Omar al-Bashir says he will not go, as protests enter fourth week
Doctors are decrying abuses by security forces and journalists are being arrested
Khartoum — Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has rejected calls to step down, as protests over his 30-year rule entered their fourth week, with doctors decrying abuses by security forces and journalists being arrested. In a rally of supporters in the Southern Darfur state, Bashir stressed that only elections in 2020 would determine who led the country, Arabic media reported. The speech came as protests mushroomed from the capital, Khartoum, to other cities across the country, including in Darfur. The unrest, triggered by outrage over the cost of living, has proven to be one of the most potent challenges to Bashir’s rule since he came to power in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup. The near-daily demonstrations are an echo of the mass movements that powered the 2011 uprisings that rocked the Arab world. While Bashir has sought to downplay the demonstrations, critics and rights groups say security forces have forcibly broken up protests in violence that has left almost two dozen people dead....
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