Burning hot summer awaits foes, says al-Bashir

KHARTOUM - The Associated Press

Waving a cane, al-Bashir dismisses an Arab Spring-style uprising. AP photo

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir dismissed opposition calls for an Arab Spring-style uprising in the African country on July 11, threatening that “a burning hot summer” awaits his enemies.

Demonstrations against price hikes have sprung up in the capital, Khartoum, and other major towns across Sudan in recent weeks. The government cut public spending to compensate for the loss of about 70 percent of its revenues when South Sudan seceded a year ago, taking with it much of Sudan’s oil wealth. Protesters have also been chanting a refrain heard often in other regional uprisings: “The people demand the downfall of the regime.”

“They talk of an Arab Spring. Let me tell them that in Sudan we have a hot summer, a burning hot summer that burns its enemies,” al-Bashir told a large crowd while inaugurating a factory in central Sudan. Waving a cane, al-Bashir warned that Sudan’s enemies would also be skewered.

 As with other Arab Spring uprisings, security forces and riot police have responded forcefully to put down the demonstrations.