Sudan protesters go on strike as deadlock with military persists

KHARTOUM: Thousands of Sudanese workers began a national strike on Tuesday, leaving air and bus passengers stranded as protesters piled pressure on the military to hand power to a civilian administration. The leaders of an umbrella protest movement remain at loggerheads with army generals who ousted president Omar al Bashir last month over whether a civilian or a soldier should head a new governing body. The body is expected to install a transitional civilian government, which in turn would prepare for the first post-Bashir elections after a three-year interim period. In a bid to step up pressure on the ruling military council, the Alliance for Freedom and Change protest movement called for a two-day general strike starting on Tuesday. Thousands of employees of government offices, banks, private sector firms and at the Red Sea hub of Port Sudan joined the strike, insisting that only civilian rule can lift Sudan out of its political crisis. “This strike is the first step. If our demands are not heard we will go for comprehensive civil disobedience,” warned banker Yousef Mohamed, as he chanted slogans along with his colleagues outside his bank in Khartoum. “We tried a military government but it didn’t work for us in Sudan.” AFP correspondents who toured parts of the capital saw groups of employees participating in the strike and protesting at several squares. Traffic in Khartoum was normal but travellers in private vehicles whistled and clapped to express their solidarity with those participating in the strike. — AFP