Hundreds protest in the Sudanese capital on high food prices

Witnesses said hundreds took to the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday to protest against rising food prices and the demand for better public transport.
The protests, something rare in the Sudan, but the anger is growing because of economic crisis and high cost of living after the country lost most of its oil reserves which have fallen to the State of the newly independent South Sudan.
Witnesses said about 300 people took part in a protest at the main station for buses and taxis in Khartoum to demand better public transportation, and university students joined the demonstrators to protest against food price inflation.
A witness said he refused to be named, shouted "No to the high prices of bread and bread to the poor," and added that the police arrived at the site of the protest but did not intervene.
Another witness said that hundreds of people also staged a protest at a bus station in Omdurman, adding that the protesters then crossed the bridge on the River Nile linking Khartoum and Omdurman started in private cars and threw stones at police vehicles.
Police said in a statement that a group of people threw stones at cars crossing the bridge, adding that it prevented the occurrence of "sabotage."
There are poor network in Sudan for public transport passengers and relies mostly on taxis and minibuses that barely meet the demand and are usually accused of preparing to download more of their capacity.
And damaged many of the Sudanese largely because of inflation, which reached 20.7 percent in September due to higher food prices fell, while the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound on the black market in recent weeks.
The government responded with a package of measures include exempting imports of basic food commodities from customs duties on a temporary basis.
But economists are skeptical that inflation will fall Sudan has lost a lot with most of its oil reserves after the independence of South Sudan, which led to a decline in the flow of foreign currency needed to pay for imports.
Sudan's economy depends on oil exports and exports of small-scale gold.
The government is seeking to diversify the economy, but progress is slow, which, experts blamed on trade sanctions imposed by the United States and poor planning