A power struggle has erupted within Sudan’s historic Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), with a senior leader on Tuesday accusing a rival faction of staging an “internal coup” by manipulating the party’s aging and infirm leader to issue decrees.

The dispute flared after decrees were issued on Monday in the name of party chief Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani, appointing several figures with ties to the former government of Omer al-Bashir to top posts and sidelining one of al-Mirghani’s sons.

A prominent party leader close to the family told the Sudan Tribune that the decisions were made “without his [al-Mirghani’s] consent.” Another senior figure was quoted as saying, “What has occurred is nothing less than a full-blown coup.”