Sudan’s economic woes have led university students angry with the steep rise in the cost of living to protest in the streets of the capital for the past five days, with no signs of relenting. As the demonstrations become increasingly tense, students are now even calling for the overthrow of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s government.

 

The protest movement began on the Khartoum University’s central campus on Saturday and soon spread to other campuses across the capital, despite the police’s crackdown on the demonstrations.

 

 

On Monday, the third day of protests, students gathered in the centre of Khartoum chanting “the people want lower prices”. Determined to quell the unrest, riot police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protestors. The opposition organisation Sudan Change Now claims that plain-clothes agents from the intelligence services have also been taking part in the crackdown against protestors. In a recent statement, the organisation described the current unrest as “some of the worst violence Sudan has seen in a number of years”.

 

The police claim that the protestors are a threat to national security, and have stated that a number of students have been arrested for stirring up trouble and attacking private property. They did not specify the exact number of arrests.

 

 

In spite of these demonstrations, President al-Bashir announced on Monday a series of new austerity measures aimed at strengthening the country’s battered economy. Until recently, Sudan was a major oil exporter; however, it lost three quarters of its oil revenues when South Sudan - where most of the oil wells are located - split away and became a new country last July. According to official figures, inflation reached 28% in April and 30% in May, but some economists believe that the real figure is in fact more than 40%. Severely short of funds, the government plans to increase taxes, make drastic cuts in public spending, and gradually abolish fuel subsidies.