By Oyintari Ben
The Sudanese army revealed on Wednesday that ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is being kept in a military hospital in the country’s capital, Khartoum.
Before fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out, according to a military statement, al-Bashir was transferred to Aliaa Military Hospital on the advice of the medical personnel in Kober Prison.
Following widespread protests against his leadership, Al-Bashir, who controlled Sudan for three decades, was overthrown by the military in April 2019.
Al-Bashir oversaw the nation under what he called the “national salvation revolution” after orchestrating a military coup against Prime Minister Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi’s administration on June 30, 1989.
In December 2019, the former president was imprisoned in Khartoum’s Kober prison after being found guilty of corruption.
Ahmed Haroun, the leader of the ruling party during the Bashir administration, had escaped from a Khartoum prison.
Haroun, sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, said in a video that he had escaped the Kober jail in Khartoum because of a lack of security, food, water, and medical care. Haroun is wanted by the ICC.
According to the Health Ministry, since April 15, battles between the Sudanese army and RSF fighters have resulted in at least 460 deaths and over 4,000 injuries.
The army and the paramilitaries had been at odds over a military security reform in recent months. One of the primary problems in negotiations by international and regional parties for transitioning to civilian, democratic administration in Sudan is the reform, which calls for full RSF membership in the military.
