(Bloomberg) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir stepped down as chairman of the ruling party after more than two months of anti-government protests rocked the North African nation.
The former governor of Northern Kordofan state, Ahmed Haroun, will be the acting chief of the National Congress Party until it chooses a successor, it said Friday in a statement. Like al-Bashir, Haroun is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in the western region of Darfur.
The NCP said al-Bashir's decision to leave the post would fulfill his wish “to be a national president and stand apart from any political party.”
Sudan has been hit since mid-December by demonstrations against rising living costs that developed into calls for al-Bashir, 75, to step down. Dozens of people have been killed in the unrest, which has posed the biggest challenge to his rule since he seized power in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Alamin in Khartoum at malamin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Karl Maier
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