Bashir loyalists to rally in Khartoum on Thursday

Loyalists of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir called for a support rally in Khartoum on Thursday as protesters demanding his resignation massed outside army headquarters for a fifth straight day.

"The National Congress Party's executive bureau supports the national dialogue partners' initiative to organise a gathering to be seen by all the people on Thursday," the acting chief of Bashir's ruling party, Ahmed Harun, said in a statement issued late on Tuesday.

"I call on all members of NCP across the state of Khartoum to participate in this rally."

Harun said the rally aims to "show that there are social and political powers that are committed towards peace, security and stability in Sudan".

In March, Bashir handed his powers as party leader to Harun as part of top level changes he made in the face of the protests that erupted against his rule in December.

The National Congress Party was formed a few years after Bashir took power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.