SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: AFP - Sudan's coup-hit economy in free fall as prices bite

20/3/2022: AFP - Sudan's coup-hit economy in free fall as prices bite

 

AFP’s report on Sudan’s economy following suspension of aid following the military coup.

 

Economist Mohammed al-Nayer noted that taxes now constitute 58% of the budget, sharply increasing prices and pushing the country into recession, alongside forecasting that inflation may rise at 500% from 258%.

 

Mohammed, who provides for a family of six, said that bread now costs 27,000 pounds a month which is 90% of his salary, and he is unsure of whether he can afford to send his children to school.

 

A spokesman for the association of bakery owners attributed the price increases to unaffordable operational costs, with electricity tariffs increasing by 500%. Sudan is also especially vulnerable to the impact of global supply shortages in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 

An anonymous business owner said they laid of 300 employees, mostly women who were breadwinners of their families.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Coronavirus: Sudanese returning from abroad have to undergo one-month self-quarantine

20/3/2020: Sudan Tribune - Coronavirus: Sudanese returning from abroad have to undergo one-month self-quarantine

 Sudan Tribune reports that Sudanese arriving from abroad must undergo a mandatory one-month self-quarantine at home, announced Akram Eltom, Sudanese health minister.

 Eltom announced that the Sudanese coronavirus committee, chaired by Siddiq Tawer, a member of the Sovereign Council, decided to not systematically confine those who returned from countries with a high risk of coronavirus.

 Eltom added that those without coronavirus symptoms, or had not had contact with infected persons can go to their homes, and that health authorities will follow up their situation. He called on the returnees to undergo self-quarantine in their homes and to notify the health authorities if they or their family members are showing symptoms.

 Sudan Tribune note that hundreds of Sudanese returned from Egypt, where officials say they registered 256 cases of coronavirus.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: The Nation - The Sudanese Ousted a Dictator Last Year—Why Is Washington Still Imposing Sanctions?

20/3/2020: The Nation - The Sudanese Ousted a Dictator Last Year—Why Is Washington Still Imposing Sanctions?, by Mitchell Plitnick

 Stephen Zunes, a Middle East scholar at the University of San Francisco, calls for the US to lift sanctions from Sudan, provide sustainable development aid and democracy assistance, and to “make it very clear” to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt that support for Sudanese military and autocratic elements is “unacceptable.”

 Zunes hints at US policy to “downplay democratic movements,” but concedes that he lacks evidence for this claim beyond US President Donald Trump’s alleged fondness for depicting Arab/African countries as chronically violent and in need of authoritarian governments.

 Zunes argues that the Sudanese democratic movement has been successful in postponing elections in order to rebuild civil society and increase civic education to counter the organisational advantages of the military and conservative Islamists, noting that civil society is aware that the 1964 and 1985 uprisings both saw the military take over from “democratically elected but unpopular ruling coalitions.”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Foreign Policy – Sudan Has a Window of Opportunity. The West Shouldn’t Squander It

20/3/2020: Foreign Policy – Sudan Has a Window of Opportunity. The West Shouldn’t Squander It, by Kenneth Roth

 Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls for the West to “attach the highest priority” in helping Sudanese civilian leaders navigate the “treacherous” path to a rights-respecting government.

 Roth argues that the overriding US aim should be to help the Sudanese people in their quest for a more transparent and accountable government based on the rule of law. Thus, Roth urged the US to condition Sudan’s delisting as a State Sponsor of Terrorism on human rights benchmarks that aim to help civilian authorities assert the rule of law over security forces, and fulfil the social and economic rights of the Sudanese people.

 In addition, Roth called for the US to impose targeted individual sanctions against members of Sudanese security forces “implicated in grave violations,” and for the US to urge Gulf states to discontinue their support for those individuals.