Government shuts down all universities as protest mounts

Mounting protests against President Omar al-Bashir’s government in Sudan have resulted in the government closing all of the country’s universities, writes Tarek Abd El-Galil for Al-Fanar.

Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sudan’s minister of higher education, announced the suspension of study at 38 public universities and about 100 private higher education institutions after the outbreak of popular demonstrations against the country’s punishing economic conditions and the increased cost of living. Sudan has lost three quarters of its oil production since the split of South Sudan in 2011 and continues to be affected by the remnants of economic sanctions.

Al-Mahdi’s decision was confirmed by Mohammed al-Khair Abdul Rahman, director of Sinnar University, who explained in a statement that the disruption was “to alleviate the suffering of students in the current circumstances”, according to SUNA, the state news agency. But Mohamed Yousif, a professor at Khartoum University’s faculty of economics, says the country is closing its universities due to the government’s fear of a revolution.
Full report on the Al-Fanar Media site