Sudan’s interior minister sacked amid lawlessness

Sudan’s military leader Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has sacked the acting interior minister, Anan Hamed Mohammed Omar, who is also the police chief.

In a statement, Gen Burhan named Khalid Hassan Muhyi al-Din as the new general director of police.

No reason was given for the sacking but Gen Burhan had earlier dismissed, in similar decrees, the governor of the central bank and two foreign ministry diplomats.

The police have been inactive in conflict-hit areas, including the capital, Khartoum, since the fighting erupted on 15 April. As a result, acts of lawlessness, including looting and robbery, have been widely reported in these areas.

A month of fighting between Sudan’s rival military factions appears to have no end in sight despite much-touted truce talks brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia.