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Sudan proposal to scrap term limits canceled
 
By:
Sun, 17 Feb 2019   ||   Sudan,
 

A parliamentary committee charged to amend Sudan’s constitution to grant President Omar al-Bashir a chance to contest for another term, on Saturday said it would indefinitely postpone a meeting to draft these changes, state news agency SUNA said.

The move follows amid almost daily street protests since mid-December, initially sparked by rising bread prices and cash shortages, against Bashir’s nearly 30-year rule.

SUNA cited “special emergency commitments” as the cause for the delay without providing further details.

A majority of lawmakers had supported  the proposed amendment two weeks before protests broke out and had tasked an emergency committee with drafting the changes ahead of the parliament’s first session in April.

Bashir, an Islamist and former army officer, came to power after a military coup. He won elections in 2010 and 2015 after changes in the constitution following a peace agreement with southern rebels, who then seceded to form South Sudan.

He is now facing unprecedented opposition to his rule, with street protests involving hundreds of people almost every day.

 

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