Thousands of people have joined a Facebook group calling for anti-government protests across Sudan today, the day preliminary results are due on the vote on southern independence.
Entitled “January 30, a word to the Sudanese youth,” the Facebook site shows an angry protester holding an Arabic placard that reads: “A better Sudan.”
The call comes after Egypt’s April 6 Facebook group set up by young Egyptian activists three years ago helped bring tens of thousands onto the streets this week for anti-regime rallies.
With about 9,000 followers so far, the Sudanese site calls for peaceful demonstrations in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities at 11am to demand an end to “injustice and humiliation.”
“We will come out to protest the high cost of living, corruption, nepotism, unemployment and all the practices of the regime, including striking women ... that are contrary to the most basic laws of Islam and humanity, and violate the rights of minorities,” the Facebook site says.
“We will go out to prove to the whole world that the people ... will not remain silent in the face of persistent injustice and humiliation,” it adds.
Widespread economic and political discontent in north Sudan, where the security forces exert tight control, has led to sporadic protests in recent weeks.
The preliminary results for Sudan’s Jan. 9-15 referendum on independence for the south, to be announced today in the southern capital Juba, are expected to deliver a crushing majority for secession, which would split Africa’s largest country in two.
Meanwhile, in Yemen, the ruling party has called for dialogue with the opposition, the state news agency said late on Friday, in a bid to end anti-government protests fueled by popular unrest across the Arab World.
Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets of Sana’a in recent days demanding a change of government.
“We ... call for the halting of media propaganda and urge all political parties to work together to make the dialogue a success and arrange for upcoming elections,” a committee of the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party was quoted as saying on the Web site of the Saba state news agency.
“Furthermore, we urge an end to protests that ignite dissent to avoid dragging the country into conflict or sedition,” it said.
The streets of Sana’a were quiet on Friday, after about 16,000 Yemenis demonstrated across the city on Thursday in the largest rally since a wave of protests erupted in Yemen last week.
Further protests were expected yesterday.
The GPC said in October it would participate in an election scheduled for April, dashing opposition hopes that the government would delay the poll to allow more time for talks on long-promised reforms.
Current unrest appears to be partly a reaction to a proposal last year by GPC members to end presidential term limits that would require Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down when his term ends in 2013.
Saleh’s party backtracked last week in an effort to calm discontent, floating the idea of a new amendment that would limit a president to two terms of either five or seven years.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
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