Omar al-Bashir exploited Sudan’s ethnic division for decades. Now people are uniting against him
- Protests have rocked Sudan since December 19, when the government raised the price of bread
- The rallies have escalated into broad demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule
Sudanese this weekend marked the one-month anniversary of nationwide protests that are the most significant challenge yet to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s 30 years of authoritarian rule.
The throngs of demonstrators – most in their teens and 20s – have been met with tear gas and live rounds.
Thousands have been swept up in mass arrests and at least 40 have been killed, according to human rights groups.
Nearly every day, chanting protesters have crowded the streets of Sudan’s cities. They denounce Bashir’s alleged corruption, crimes against humanity, and disastrous economic management that has focused on military spending while continuing to raise the price of basic goods like flour.
But interspersed among the anti-Bashir chants that have become the soundtrack of this uprising is a bitter phrase that underlines the unprecedented power of these protests: “Oh, you arrogant racist, we are all Darfur.”
After decades of successfully exploiting Sudan’s ethnic and racial divides between ethnic Arabs who live along the Nile River and ethnic Africans living in Sudan’s Darfur region, a new generation is fed up and is hoping ethnic solidarity against Bashir will lead to his downfall.