country’s pro-democracy activist group, the National Consensus Forces (NCF), alleged earlier this year that corruption had become so out of control that “government stores were selling the dollar for $900.”

Roughly 92% of Sudan’s population lives on less than $2 a day, with most spending that on food, according to the United Nations.

Al-Bashir, a military hardliner who ruled Sudan for more than 30 years, remains the de facto ruler of the country, which is still officially classified as an “affiliate state” of the United States.

A 2013 Sudanese government travel ban on several key U.S. officials was lifted in 2015, but restrictions on US citizens’ travel to Sudan remain in place.

Founded in 1955, the NCP was led by al-Bashir until 1989, when the military stepped in to end the country’s civil war.

Following al-Bashir’s ouster on Saturday, the NCP called for calm while it formed a new government.

“Dialogue and peaceful resolution remain the only formula that can resolve all the differences facing the Sudanese people,” said the NCP.

The-CNN-Wire

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