At least 19 people have been killed in clashes between Sudanese anti-riot police and protesters in demonstrations triggered by a rise in bread prices, according to a government official.

Speaking on state television on Thursday, Boshara Juma, government spokesperson, said: "Nineteen people lost their lives in the incidents including two from security forces".

At least 219 others were wounded, he added.

Sudanese authorities had previously said eight people have been killed in clashes in Khartoum and several other cities since the protests began on December 19.

However, rights group Amnesty International on Monday put the death toll at 37

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Protests initially started in towns and villages and later spread to Khartoum, as people rallied against the government tripling the price of a loaf of bread from one Sudanese pound to three ($0.02 to $0.06).

Demonstrators have also been marching against Sudan's dire economic situation and some have called for President Omar al-Bashir's resignation.

Doctors and journalists have launched a strike in support of the protests.

Police and security officers remained deployed in several parts of the Sudanese capital on Thursday, but no new demonstrations were held.

Egypt pledges support

Meanwhile, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, during a visit to Khartoum on Thursday, voiced support for Bashir and his government saying Cairo was "confident that Sudan will overcome the present situation".

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Bashir at the presidential palace, Shoukry said the "stability of Sudan means (the) stability of Egypt".

"Egypt is always ready to support Sudan and the ability of Sudanese people as per the government of Sudan's vision and policies," said Shoukry, who was visiting the Sudanese capital alongside Cairo's intelligence chief General Abbas Kamel.

The minister's comments were the first remarks by a top regional Arab official in support of Bashir's government since protests began.

After the protests erupted, Bashir, who has been in power since a 1989 coup, vowed to "take real reforms" to tackle the country's financial difficulties.

Sudan is grappling with an acute foreign currency crisis, soaring inflation, and shortages of bread and fuel despite the lifting of an economic embargo by the US in October 2017.

But activists and opposition groups continued to call on people to take to the streets again.

"We urge the Sudanese people to continue their demonstrations until success is achieved by overthrowing the regime," the Sudanese Communist Party said in a statement on Thursday.

Several members of the party have been arrested by security agents since the protests started.

"We also call on all opposition parties to unite and work together to coordinate this movement," it added.</s>(Bloomberg) -- The death toll from a week of demonstrations against rising inflation and food shortages in Sudan rose to more than 37 people, Sudanese doctors said.

“The number is higher than 37 as new protesters have been killed,” the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said in a statement.

Amnesty International said Dec. 24 it had credible reports that 37 protesters had been shot dead by security forces in the first five days of anti-government demonstrations that have rocked the north African nation. Police used live bullets and tear gas Tuesday to break up a rally in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, demanding that President Umar al-Bashir step down after almost 30 years in power.

The doctors group said it was tallying the number of people killed in the protests. Last week, the government said at least eight people had been killed and hasn’t made any further comment on the death toll.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Alamin in Nairobi at malamin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Eric Ombok, Shaji Mathew</s>(AP) – Amnesty International says it has “credible reports” that Sudanese police have killed 37 protesters in clashes during anti-government demonstrations that erupted last week across much of the country.

In a statement late Monday, the London-based rights group said the use of lethal force by security forces against unarmed protesters was “extremely troubling” given that more protests were planned Tuesday.

A coalition of independent professional unions has called for a march on the presidential palace in Khartoum later Tuesday to submit a petition demanding that longtime autocrat Omar Bashir step down. Two of Sudan’s largest political parties called on their supporters to take part. The protests began last Wednesday, initially over rising prices and shortages of food and fuel, but later escalated into calls for Bashir to go.</s>At least 19 people have been killed and 406 injured in Sudan since protests began on Dec. 19 over the country’s deteriorating economy, the official SUNA news agency reported Thursday.

Protesters have been railing against chronic shortages of basic necessities, including bread and fuel.

Minister of Information, Communications and Information Technology Bushara Guma Aro said at a press conference the protests were initially peaceful and the police did not intervene, but they gradually turned violent.

The dead include three in Northern State, five in Nahral-Neil State, six in Gedarif State, three in White Nile State and two members of the security forces, Aro told SUNA.

Among the injured, 219 were protesters and 187 were security forces, he added.

He stressed that some of the casualties had resulted from confrontations between shop owners and protestors who attempted to loot their properties.

Aro also noted that the security forces have arrested 107 elements belonging to armed movements.

He said the government has taken measures to overcome the crisis, adding that after Jan. 15, the shortages will be resolved.

He called on those demanding a change in government, saying “the way to regime change is through the ballot box".

The opposition in Sudan has called through social media for wide-ranging demonstrations throughout the country following Friday prayers.

On Tuesday, Sudanese security forces dispersed thousands of protesters who had gathered in central Khartoum to demand the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir.

Al-Bashir, who has been in power since 1989, pledged Monday to carry out economic reforms amid the street protests.

A nation of 40 million people, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of three quarters of its oil output -- its main source of foreign currency -- when South Sudan seceded in 2011.

The U.S. began imposing sanctions on Sudan in 1997, including a trade embargo, over human rights violations and terrorism concerns but pledged to lift them in January.</s>A digital rights group is reporting that Sudanese authorities have clamped down on access to social media in the wake of spreading anti-government protests.

Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition – a group that fights internet shutdowns – have thus called on network operators in the country to push back from state pressure and keep people online.

The coalition said on Thursday that it was demanding that: “operators like MTN Sudan and Zain Sudan to more transparently notify the public of restrictions and push back against government requests that could violate human rights.”

Government has officially denied any such move even though social media has been a hot spot for the organization of protesters in what started out as a protest against hikes in bread and fuel prices.

The death toll so far is another area of contention with the latest government figures pegged at below twenty whiles Amnesty said days ago that it was up to thirty-seven.

A network of Sudanese journalists went on strike Thursday in the wake of deadly protests sparked by a hike in bread prices, while opposition groups called for further rallies.

“We declare a three day strike from December 27 to protest against the violence unleashed by the government against demonstrators,” said the Sudanese Journalists’ Network which advocates free speech.

Journalists in Sudan frequently complain of harassment from the authorities, and the African country has a dire rating on international press freedom rankings.

Entire print runs of newspapers are often confiscated over articles deemed offensive by the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), which is spearheading the current crackdown on protesters.

Activists and opposition groups have called on people to take to the streets again over the next few days.

“We urge the Sudanese people to continue their demonstrations until success is achieved by overthrowing the regime,” the Sudanese Communist Party said in a statement.

A member of President Omar al-Bashir’s government on Wednesday called for a probe into the killings of protesters in demonstrations that have rocked the economically troubled country.

Sudanese authorities say eight protesters have been killed in clashes, but Amnesty International has put the death toll at 37.

At a press conference in Khartoum, Popular Congress Party senior official Idris Suleman said his party’s own reports indicated that 17 people “were martyred” and 88 wounded in the demonstrations.

“We call on the government to launch an investigation into the killings,” Suleman said.

“Those who committed these killings must be held accountable.”

Popular Congress Party is part of Bashir’s government and has two ministers of state in the cabinet and seven lawmakers in parliament.

As anti-goverment protests in Sudan entered their fifth day, the presidency said on Monday that Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani called his counterpart, Omar al-Bashir on Saturday to express his support.

Since Wednesday, cities across Sudan have been shaken by protests triggered by an economic deterioration. Protesters have also called for an end to Bashir’s 29-year rule.

“During the call Sheikh Tamim declared that his country stood with Sudan and was ready to offer all that was necessary to help Sudan overcome this ordeal, stressing his keenness for the stability and security of Sudan,” the statement said.

Qatar and its regional rivals have increasingly vied for influence in Sudan and other countries on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Gulf states have also been an important source of funding for Sudan after it lost three-quarters of its oil output when the south seceded in 2011.

Sudan’s opposition leader, Sadiq al-Mahdi, has called for Mahdi called for a “national and international investigation” into the deaths of protesters during price demonstrations that rocked the country this week.

A government decision to increase the price of a loaf of bread from one Sudanese pound to three (from about two to six US cents) has sparked demonstrations across the country since Wednesday.

The protest movement “is legal and was launched because of the deteriorating situation in Sudan,” he said in his first news conference since returning home on Wednesday after almost a year in exile.

While the official government position says at least eight people died during Thursday’s protests, while only person lost their life on Friday, the opposition said “22 people were martyred and several others wounded”.

Madhi blamed ‘armed repression’ for the death of the protesters, while authorities insist they used restraint in containing demonstrations.

In a rare press conference, the head of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, said seven people had been arrested in connection with the burning of ruling party office buildings in earlier protests.

“We recognise that we must have self-restraint and manage things wisely and take care of the lives of the people and of public property, and we are not bothered by demonstrations, but we are upset by the lapse in security,” said Saleh, also known as Salah Gosh.

Web users reported problems accessing the internet, and some accused the government of blocking social media including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp in a bid to stop protesters communicating. There was no comment on that from the government.

Authorities have declared states of emergency and curfews in cities in at least four of Sudan’s 18 states, according to local media.

The education ministry suspended some school or university classes in the states of al-Qadarif, White Nile and Nile River, private TV channel Sudania 24 reported.

The ministry has also announced that it would shutter universities in Khartoum state and schools and kindergartens in the capital city.

Sudan’s government has blamed nationwide protests that have left at least eight people dead, on ‘infiltrators’ and opposition parties, rather than the soaring prices.

The demonstrations on Wednesday and Thursday were among the biggest since crowds came out against cuts to state subsidies in 2013.

Officials told Sudania 24 TV that six people died in protests in the eastern city of al-Qadarif and two more in northern Nile River state, without giving details on how they were killed.

“Peaceful demonstrations were derailed and transformed by infiltrators into subversive activity targeting public institutions and property, burning, destroying and burning some police headquarters,” government spokesman Bishara Jumaa said in a statement released by the official Sudan News Agency.

He did not name anyone but he also said the protesters, some of whom have called for the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir, were being exploited by opposition parties.

“Some political parties emerged in an attempt to exploit these conditions to shake security and stability in order to achieve their political agenda,” Jumaa said. He did not identify the parties.

He added that the demonstrations had been “dealt with by police and security forces in a civilised way without repression or opposition”.

Police fired teargas to break up a crowd of around 500 people in the capital Khartoum, then chased them through back streets and made arrests, a witness said.

Public anger in Sudan has been building over price rises and other economic hardships, including a doubling in the cost of bread this year and limits on bank withdrawals. At 69 percent, Sudan’s inflation rate is among the world’s highest.

Leading Sudanese opposition figure Sadiq al-Mahdi returned to Sudan on Wednesday from nearly a year in self-imposed exile and called for a democratic transition in Sudan.

“The regime has failed and there is economic deterioration and erosion of the national currency’s value,” Mahdi, who was Sudan’s last democratically elected prime minister and now heads the Umma party, told thousands of supporters.

Sudan’s president Omar al- Bashir, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, took power in an Islamist and military-backed coup in 1989. Lawmakers this month proposed a constitutional amendment to extend term limits that would have required him to step down in 2020.

Anti-government protests spread to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum on Thursday, as more people demonstrate against high prices and a liquidity crunch.

Around 150 protesters shut down a main street in Khartoum and chanted: “The people want the fall of the regime.”

Police in riot gear broke up the protests.

A member of parliament said a university student was killed when protests spread from Atbara city to al-Qadarif.

‘‘The situation in al-Qadarif has become dangerous and the protests have developed to include fires and theft and it’s now out of control,’‘ Mubarak al-Nur said.

Security forces in Sudan fired teargas to quell protests on Thursday, after people took to the streets chanting anti-government slogans.

A state of emergency was declared in the Atbara city on Wednesday after hundreds of people protested against price increases and set fire to the local headquarters of the ruling party.

A curfew was declared from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Atbara — Sudan’s railway hub, with a large railworker population manning various lines, interchanges and maintenance workshops — the state security committee said.

“Today, the headquarters of the ruling party in the city of Atbara and the headquarters of the local government and a fuel station were burned,” Hatem al-Wassilah, governor of the Nile River state, said on Sudania 24 TV.

A decision to reduce bread subsidies this year sparked rare nationwide protests in Sudan after bread prices doubled. But Sudan increased flour subsidies by 40 percent in November.

Port Sudan, the capital of Red Sea state, also saw limited protests on Wednesday, witnesses told Reuters.

Sudan’s annual inflation edged up to 68.93 percent in November from 68.44 percent in October.

Prime Minister Motazz Moussa said inflation for the full year 2018 was expected to be 63 percent.

Severe shortages of fuel and bread, both subsidised by the government, have forced people in the capital and other cities to queue at bakeries and petrol stations.

Earlier on Wednesday, Moussa said Sudan’s 2019 budget included 66 billion Sudanese pounds ($1.39 billion) in subsidies, 53 billion of which is for fuel and bread.</s>CAIRO (AP) - Sudanese activists say a protester injured in anti-government demonstrations has died of his wounds.

An umbrella coalition of independent professional unions says Wednesday the victim, Abuzar Ahmed, was shot in the head last week in the eastern city of Gadaref.

The coalition says at least 22 protesters were wounded on Tuesday.

There were no reports of fresh protests on Wednesday.

The protests began last week, initially over rising prices and shortages of food and fuel, but later escalated into calls for President Omar Bashir to step down.

Amnesty International said it had "credible reports" that Sudanese police have killed 37 protesters since the protests began.

In this Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018 handout image provided a Sudanese activist, people chant slogans during a demonstration in Kordofan, Sudan. In the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, police used tear gas and fired in the air to disperse thousands of protesters attempting to march on the presidential palace to demand that Omar Bashir, Sudan's president of 29 years, step down, according to activists and video clips posted online. (Sudanese Activist via AP)

The government has acknowledged fatalities during the protests but given no figures. An opposition leader said over the weekend that 22 protesters were killed.</s>KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades on Friday at 300-400 chanting worshippers as they left a mosque near the capital, a Reuters witness said, after a call for widespread anti-government protests by opposition groups.

Activists had urged protesters to gather in large numbers following Friday’s weekly Muslim prayers. Civil society groups said authorities arrested nine opposition figures on Thursday evening ahead of the planned demonstrations.

The group in Omdurman, a town near Khartoum, was fired upon as people exited the mosque chanting “peaceful, peaceful,” the witness said. Around 30 SUVs belonging to the security forces had surrounded the square outside the building before noon prayers.

Sudan has been rocked by more than a week of anti-government protests sparked by rising prices, shortages of basic commodities and a cash crisis.

At least 19 people have died during the protests, including two military personnel, according to official figures. Amnesty International said on Tuesday at least 37 had died.

The head of the media office at the National Intelligence and Security Service denied knowledge of Thursday’s arrests.

A committee of professional organizations involved in the protests said in a statement that authorities had raided a meeting of opposition leaders in Khartoum. The nine people they had detained included Siddiq Youssef, a senior leader of Sudan’s Communist Party, as well as leaders from the pan-Arab Ba’ath and Nasserist parties, the statement said.

Fourteen leaders of one of Sudan’s two main opposition groupings were detained last Saturday and then released hours later.

Sudan has been gripped by a deep economic crisis that began in 2011 after the southern half of the country voted to secede, taking with it three-quarters of the country’s oil output, and has been aggravated by years of overspending and mismanagement.

Opposition groups blame President Omar al-Bashir, who has governed Sudan since 1989, for the mismanagement. A series of measures, including a sharp devaluation of the Sudanese pound in October, have failed to shore up the economy.

In January, Sudan was shaken by demonstrations triggered by high bread prices.

But the protests that began on Dec. 19 appear to be more serious. Authorities have shuttered schools and declared curfews and states of emergency in several regions, and residents say police have used tear gas and sometimes live ammunition against demonstrators.

Putting the death toll at 19, Sudan’s information minister on Thursday blamed some of the deaths on scuffles between shopowners and what he described as looters. He said 219 civilians and 187 members of the security forces had been wounded.

Journalists at the daily Al-Sudani said one of their colleagues was beaten by security forces after protesters passed next to the independent newspaper’s offices.</s>Khartoum, Dec 27: Clashes between Sudanese anti-riot police and protesters in demonstrations against a rise in bread prices have killed 19 people, including two security force personnel, the government said Thursday.

"Nineteen people lost their lives in the incidents including two from security forces," government spokesman Boshara Juma said on state television, adding that 219 people were wounded.

Sudanese authorities had previously said that eight people have been killed in clashes in Khartoum and several other cities since the protests began on December 19.</s>CAIRO — Sudanese activists say a protester injured in anti-government demonstrations has died of his wounds.

An umbrella coalition of independent professional unions says Wednesday the victim, Abuzar Ahmed, was shot in the head last week in the eastern city of Gadaref.

The coalition says at least 22 protesters were wounded on Tuesday.

There were no reports of fresh protests on Wednesday.

The protests began last week, initially over rising prices and shortages of food and fuel, but later escalated into calls for President Omar Bashir to step down.

Amnesty International said it had “credible reports” that Sudanese police have killed 37 protesters since the protests began.

The government has acknowledged fatalities during the protests but given no figures. An opposition leader said over the weekend that 22 protesters were killed.</s>CAIRO - Sudanese activists say a protester injured in anti-government demonstrations has died of his wounds.

An umbrella coalition of independent professional unions says Wednesday the victim, Abuzar Ahmed, was shot in the head last week in the eastern city of Gadaref.

The coalition says at least 22 protesters were wounded on Tuesday.

There were no reports of fresh protests on Wednesday.

The protests began last week, initially over rising prices and shortages of food and fuel, but later escalated into calls for President Omar Bashir to step down.

Amnesty International said it had "credible reports" that Sudanese police have killed 37 protesters since the protests began.
Street battles between anti-government protesters and riot police in Sudan leave at least 19 people dead, including two policemen, as well as hundreds injured. Amnesty International puts the death toll at 37.