KHARTOUM: A Sudanese group organizing anti-government protests has called for a march on the presidential palace as President Omar Al-Bashir sacked the health minister Saturday over rising costs of medicines.
Deadly anti-government rallies have rocked cities including Khartoum since December 19, when protests first broke out over a government decision to raise the price of bread.
Authorities say at least 19 people including two security personnel have been killed in clashes during the demonstrations so far, but rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at 37.
“We call on our supporters to gather at four different places in Khartoum and then begin a march on the palace” of the president on Sunday, the Sudanese Professionals’ Association said Saturday in a statement.
The association, which includes teachers, doctors and engineers, has held similar rallies in recent weeks but they have been swifty broken up by riot police.
Security forces were deployed in key squares across the capital on Saturday night.
Late on Saturday, Bashir sacked minister of health Mohamed Abuzaid Mustafa, the official SUNA news agency reported.
He has been replaced by Al-Khier Al-Nour, SUNA said without giving details.
Rising drug prices and shortages have added to the anger of protesters already furious over the cost of other key products.
Sudanese pharmaceutical companies have been unable to import some medicines after a years-long foreign currency shortage worsened last year.
But even as protesters called for a new march on Sunday, Sudan’s education ministry ordered the reopening of schools in Khartoum from Tuesday.
Schools and classes had been suspended “indefinitely” across the capital since December 23, when violence erupted during initial protests.
Schools were also closed in other cities where protests have been held, but it was still unclear whether they would reopen next week.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi offered Sudan his country’s support during a meeting in Cairo with a top aide of his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
“Egypt fully supports the security and stability of Sudan, which is integral to Egypt’s national security,” it quoted El-Sisi as saying.
Sudanese authorities have launched a crackdown on opposition leaders, activists and journalists since protests erupted last month.
The country has been facing a mounting economic crisis over the past year.
The cost of some commodities including medicines has more than doubled and inflation has hit 70 percent.
Food and fuel shortages have been regularly reported across several cities, including Khartoum.
Sudan protesters plan march as Bashir sacks health minister
Sudan protesters plan march as Bashir sacks health minister
- Sudanese pharmaceutical companies have been unable to import some medicines after a years-long foreign currency shortage worsened last year
Syrian government says it controls prison in Raqqa with Daesh-linked detainees
- Prison holds detainees linked to Daesh, and witnessed clashes in its vicinity between advancing Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters
Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Friday it had taken over Al-Aktan prison in the city of Raqqa in northeastern Syria, a facility that was formerly under the control of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The prison has been holding detainees linked to the militant group Daesh, and witnessed clashes in its vicinity this week between advancing Syrian government forces and the SDF.
It was not immediately clear how many Daesh detainees remain in Al-Aktan prison as the US military has started transferring up to 7,000 prisoners linked to the militant Islamist group from Syrian jails to neighboring Iraq. US officials say the detainees are citizens of many countries, including in Europe.
“Specialized teams were formed from the counter-terrorism department and other relevant authorities to take over the tasks of guarding and securing the prison and controlling the security situation inside it,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Under a sweeping integration deal agreed on Sunday, responsibility for prisons housing Daesh detainees was meant to be transferred to the Syrian government.
The SDF said on Monday it was battling Syrian government forces near Al-Aktan and that the seizure of the prison by the government forces “could have serious security repercussions that threaten stability and pave the way for a return to chaos and terrorism.”
The US transfer of Daesh prisoners follows the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria. Concerns over prison security intensified after the escape on Tuesday of roughly 200 low-level Daesh fighters from Syria’s Shaddadi prison. Syrian government forces later recaptured many of them.
