Deadly protests that have grown across Sudan in recent weeks are the biggest threat to President Omar al-Bashir’s iron-fisted rule since he swept to power in a 1989 coup, analysts said.
Clashes have killed at least 19 people since demonstrations began two weeks ago, initially in protest against bread prices tripling but rapidly evolving into anti-government rallies.
Human rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at 37 and UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for an investigation.
“These demonstrations and the anger that animates them are much stronger than any we’ve seen in recent years,” said Eric Reeves, a senior fellow at Harvard University who has been tracking Sudan’s politics and economy for two decades.
“The shortage of bread … and outrageous price increases is perhaps the greatest source of immediate popular anger, and there is nothing that can alleviate the problem,” Reeves told AFP.
Protests erupted when the government raised the price of a small loaf of bread from one Sudanese pound to three (from about two to six US cents).
Several buildings and offices of Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) were torched in the initial violence.