Deputy head of Sudan’s army council: I do not want to be president

The deputy head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, denied reports of a rift with the country’s umbrella opposition movement group and said that he “does not want to be president.”

Daglo, who goes by the nickname Hemedti, denied reports of any disagreements between the ruling military council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change and said that there were certain political groups who “did not want an agreement to be reached between the parties.”

During his interview with Al Hadath, Hemedti confirmed that the Transitional Military Council has so far reduced the number of its members to five people.

He also described reports that the paramilitary group he leads, Rapid Support Forces, were overreaching in their powers as “rumors spread in order to remove it from the scene.”

The deputy head of the ruling military council admitted to the occurrence of “chaos during the crackdown of the mass sit-in protests,” referring to the June 3 events in which thousands of protesters were forcibly removed in the capital Khartoum, adding that the person “responsible for the crackdown is now under arrest.”

“We have arrested all those who committed crimes against the demonstrators. We have a lot to disclose pending the announcement of the results of an inquiry,” he said.

“We will hold accountable all those from the Rapid Support Forces who are proven of involvement in committing abuses against the demonstrators,” he added.