KHARTOUM 

Sudan’s parliament voted to extend a nationwide state of emergency by another three months, the head of the country’s Sovereign Council said late Thursday.

The extension will be effective as of Friday, Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman said in a statement.

In February, then-President Omar al-Bashir announced a countrywide state of emergency for a one-year period, but parliament approved a period of six months.

In July, the Transitional Military Council (TMC) approved another three-month state of emergency.

Sudan has been rocked by popular protests since last December, with demonstrators decrying Bashir’s failure to remedy the country’s chronic economic woes.

A nation of 40 million, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of some three quarters of its oil output -- its main source of foreign currency -- since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

Sudan is being ruled under a power-sharing deal between the TMC and the opposition Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition.

Bashir was removed from power by the military in April after months of protests against his 30-year rule.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar