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Professionals call another round of protests, demand resignation
By Tasie Thodore
The clock may presently be ticking less slowly for embattled President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
Since December 19 when the price of the favourite staple, bread was tripled (even as inflation rate rose to an incredulous 72.94 per cent), no one has rested in the country.
Provoked by the harsh living conditions that they had been compelled to endure over the years, the people have gone almost completely ballistic. Government officials are chased out of mosques and troops are having a hard time quelling the daily outbreak of demonstrations, countrywide even as a formal state of emergency has been declared.
Underscoring the depth of the crisis facing the administration, the people got a first victory on Friday when the hardline President Omar al-Bashir was forced to give up the leadership of the ruling National Congress Party to Deputy Chairman, Ahmed Harun.
Now Sudanese professionals who are leading the protests in the country are raising the bar. They have called for another nationwide strike for Wednesday and demanded the immediate resignation of the embattled President who has led the country for thirty years .
Over the years, Bashir has been able to survive a myriad of resistance to his continuing chokehold on power. These have ranged from the civil war that led to the excising of South Sudan from the nation to the International Criminal Court, ICC sanctions on him for his role in allegedly assisting the Sudanese Janjaweed to wreck havoc on defenceless peoples and communities all across the nation.
Through it all, Bashir has managed to remain standing this far but can the ‘strongman of the Sudan’ survive the fury of his own people this time around? The clock ticks on even as the streets fill up.
Some notable dictators that have been forced out of power on the continent through the years include Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso and Ben Ali of Tunisia.
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