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Central Bank Sees Surprising Policy Demand: Sudan Regime Change

Central Bank Sees Surprising Policy Demand: Sudan Regime Change

(Bloomberg) -- The latest tense gathering at Sudan’s central bank isn’t to mull a rate decision or another currency devaluation -- instead, it’s urging the North African nation’s new military rulers to step down.

Soldiers and militiamen surrounded the bank Tuesday, as many of its workers joined a two-day general strike called by Sudan’s main protest movement. Flights have been canceled and shops and banks closed across the capital, Khartoum, in a fresh opposition initiative to heap pressure on the military that ousted long-time President Omar al-Bashir in April.

Video footage posted on YouTube showed an employee giving a tour of the bank, entering offices where dozens of staff members in business suits wore lanyards declaring they were on strike. The Sudanese Professionals Association, a driving force in six months of unrest, shared a statement on Twitter from bank workers expressing a wish to be part of the movement for a democratic, civilian-led Sudan.

The action comes as Sudan’s interim military rulers seek to shore up regional support with recent trips to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two oil-rich monarchies who’ve made no secret of their desire for a smooth transition to avoid the upheaval that followed the Arab Spring revolts in the region. In late April, they pledged $3 billion in aid to Sudan, a country rocked by decades of rebellions, sanctions and economic mismanagement.

Talks between Sudan’s army and opposition have stalled over how to share power before elections. The council, led by stalwarts of Bashir’s three-decade rule, has said the transition may take as long as two years, but protesters have been camped out at army headquarters since April to force a speedier handover.

Soldiers prevented a Bloomberg reporter from entering the central bank. No one from the institution’s management was available to comment on the strike.

--With assistance from Salma El Wardany.

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

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Paul Richardson

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