Two students killed amid protests in Sudan

By Husamuddin el-Bedevi</p> <p>KHARTOUM (AA) – At least two people were reportedly killed Thursday in anti-government demonstrations in Sudan.</p> <p>The independent Sudanese Doctors' Central Committee said in a statement that a university student died from torture in custody.</p> <p>There has been no official confirmation, however.</p> <p>Another student, 24-year-old Abdulazim Abu Bakr, was shot in the chest during demonstrations in the capital Khartoum, the committee said.</p> <p>The number of people killed during the roughly month-long demonstrations has reached 29, said Amir Muhammed Ibrahim, the chief prosecutor who was assigned to investigate the protests.</p> <p>Amnesty International puts the death toll at closer to 40. </p> <p>Sudan has been rocked by popular protests since mid-December, with demonstrators decrying President Omar al-Bashir’s seeming failure to remedy the country’s chronic economic woes.</p> <p>Earlier this month, al-Bashir — in power since 1989 — pledged to carry out urgent economic reforms amid continued calls by the opposition to protest. </p> <p>A nation of 40 million, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of three quarters of its oil output — its main source of foreign currency — since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.