General strike partially affects life in Sudan

BY Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM (AA) - A nationwide strike called by Sudan’s opposition groups and activists to protest recent fuel subsidy cuts has partially affected life in capital Khartoum and other parties of the country.

On Saturday, the country’s opposition groups and activists called for a three-day strike against the subsidy cuts announced by the Sudanese government.

The authorities announced a 30-percent hike in petrol and diesel prices this month that has led to a stiff rise in the cost of other goods, including medicines.

According to Anadolu Agency correspondent, markets, schools, universities and some working places have been partially closed in support of the strike.

Main streets across the capital can be seen partially empty without the usual traffic jams, the correspondent says.

The ten-million population city has recently witnessed small protests and strikes by doctors and pharmacists in protest of the subsidy cuts.

The Sudanese government, however, downplayed the impact of the calls for a general strike in the country.

''We are confident that our people will not go to respond to these calls,” presidential aide Ibrahim Mahmoud said in a public address.

Ahead of the strike, the Sudanese government on Friday revised its decision to cut subsidy on medicines.

Health Minister Bahri Idriss Abu Garda said the government will return the subsidy on medicines, particularly the life-saving drugs.

He also said the Sudanese President Omar Bashiar had dismissed the head of the country’s pharmaceutical council over the cuts.

Similar fuel subsidy cuts triggered deadly protests in 2013, which rights groups say left about 200 people dead. The government puts the death toll at less than 100.