UPDATE - Sudan: Only way to power change is elections

UPDATES WITH BASHIR'S REMARKS; REVISED HEADLINE, DECK

KHARTOUM (AA) - Sudan’s president on Sunday said the country will get through the current crisis, while the Interior Ministry reiterated its support for him amid ongoing protests which began on Dec.19.

We will get through the crisis despite attempts by some to make Sudan kneel, Omar al-Bashir said during a meeting with police commanders in Khartoum, without identifying to whom he was referring.

Making it through will require “patience and persistent work,” he said.

“Security is an expensive commodity and we will not be negligent in [protecting] the security of citizens and facilities,” al-Bashir said, adding that “the aim is not to kill citizens.”

"Sabotage, destruction, looting and theft are a deepening of the crisis," he said.

During the meeting, Sudanese police reiterated their support for al-Bashir amid ongoing protests against rampant inflation and acute bread shortages.

“We announce our full support for Bashir,” Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal said.

He said the security forces will not allow “those trying to use the economic situation to inflame sedition.”

“The only way to change power is through elections, not protests,” Bilal said. “There will be no way to chaos.”

Police Director General Al-Tayeb Babikir Ali, for his part, said security forces were pursuing “criminals who used protests to commit robbery and theft.”

“Change will only be achieved through elections, not anything else,” he said.

Sudanese authorities say at least 19 people have been killed in street demonstrations that swept several Sudanese states against rising prices and shortages of basic commodities earlier this month.

Opposition groups, for their part, say the death toll is closer to 40.

Sudanese authorities have announced a state of emergency and curfew in a number of provinces over the protests, with government officials accusing Israel of plotting with rebel groups to cause violence in the country.

A nation of 40 million, 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.