AGL 40.22 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (0.55%)
AIRLINK 127.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.03%)
BOP 6.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.9%)
CNERGY 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.22%)
DCL 8.63 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.94%)
DFML 41.65 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (0.51%)
DGKC 87.00 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.17%)
FCCL 32.40 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.37%)
FFBL 65.40 Increased By ▲ 0.60 (0.93%)
FFL 10.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.2%)
HUBC 109.85 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (0.26%)
HUMNL 14.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.54%)
KEL 5.13 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.58%)
KOSM 7.60 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (1.88%)
MLCF 41.60 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (0.53%)
NBP 59.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.81 (-1.34%)
OGDC 194.35 Increased By ▲ 4.25 (2.24%)
PAEL 28.24 Increased By ▲ 0.41 (1.47%)
PIBTL 7.89 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.77%)
PPL 152.40 Increased By ▲ 2.34 (1.56%)
PRL 26.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-1.12%)
PTC 16.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.25%)
SEARL 82.25 Decreased By ▼ -3.75 (-4.36%)
TELE 7.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-2.98%)
TOMCL 35.42 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.03%)
TPLP 8.24 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.48%)
TREET 16.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-1.89%)
TRG 52.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.92%)
UNITY 26.80 Increased By ▲ 0.64 (2.45%)
WTL 1.26 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,945 Increased By 61.7 (0.62%)
BR30 30,926 Increased By 326.1 (1.07%)
KSE100 93,746 Increased By 390.2 (0.42%)
KSE30 29,049 Increased By 117.7 (0.41%)

A 25-year-old Sudanese man was being treated in hospital for second-degree burns, medics said on Saturday, in the latest instance of self-immolation in the Arab world. Al-Amin Musa Al-Amin, a labourer from Darfur, poured petrol over himself shortly after Friday prayers and lit it as he stood in Suq al-Shaabi, a market in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city, eye-witnesses told AFP.
They could not speculate on the man's motive. The man was rushed to Omdurman hospital's intensive care unit, medical officials said. The Sudanese Media Centre, which is close to the country's intelligence services, had earlier quoted one of Musa's relative as saying he had been drunk when he torched himself.
But the hospital medics said there was no trace of alcohol in his body. Several young men in Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania have set themselves ablaze since the signature protest of a Tunisian graduate whose action in December triggered a revolt that ousted Tunisia's veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Widespread economic and political discontent in north Sudan, where the security forces exert tight control, has led to sporadic protests in recent weeks. Police and students clashed for two days in Gezira, a large swathe of land south of Khartoum, in student protests against the tough austerity measures the government pushed through on January 5 in response to escalating import costs.
On Wednesday, armed police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of Sudanese activists demonstrating for the release of Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, who was detained 48 hours earlier after calling for a Tunisia-style uprising. North Sudan's economic woes - skyrocketing food prices, weak state finances and large external debts - , have been exacerbated by political uncertainty, linked to last week's landmark referendum on independence for the south, where most of the country's oil is pumped from. The final results of the plebiscite are set to deliver a landslide vote for separation.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011

Comments

Comments are closed.