Anti-Bashir Strike in Sudan Has Doctors, Teachers Staying Home

(Bloomberg) -- The streets in Sudan's capital were quieter Tuesday as some professionals including doctors, teachers and pharmacists stayed home, in the latest bid to force long-term President Omar al-Bashir to resign.

The one-day strike was called by the Sudanese Professional Association, a group blacklisted by the government that's playing a major role in sustaining almost three months of protests across the North African nation. In Khartoum's downtown, many shops hadn't opened by Tuesday afternoon, while stalls at the storied market in its twin city, Omdurman, remained shut.

Hundreds of journalists also took part, protesting persistent censorship and confiscations of newspapers, Khalid Fathi, a leading member of the Sudanese Journalists Network, an independent pressure group, said by phone. Dozens of schools in Khartoum were affected, the national Committee of Schoolteachers said, without giving details.

Sudan, Africa's third-largest country, has been hit since mid-December by demonstrations against rising living costs that developed into calls for al-Bashir, 75, to step down. Dozens of people have been killed in the unrest, which has posed the biggest challenge to his rule since he seized power in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Alamin in Khartoum at malamin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Alastair Reed

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