Stone-throwing protesters clashed with Sudanese security forces in the capital Khartoum on Thursday in the latest round of demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir’s rule that erupted a month ago.
Demonstrations also erupted in three other cities as part of a four-week long unrest that poses the most persistent challenge to Bashir’s grip since he took power in a coup in 1989.
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas to scatter hundreds of protesters, some throwing stones, in Khartoum’s Burri neighbourhood, a Reuters witness said.
“We will continue to protest until the government falls because we want to provide a better life for our children,” a 47-year-old teacher among the demonstrators said.
Hundreds also protested in al-Qadarif, Atbara and Al-Ubayyid, drawing tear gas volleys from police, witnesses said.
Protests have rippled across Sudan since Dec. 19 and security forces have at times used live ammunition to disperse demonstrations. The official death toll stands at 24, including two security forces personnel. Amnesty International has said that more than 40 people have been killed.
Sudan’s economy has struggled to recover from the loss of three quarters of its oil output – its main source of foreign currency – since South Sudan seceded in 2011, keeping most of the oilfields.
The United States lifted 20-year-old trade sanctions on Sudan in 2017. But many investors continue to shun a country still listed by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges, which he denies, of masterminding genocide in the Darfur region.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum and Nafisa Eltahir in Dubai; Writing by Lena Masri; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: Reuters
