Across Sudan, pharmacists have shuttered their stores, doctors are only admitting emergency cases, and the dentists are on strike. The head of the doctors’ union is in prison, as is his deputy and several members of the group’s executive committee. Several more doctors and medical students are hospitalised with gunshot wounds.
So far 40 demonstrators are reported to have been killed and over 1,000 detained since nationwide anti-government protests began on December 19. Alongside medical practitioners, lawyers, teachers and engineers are leading calls for long-standing autocrat Omar Al Bashir to step down.
On Sunday, the Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of unions and syndicates, organised protest marches in five cities across Sudan, including two in the Darfur region for the first time.
Protests began on December 19 after the government cut subsidies and the price of bread rose from one Sudanese pound to three (from about 7 fils to 23). The government says the cuts were necessary to cut a deficit after Khartoum lost three quarters of its oil revenue following the secession of South Sudan in 2011.
But protesters struggling to make ends meet say the real problem is much broader economic mismanagement and corruption. Nadreen Rugheem, a 28-year-old doctor from Khartoum, says her government salary is just 1500 Sudanese pounds monthly (Dh116) and she depends on her family for support. “Other doctors have to exhaust themselves at three to four jobs to survive,” she said.
In Khartoum, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters on Sunday, who chanted “peace, peace” and “revolution is the people’s choice”.
Footage shared on social media showed protesters marching through the streets in other cities.
After security forces stormed a hospital in Omdurman last week firing live ammunition, organisers expected protests to be met with violence.
“Since last night people have been donating blood at hospitals,” said Rania Alsayegh, a member of the Central Committee of Sudan Pharmacists. Ms Alsayegh spoke on behalf of the group because she is living in safety in the United Kingdom. “We think that whoever speaks to you will get arrested on the same day,” she said.
Mr Bashir describes the protests as a foreign plot to sow insecurity and has pleaded with his countrymen for time to resolve the country’s economic woes. Protesters describe his 29-year-rule as a kleptocracy and say their patience is worn out.
“People are fed up and eager for change,” said Samahir Elmubarak, a Sudanese pharmacist who was willing to speak on record.
Protests would continue until Mr Bashir steps down, she said. “Unless this regime is gone, prospects of stability are not on the table. Civil wars and genocides have been the regime’s way of staying in power for decades, corruption along with failed economic policies have made it impossible to expect stability.”
Meanwhile, high military spending which previously went towards putting down rebellions in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile State is now being directed towards crushing protests. “Sudanese people pay for the government to oppress them,” Ms Rugheem said, as the government is “using 70 per cent of our taxes on their military expenditure”.
That estimate is mirrored in a 2015 report by The Sentry, a Washington DC-based organisation that monitors conflict funding. Officially the Sudanese government allocated 14 per cent of its spending to defence in 2018, but economists say military expenditures are often disguised under other budget lines.
“Part of the problem in Sudan is that there’s been too much focus on regime survival at the expense of everything else,” said Murithi Mutiga, deputy project director for the Horn of Africa at the International Crisis Group. “Little else is left to fund social spending, healthcare, education and the rest of it.”
This, says the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, is why Mr Bashir must step down. “The different professional associations and trade unions have joined the call for these peaceful protests to object [to] the unprecedented collapse of the public sector and the lack of public services provision in the public facilities,” it said in a statement on Saturday.
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Read more:
Sudan protests continue despite police crackdown
Sudanese lose hope for justice for shot and detained protesters
Persistent protests testify to deep-rooted anger in Sudan
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The fact that professional classes form the backbone of the protest movement is significant, says the Crisis Group’s Mutiga. “It’s not coming from the periphery but from the riparian heartland of NCP support,” he said, referring to the ruling National Congress Party and its base along the River Nile. “In 1985, it was the professional classes who decided they had had enough, they went on strike and mobilised the protests.”
Like now, protests in 1985 were sparked by increasing food prices. Two weeks of demonstrations and strikes then led to a military coup which brought down the 15-year government of President Gaafar Al Nimeiry.
If Mr Bashir refuses to step down another military coup is a possibility, says Mr Mutiga. “If there’s a hostile coup it could open up almost a Libya scenario,” he warned, referring to the chaos which has engulfed the North African nation since the ouster of strongman Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
But, like the former Libyan dictator, Mr Bashir remaining in power appears unsustainable, Mr Mutiga said, suggesting that a managed transition could avoid bloodshed.
“Now the government is saying they sympathise with the protesters, but they have no answers to the problem," he said. “Because fundamentally Bashir symbolises the self-dealing and unaccountable elite which has brought Sudan to this point.”
Asia Cup Qualifier
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6: Final
Asia Cup
Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Schedule: Sep 15-28
Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
SQUADS
South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper
Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
BIRD%20BOX%20BARCELONA
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Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hoopla%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jacqueline%20Perrottet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20required%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Brief scores:
Pakistan (1st innings) 181: Babar 71; Olivier 6-37
South Africa (1st innings) 223: Bavuma 53; Amir 4-62
Pakistan (2nd innings) 190: Masood 65, Imam 57; Olivier 5-59
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience
by David Gilmour
Allen Lane
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4.4-litre%2C%20twin-turbo%20V8%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Eeight-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E617hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E750Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh630%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The%20Beekeeper
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Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm: Meydan Sprint – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (Turf) 1,000m
7.40pm: Curlin Stakes – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (D) 2,200m
8.15pm: UAE Oaks – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm: Zabeel Mile – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,600m
9.25pm: Balanchine – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m
10pm: Al Shindagha Sprint – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,200m
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
