SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: IFPRI – The Russia-Ukraine conflict is likely to compound Sudan’s existing food security problems

6/4/2022: IFPRI – The Russia-Ukraine conflict is likely to compound Sudan’s existing food security problems

The International Food Policy Research Institute propose policy measures for Sudan to mitigate increased wheat prices triggered by Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, and build a more resilient wheat and agrifood system, including:

• Increased investments in roads and other market infrastructure to reduce transaction costs.

• Additional research and extension efforts to increase production of alternatives to wheat production, including drought-tolerant sorghum and millet on non-irrigated land.

• A cash transfer system targeting the poorest households could be considered to compensate for the removal of bread subsidies.

• Addressing food security data gaps, and increasing monitoring and analytical capacity as accurate targeting of either cash or in-kind transfer programs would require up-to-date household data.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Reuters - Sudan task force chasing Bashir-era assets sees progress, faces criticism

6/4/2021: Reuters - Sudan task force chasing Bashir-era assets sees progress, faces criticism, by Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir

Reuters’ feature piece reports on criticism that the Sudan’s Empowerment Removal Committee, “the group set up to claw back assets from ousted President Omar al-Bashir and his associates” and “aims to purge public bodies of al-Bashir loyalists,” applies “selective justice”.

Reuters cite a protest triggered by the sacking of 7,000 from the civil service “without proper explanation or appeal process.” Some critics see the committee as a means for easy political point scoring by a government struggling to manage an economic crisis, while others are concerned about what they see as a shaky legal framework, add Reuters.

Warning of a lack of due process, Mohamed Abdelsalam, dean of the University of Khartoum law school, said “a better approach would be to establish a group of independent commissioners, rather than politicians, able to apply the law equally to every individual..[as] the current practice can be labelled as selective justice.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudan ruling partners to reform state institutions

6/4/2020: Sudan Tribune - Sudan ruling partners to reform state institutions

 Sudan Tribune reports that Sudan’s ruling partners formed a joint committee in order to reform state institutions, with a time-frame set for implementation.

 The Sovereign Council, the government and the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) held a meeting to assess the performances of Hamdok’s government.

 The FFC pointed to the very slow pace of reforms and the continued presence of the intermediary cadre of the former regime in the state institutions. The meeting agreed to form a joint committee including three members of the Sovereign Council, four ministers and eight FFC members.

 The committee will reform security services, implement solutions for economic crisis, external relations, justice and removal of the former regime, as well as work to break the deadlock in peace talks.