InfoAnda - Analysis: Sudan rulers dig in as foes look for Arab Spring |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

House and Senate look to final health care talks | 27 December 2009
Suicide bombers kill at least 12 in Yemen's south | | 21 August 2011
Florida couple jailed for exploiting Filipinos | 11 December 2010

Eyeing growth, France seeks to smooth Algeria ties | | 18 December 2012

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Analysis: Sudan rulers dig in as foes look for Arab Spring |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Campaign Polling Tales from the Trail Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Bernd Debusmann Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus David Cay Johnston Bethany McLean Anatole Kaletsky Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Jack & Suzy Welch Frederick Kempe Christopher Papagianis Mark Leonard Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (1) Full Focus Editor's choice A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. See more Images of May Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Supreme Court upholds Obama's healthcare law | 1:22am EDT EU summit deal sends shares, euro sharply higher 3:28am EDT U.S. soldier shot dead at Fort Bragg Army base, two wounded 28 Jun 2012 Worst wildfire ever in Colorado claims first victim | 3:35am EDT RBS set for fine as Barclays boss remains defiant 3:55am EDT Discussed 230 Supreme Court to deliver Obama healthcare law ruling 93 California tobacco tax hike narrowly defeated at polls 94 Sandusky lawyers may use NBC tape error in appeal Watched Oldest sound recording resurrected Thu, Jun 28 2012 EU leaders start work on Spain & Italy Thu, Jun 28 2012 Hong Kong's dirty habits Wed, Jun 27 2012 Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Raging wildfires Raging fires strike Colorado and Utah. Slideshow Health in America An essay of photos taken by Reuters photographers during assignments on health care. Slideshow Analysis: Sudan rulers dig in as foes look for Arab Spring Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Sudanese protest over cuts amid security crackdown Sat, Jun 23 2012 Sudan police disperse anti-austerity protests Thu, Jun 21 2012 UPDATE 2-Sudan police disperse anti-austerity protests Thu, Jun 21 2012 Protests erupt as Sudan's Bashir unveils austerity plan Mon, Jun 18 2012 Sudanese journalists stymied by "red lines" and raids Wed, Jun 13 2012 Analysis & Opinion Both sides losing austerity fight Is Africa Union justified in moving its summit to Ethiopia Related Topics World » By Alexander Dziadosz KHARTOUM | Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:06pm EDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Outside the University of Khartoum, riot police in blue fatigues perch on pickup trucks, keeping watch as young women in bright headscarves and men in button-down shirts walk by carrying textbooks to class in Sudan's intense summer heat. Less than a week earlier, the campus - just a few hundred meters (yards) from the national security headquarters - was a battleground. Police fired teargas and used batons to break up hundreds of protesters, who threw rocks back at them. No one expects the shaky truce to last. After more than a week of anti-government demonstrations fueled by budget cuts and tax increases, Sudan's rulers are digging in. Riot police have been deployed, coverage of protests in local media restricted, and scores arrested, activists and opposition groups say. It is still far from clear whether the protests, which have rarely mustered more than a few hundred people at a time, will gather the kind of momentum seen in last year's Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, and so pose a real threat to Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. But the tough response to the demonstrations shows how high the stakes are for Sudan's rulers, already struggling to contain multiple armed rebellions and an economic crisis triggered by the loss of oil output and revenues through South Sudan's secession last year. In a defiant speech on Sunday - two days after the most widely spread demonstrations yet - Bashir lashed out at the protesters, dismissing them as a handful of agitators whose aims most Sudanese rejected. "I drove around the capital on Friday in an open car. There was nothing. The people greeted me by crying 'Allahu akbar'," Bashir said. Anyone looking for an Arab Spring in Sudan, he added, was going to be disappointed. Activists who want to end Bashir's 23-year rule, sensing an opportunity in the economic troubles, have presented a starkly different picture: "There will be no escape from the tidal wave of popular uprising," read an article posted on the website of one of the main activist groups, Girifna ("We're Fed Up"). The country's main opposition parties, although fractured, have for the most part backed the protests to pressure the NCP to open up the political system and end the wars festering in the country's western and southern regions. An alliance of the rebel groups fighting in those areas has offered to declare a "strategic ceasefire" if the Bashir administration were to be toppled. Such hopes may still be farfetched, but activists were encouraged last Friday when demonstrations spread beyond the core of students who had dominated them and into a variety of neighborhoods in Khartoum and other cities. The success of the movement will depend on whether that trend continues, analysts say. Activists have called for big protests this weekend, which will be a major test of their resilience. RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS The University of Khartoum, whose brown brick buildings were put up along the Nile by British colonial rulers in the early 20th century, has been a hub of political ferment for decades. The institution was central to popular uprisings that ousted two military leaders since the country's independence in 1956 - once in 1964 and again in 1985. Authorities - many of whom were once student activists themselves - are keenly aware of this history and have not been taking chances with the demonstrations. Scores, sometimes hundreds, of riot police have been deployed to contain even small protests, dispersing them with batons and teargas before they can pick up momentum. Some activists have cried foul, although police and officials have repeatedly denied using excessive force. Local media has been almost entirely silent about the demonstrations, except to carry official statements playing them down or blaming "foreign elements" for the unrest. The government, running out of policy options that can both stabilize the economy and soothe discontent over inflation, may have to depend on such security measures to maintain order at least in the short term, analysts say. "The regime seems largely bereft of ideas of how to regain the political and economic initiative - the time-horizons of the main players have become weeks, rather than months and years," said Harry Verhoeven, an Oxford University researcher who has studied Sudan extensively. Last week's government move to cut fuel subsidies - which the finance minister described as the act of a "bankrupt state" - showed how serious the fiscal crisis has become. Politicians have long avoided the measure, which is widely unpopular because many people fear it will stoke inflation. Officials say they had no choice. The economy - struggling after years of conflict, U.S. sanctions and mismanagement - was hit hard by South Sudan's secession a year ago. The new nation took about three quarters of the country's oil output with it, erasing most of what was Sudan's main source of foreign currency, state revenues and exports. The former civil war foes were supposed to work out a deal whereby the landlocked South would pay fees to Sudan to export crude through the north. But the two, caught up in what analysts call a "war of attrition," have failed to agree. South Sudan shut down its crude output in January after Khartoum started taking some of the oil in place of fees. EMERGENCY MEASURES Neglected during the oil-boom years, other sectors of Sudan's economy such as agriculture have failed to make up for lost crude production, leaving the government with few resources to fill an estimated $2.4 billion public finance gap. With Bashir indicted at The Hague since 2009 for war crimes in Darfur - charges he dismisses as political - Sudan finds itself diplomatically isolated. And if Arab League allies are discreetly helping out, any such aid has been fairly limited. In an interview last week, Sabir Hassan, chairman of the NCP's economic affairs department, said it took the urgency of the economic situation to finally build the political consensus within the party needed for the new austerity measures. "It's necessary to start this reform at this time, and if we don't do it at this time, of course, the deterioration will continue," he said. "Things will get worse." The new measures - which cut fuel subsidies by roughly a third, raise taxes and trim government bureaucracy - aim to halve the expected budget deficit from around 6 percent of gross domestic product to about 3 percent. The goal, Hassan said, is to "contain the deterioration, and regain economic stability and prepare the ground for sustained growth". Activists and opposition groups, however, point out the loss of oil was only one factor in the country's economic decline. If not for years of mismanagement, corruption and neglect, they say, things never would have become so bad. The country's leaders have not proven up to the task of making hard decisions, they say, particularly the sensitive task of cutting into the substantial spending estimated to go to security and defense sectors and local governments. "If reforms are undertaken to reach political consensus, we might be able to then stop the downhill fall in the economy," Abda Yahia El-Mahdi, a Sudanese economic expert and former state minister at the finance ministry, said. "If nothing changes in the political arena and the government wants to continue in the status quo, then I think we will see further deterioration in the economy regardless of these austerity measures." (Editing by Alastair Macdonald) World Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (1) usagadfly wrote: Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Friday, 29 June 2012
Iraq bomb attacks kill 21, wound scores |
U.S. grants Iran sanctions exceptions to China |
Exclusive: Saudi readies oil line to counter Iran Hormuz threat |
French government to cut staff, operating costs: PM |
Jordan king pushes parliament to widen election law |
Dozens wounded as Serbs, Kosovo police clash |
United Technologies sent military copter tech to China |
Google's Chrome browser to be available on Apple's iPad, iPhone |
RIM posts huge loss, delays BlackBerry 10 launch |
Analysis: Top-rated analysts negative on Facebook earnings |
Scientists develop spray-on battery |
Soderbergh exposes male strippers in new film |
Irving explores bisexuality in latest best seller |
Smashing Pumpkins rock again with Oceania |
Land of Decoration wins Desmond Elliott novel prize |
Exclusive: China to launch Netflix-like movie service |
Insight: In Islamist Egypt, generals still have final say |
Insight: Turkish generals look to life beyond prison bars |
Blast hits Damascus, Turkey sends troops to border |
South Korea shelves disputed military pact with Japan |
Hijacking foiled in China's troubled Xinjiang: report |
Analysis: Sudan rulers dig in as foes look for Arab Spring |
France's Strauss-Kahn and wife have separated: source |
Egypt's new president to take oath before court |
Exclusive: Microsoft tie-up, network sale among RIM options: sources |
Megaupload founder still faces NZ extradition battle |
RIM delays new BlackBerry launch; sales crumble |
SK Hynix boosts flash chip capacity to meet rising demand |
Demand for iPads, e-readers lift John Lewis sales |
Elpida creditors agree to forgive 70 percent of debts: Nikkei |
U.S. Genius visa attracts entrepreneurs and Playmates |
Soderbergh exposes male strippers in new film |
Egypt Islamist president-elect takes symbolic oath |
Iran expects to equip Gulf ships with missiles soon |
Mumbai attack was run from Pakistan: India |
German far right in legal battle over free speech |
Analysis: West struggles to understand Russia's Syria stance |
Myanmar government chides Suu Kyi for calling country Burma |
Russian arms dealer jailed in U.S. will appeal |
Gunmen kidnap aid workers from Kenya camp, driver killed |
Japanese protesters fill streets as nuclear re-start looms |
RIM prospects dire after launch delay: analysts |
Tibco shares rise on strong results |
High court won't consider FCC media ownership rules |
Outsourcing boosts Accenture, allays Europe concerns |
RBC upgrades Oracle to outperform |
First Solar names COO |
Google's Chrome browser to be available on Apple's iPad, iPhone |
French bid adieu to Minitel, the France-Wide Web |
U.S. Genius visa attracts entrepreneurs and Playmates |
Dish subscribers set to lose Mad Men |
Irving explores bisexuality in latest best seller |
High court agrees no indecency fine for CBS wardrobe malfunction |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01