Sudanese activists irked by Bashir

KHARTOUM, Sudan, March 21 (UPI) -- Sudanese activists called for a nationwide protest Monday to contest the 22-year reign of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Internet groups said.

Internet activists called for mass protests Monday to challenge the Bashir government. Several groups organized on social networking sites on the Internet are upset about poor economic conditions and the fallout from the secession of oil-rich South Sudan.

"Because I am a free Sudanese, I will go out and say NO," a group describing itself as the Change Now Movement was quoted by The Sudan Tribune as saying.

There were few reports on the size of any protests Monday, however.

The pleas for reform follow deadly disputes between ethnic groups in the Sudanese border region of Abyei that U.N. officials said could escalate to full-scale conflict.

The ethnic Ngok Dinka group is at odds with the herding community of Misseriya Arabs over control of Abyei, an oil-rich area along the de facto border between the north and South Sudan.

Abyei was to vote in the January referendum for South Sudan's secession, though the vote was postponed because of disputes over who has the right to vote.

The United Nations estimates that clashes in Abyei have left more than 100 people dead and displaced at least 20,000 people.