Sudan protests: Will Omar al-Bashir budge?

As calls for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to resign grow louder and anti-government demonstrations enter their second month, human rights groups are demanding authorities immediately release or charge those detained as part of the protests.

Rights groups, including Amnesty International, say more than 40 people have been killed while participating in the protests, which were sparked by an economic crisis, while activists put the number at 55. The official death toll stands at 26.

Bashir, though, remains defiant. He told supporters at a rally in Khartoum earlier this month that his government would not give in to pressure. He has also blamed “foreign agents” and rebels from the Darfur province for the demonstrations, something that he repeated in another speech on Sunday as protests raged again.

“Sudan is governed by the decision of the Sudanese citizen and his decision through the ballot box … after a year it will be the Sudanese people who decide,” Bashir said, according to the Reuters news agency.

“We say to the youth, this country is yours, protect it, and if it goes up in smoke we won’t be refugees, we will die here.”

With the president unwilling to budge, and an end to the protests nowhere in sight, we ask our panel what will it take to reach peace? 

On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
Hiba Morgan @hiba_morgan
Reporter, Al Jazeera
aljazeera.com

Walaa Isam Elboushi
Lecturer, Wadmedani Ahlia University  
linkedin.com

Dr. Ahmed O
Spokesman, Alliance of Sudanese Revolution Doctors
facebook.com/sudanese.revolution.doctors

Rabie Abdul Atti Obeid
Senior Member, National Congress Party

Read more: 

‘Not afraid of the government’: One month of protests in Sudan – Al Jazeera 
Sudan protesters show resilience, employ Arab Spring tactics – Associated Press 

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