Sudan faces national strike, possible Govt collapse

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 8

Sudan faces national strike, possible Govt collapse

NZPA-Reuter Khartoum Sudan faced the grim prospect of a nationwide strike today and a possible Government collapse at the end of a year of famine, floods, epidemics, labour unrest and civil war.

The Democratic Unionist Party (D.U.P.), a main partner n the coalition of the Prime Minister, Sadeq al-Mahdi, said yesterday it had quit the Government and called for the formation of a caretaker administration to prepare for early elections. Elections are scheduled for April, 1990. The D.U.P. also called for the scrapping of economic measures announced by the Govern-

ment on Monday which raised the price of sugar by 500 per cent and cigarettes by 50 per cent. The Government also imposed a new tax on local goods and raised import tariffs by 15 per cent. An emergency Cabinet session has been scheduled for today to review the measures amid growing signs that the Government may reconsider the moves following massive public protests. It was not yet clear, however, if the meeting would go ahead after the withdrawal of the D.U.P., which holds six of the 20 Cabinet positions. Enraged by the measures, tens of thousands of Sudanesse took to

the streets in Khartoum and at least three provincial towns in the last two days to protest at the price increases and call for the resignation of the Government.

On Wednesday, the influential Federation of Trade Unions increased pressure on the Government by calling on its estimated one million members to begin an indefinite strike today. Several trade and professional unions began work stoppages on Wednesday. A strike by engineers and civil aviation employees led to the closing of Khartoum’s international airport and it is not clear when flights might resume.

The Government, struggling to keep the debtladen economy afloat, said the measures were the only alternative to total economic collapse. It said they were also necessary to raise funds to cover huge wage increases announced last Saturday. Sudan, among the world’s poorest nations, has been hit this year by a famine caused by the civil war, devastating floods, a lingering locust plague and epidemics of malaria and meningitis.

The D.U.P.’s withdrawal followed last week’s rejection by Parliament of a tentative peace plan which the D.U.P. reached last month with rebels

who have been fighting the Government in the south since 1983.

Instead, Parliament adopted a vague peace plan put forward by Mr Mahdi, which the rebels have already rejected.

The D.U.P. is the second-largest party in the seven-month-old ruling coalition after Mr Mahdi’s Umma Party. The militant National Islamic Front (N.1.F.) party is the third main partner.

Umma and N.I.F. have between them a majority in the 301-seat Parliament, elected in 1986 in Sudan’s first democratic polls in nearly two decades.