> > > > Riots in Sudan Bashing Bashir / The Economist 05.10.13 > > Sudan’s president faces his worst protests so far > Oct 5th 2013 | KHARTOUM |From the print edition > > The angriest for 24 years > > A CRACKDOWN by Sudan’s security forces on people protesting against the > lifting of fuel subsidies has left dozens of people dead in the capital, > Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country since September 23rd. President Omar > al-Bashir’s government was prepared for demonstrations, as its recent > austerity measures virtually doubled the price of petrol and cooking gas > overnight. But it did not foresee that, in carrying out what human-rights > groups have described as a “shoot to kill” policy, the security forces > would cause a bigger headache than had the protests themselves. > > The regime says 34 people have died—the highest toll in any street protest > since Mr Bashir took over 24 years ago. The Paris-based International > Federation of Human Rights says at least 170 have been killed. Sudan’s own > Doctors’ Syndicate puts the figure at 210. > > The numbers might have mattered less had the bullets hit only the poor, who > accounted for most of the victims. But when Saleh Sanhouri, a young > chemist, was shot during a protest in Buri, a rich district of central > Khartoum, the shock waves reverberated through the heart of the regime. > > Mr Sanhouri was one of several young protesters from the capital’s more > affluent families to die. His handsome face has become a Facebook favourite > for student would-be revolutionaries among Khartoum’s disenfranchised > intelligentsia. More to the point, his family is well-known in government > circles, too. > > On the night of Mr Sanhouri’s funeral the president received a petition > from 31 members of his own National Congress Party and leading Islamists, > one of whom is a prominent general. They told him his “legitimacy” had > never been so much in doubt. They want those responsible for the shootings > to be prosecuted and the victims’ families compensated. In the past Mr > Bashir has ignored the intelligentsia as toothless. But the letter was more > troubling. The president straddles a coalition that includes the ruling > party, Islamists, the military and security forces, and tribal leaders. The > letter’s signatories included people from many of those camps. > > Among other things, they also called for fuel subsidies to be brought back. > That would be hard for Mr Bashir. The secession of South Sudan in 2011 led > to the loss of much of the Sudanese state’s oil income. It cannot afford to > go on subsidising the lifestyle of Khartoum’s better-off. So protests > against the measures are likely to continue. The urban poor have already > suffered months of price rises: inflation is officially just over 20% a > year, but local businessmen say the true figure is closer to 50%. “They > don’t care who rules them,” says a prominent local commentator. “But they > care if they cannot afford to eat.” > > Luckily for Mr Bashir, such voices of dissent, though growing, express no > common vision. The Twitter-savvy students chanting “Freedom” on the streets > are hardly in tune with Islamists opposing Mr Bashir from within the > regime. The traditional opposition parties, all led by ageing men, tend to > be weak, inarticulate and ill-organised. Mr Bashir’s strength is that, so > far, no obvious alternative to him has emerged. >
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