Supporters wave national flags during the first campaign meeting of the ruling National Congress Party of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir at a stadium in Khartoum, ahead of the April 13 parliamentary and presidential elections.

Reuters/Khartoum

Police in Sudan fired tear gas and used a baton-charge to break up a rally yesterday in the capital held to protest against the death of a woman who had earlier demonstrated against government land policies, witnesses said.
About 800 demonstrators closed mains streets in Khartoum’s Hamadab district, angered by the woman’s death on Monday after what residents said was a beating by police three weeks ago. Police deny the allegation.
Residents said the earlier protests were focused on a government decision to allocate a plot of land to investors instead of building low-cost residential blocks.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Government critics slam what they call a crackdown on dissent ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for April, and leading opposition parties are boycotting the polls.
Sudan’s ruling party has chosen President Omar Hassan al-Bashir as its candidate for the presidency, making it almost certain that he will not step aside but extend his rule after 25 years in power.
Opposition movements in Sudan seem to have lost hope of any change in the political climate.
In December, Bashir claimed victory over the International Criminal Court after it dropped further investigation of war crimes in Darfur.
The Hague-based court indicted Bashir in 2009 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in suppressing the Darfur revolt.
But the prosecutor said she was shelving the investigation for lack of support from the UN Security Council, the body able to take coercive measures that could compel Bashir and co-defendants to face the court.