Sudan govt. assures to combat food shortages, Vows to be strict with law breakers

The government of Sudan recently clarified that it is giving all its effort to deal with shortages of basic food items and services. The government in a statement released on December 20 warned that it would not hesitate to deal firmly with anyone breaking the law, a reference to violent street protests this week over deteriorating economic conditions.

Bishara Gomaa, the government spokesman acknowledged there were deaths during the protests on December 19 and 20 in a string of Sudanese cities, but he gave no details. At least 20 protesters have been detained in the protests. Morgue officials in the eastern city of Gadarif said at least two protesters were killed in clashes with police there on Thursday. However, Sudanese media reports put the death toll there at six, but this could not be independently confirmed.

The protests were chiefly about the shortage of, and higher prices of, bread but popular resentment has been simmering for weeks over Sudan's worsening economic conditions following a devaluation of the currency in October. The devaluation caused inflation rates to spike, fuel shortages and a liquidity crunch that forced the government to place a ceiling on bank withdrawals and led to long lines at ATMs across the country.

In keeping with the government's response to similar past protests, Thursday's statement offered no details on how authorities intended to tackle the country's economic crisis and included familiar and often used charges that the opposition was taking advantage of the anger on the streets for political gain. It said the government was continuing to undertake its duty to provide commodities and services while tackling the bread and fuel shortages.

"Some political parties have reared their heads in an attempt to take advantage of these conditions to undermine security and stability in support of their political agenda," said the statement, carried by the official Sudan News Agency.

"The government will not tolerate sabotage or hesitate to firmly deal with chaos and law-breaking and calls on citizens and families to stay alert," the statement further read.

This week's protests coincided with the return to Sudan of opposition leader Sadeq al-Mahdi, the country's last freely elected leader, whose government was overthrown in a 1989 military coup led by army general Bashir. Al-Mahdi was living in self-imposed exile outside Sudan for nearly a year. Thousands of his supporters welcomed him home Wednesday. The protests also follow the start of a campaign by lawmakers loyal to Bashir to rally support for an amendment to the constitution to allow the Sudanese leader, in power for nearly three decades, to run for re-election in 2020. Bashir was indicted in 2010 by the International Criminal Court for genocide during the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, which began in 2003 and is blamed for at least 200,000 deaths.

Sudan's economy has struggled for most of the 29 years Bashir has been in power, with his Islamic rule of the country failing to unite or keep the peace at the religiously and ethnically diverse nation. The situation rapidly deteriorated after the secession of the mainly animist and Christian south of the country in 2011, which deprived Khartoum of most of its oilfields. The secession came after decades of costly war between the south and the mainly Muslim and Arabized north.

Bashir has also curbed relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional archival, to win the goodwill of Riyadh and its Gulf Arab allies. He also moved to mend relations with Egypt, Sudan's powerful neighbor to the north, after a period of tension mostly because of a long-running dispute over an Egyptian-held border area claimed by Sudan.

With inputs from agency.