Anti-government protests against President Omar al-Bashir’s rule continued in Sudan on Tuesday.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in and around the capital Khartoum, calling for the ouster of Bashir and marching in memorial for those killed during weeks of protests against him, activists said.
The rallies coincided by the intelligence agency’s order of the release of all detainees held during the demonstrations that have rocked the country for weeks.
The order issued by Salah Ghosh comes amid mounting international criticism of the agency's sweeping crackdown to prevent the spread of protests that first erupted in December.
"The chief of the National Intelligence and Security Service issued an order to release all detainees held in recent incidents," the information ministry said.
Rights groups say NISS has arrested more than 1,000 people, including protesters, opposition leaders, activists and journalists, as part of the clampdown on the demonstrations.
The east African nation has been rocked by deadly protests since December 19 after a government decision to triple the price of bread. The demonstrations swiftly turned into nationwide calls for Bashir to step down.
Riot police have confronted the protesters with tear gas as part of the NISS-led crackdown.
Officials say 30 people have died in violence during the protests, while rights groups have put the death toll at more than 40.
Bashir has blamed the country's economic woes on Washington that had imposed a trade embargo on Khartoum in 1997.
Washington lifted the embargo in October 2017, but that has failed to revive the country's economy hit by soaring inflation and an acute foreign currency shortage.
Earlier, the army's Deputy Chief of Staff, General Essameddine Mubarak said the armed forces were ready to face any threat to the country in the first such remarks since the eruption of the protests, state media reported.
"We confirm the readiness of our armed forces to respond to any conspiracies by the enemy," the official news agency SUNA quoted him as saying.
He was addressing the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum, both of which have been rocked by protests.
"The armed forces are committed to protect the country and its residents. The forces are aware of the enemy's threat," Mubarak said, without specifying the nature of the threats or who the enemies were.
