{"id":28025,"date":"2019-01-04T11:22:41","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T11:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28025"},"modified":"2019-01-04T11:22:41","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T11:22:41","slug":"turkey-seeks-nearly-150-arrests-over-gulen-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28025","title":{"rendered":"Turkey seeks nearly 150 arrests over Gulen ties"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nPARIS: Deadly protests that have grown across Sudan in recent weeks are the biggest threat to President Omar Al-Bashir\u2019s iron-fisted rule since he swept to power in a 1989 coup, experts said.
Clashes have killed at least 19 since demonstrations began two weeks ago, initially in protest against bread prices tripling but rapidly evolving in to anti-government rallies.
Rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at 37 and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an investigation.
\u201cThese demonstrations and the anger that animates them are much stronger than any we\u2019ve seen in recent years,\u201d said Eric Reeves, a senior fellow at Harvard University who has been tracking Sudan\u2019s politics and economy for two decades.
\u201cThe 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,\u201d 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\u2019s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) were torched in the initial violence.
Some protesters have also adopted the slogan used in the 2011 Arab Spring \u2014 \u201cthe people want the fall of the regime.\u201d
Bashir, wanted for genocide by the Hague-based International Criminal Court over a conflict in Darfur, came to power in a coup backed by extremists that toppled prime minister Sadiq Al-Madhi and his democratically elected government.
Since then the former military general has ruled the African country with a tight grasp, using the feared National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to curb dissent.
NISS agents regularly arrest opposition leaders, activists and journalists who voice anti-regime opinions.<\/p>\n

\nCivil War<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nBashir, 75, took control at the height of a brutal north-south civil war that only ended in 2005. Oil-rich South Sudan seceded in 2011, becoming the world\u2019s newest nation state.
Separate conflicts between Sudanese forces and rebels in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan states have also killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
Analysts say these conflicts and a failure to boost agriculture in a country once renowned as a major bread producer have left Sudan\u2019s economy in a shambles, despite Washington lifting a two-decade trade embargo in 2017.
Secession by the south \u2014 which took three quarters of Sudan\u2019s oil reserves \u2014 has seen Khartoum experience an acute foreign exchange shortage.
Inflation has soared to 70 percent while shortages of bread and fuel have hit the capital and other cities.
\u201cThe economy has been collapsing for almost a decade … but the regime functions as a kleptocracy and maintains power only through national budgets that are wildly skewed to military and security service expenses,\u201d said Reeves.
\u201cI think the anger we\u2019ve seen will not dissipate.\u201d
The ongoing protests are more widespread than those in January 2018 and September 2013.
They began first in outlying towns and cities, which had been left with a particularly acute shortage of wheat and flour, after supplies were diverted to Khartoum.
But despite the attempts to stockpile in the capital, the protests still spread there.
\u201cThe government and the ruling party was caught by surprise when protests erupted outside Khartoum,\u201d said Khalid Tijani, editor of economic weekly Elaff.
\u201cIt just showed the ruling NCP how isolated it is.\u201d
After three days without major demonstrations, the opposition and activists have called for further protests after prayers this Friday.<\/p>\n

Weakened<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nThe protests are the biggest challenge Bashir has faced, according to Tijani.
\u201cThe demonstrations have weakened his position,\u201d he said. \u201cPresident Bashir was about to get consitutional amendments to permit him to run for the presidency again in 2020, but he will now have to reconsider that.\u201d
Reeves said even middle and lower ranking army officers are \u201cgenerally appalled\u201d at the country\u2019s economic and political situation.
\u201cSome openly side with the demonstrators,\u201d he said.
About 22 political groups close to the government have asked for Bashir to step down.
Although a change of regime is still unlikely in the immediate future, a European diplomat said Bashir will now be under permanent pressure.
\u201cThe decisive factor will be the attitude of the security apparatus, especially the army,\u201d the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
\u201cIf the repression becomes too harsh, the army won\u2019t allow it and that\u2019s why the current movement of protests is potentially momentous.\u201d
Bashir and his government have no answers to Sudan\u2019s economic problems, said Reeves.
\u201cHe faces open and growing popular opposition … all this makes Bashir\u2019s future highly uncertain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS: Deadly protests that have grown across Sudan in recent weeks are the biggest threat to President Omar Al-Bashir\u2019s iron-fisted rule since he swept to power in a 1989 coup, experts said.Clashes have killed at least 19 since demonstrations began two weeks ago, initially in protest against bread prices tripling but rapidly evolving in to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}