Tag: AFRICA

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after Al-Burhan, who is also the General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, declared a state of emergency on October 25, 2021, and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government. Since then, the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and other cities have been witnessing continued protests demanding a return to civilian rule.

Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Chairman, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has issued a decree lifting the state of emergency in all parts of the country.

The order was made to “prepare the atmosphere for a fruitful dialogue that achieves stability for the transitional period,” the Sovereign Council said on Sunday in a statement.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after Al-Burhan, who is also the General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, declared a state of emergency on October 25, 2021, and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since then, the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and other cities have been witnessing continued protests demanding a return to civilian rule.

Arms embargo

The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution to renew an arms embargo against South Sudan as well as targeted sanctions of travel ban and asset freeze against individuals and entities until May 31, 2023.

Resolution 2633, which was adopted on Thursday with 10 votes in favour and five abstentions, also extends the mandate of the Panel of Experts, which assists the work of the South Sudan Sanctions Committee, till July 1, 2023, reports Xinhua news agency. China, Gabon, India, Kenya, and Russia abstained.

  The resolution decides that the arms embargo shall not apply to the supply, sale or transfer of non-lethal military equipment, solely in support of the implementation of the terms of the peace agreement, as notified in advance to the Sanctions Committee.

  It also reiterates the Security Council’s readiness to review arms embargo measures, through modification, suspension, or progressive lifting of these measures, in the light of progress achieved on the key benchmarks as set out in last year’s Resolution 2577, and encourages the South Sudan authorities to achieve further progress in this regard.

  The resolution requests the UN Secretary-General, in close consultation with the UN Mission in South Sudan and the Panel of Experts, to conduct, no later than April 15, 2023, an assessment of progress achieved on the key benchmarks.  It also requests the South Sudanese authorities to report, by the same date, to the Sanctions Committee on the progress achieved in this regard.

Refugee Crisis

 The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that 1,167 Ethiopian refugees have arrived in Sudan in recent days.

The UNHCR in its latest situation update report said the vast majority of the new arrivals were from Ethiopia with 1,130 crossing over to Sudan’s Blue Nile state from Benishangul-Gumuz region, reports Xinhua news agency.

“The remaining 37 new Ethiopian refugees’ arrivals entered Sudan through border crossings in Sudan’s Geadref state,” the UNHCR report disclosed.

ALSO READ: UNHCR 1,167 Ethiopian refugees flee to Sudan

Tensions have been high for years in Ethiopia’s western Benishangul-Gumuz region, with periodic outbreaks of ethnic strife leaving scores dead and tens of thousands fleeing to other parts of Ethiopia as well as to neighbouring Sudan. The violence is mainly over access to power and land resources.

  Benishangul-Gumuz region, located along the Ethiopia-Sudan border, hosts Ethiopia’s largest development project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is under construction on the Blue Nile River with a construction cost of close to $5 billion.

  Tens of thousands of Ethiopians have also crossed to Sudan since the start of the military confrontations between the federal and regional forces in the Tigray region broke out in November 2020.

  Ethiopia currently has 4.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and over 1.5 million IDP returnees, largely resulting from the ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia and localized conflicts and tensions in different parts of the country.

Sudan faces deteriorating food shortage or even crisis in 2022

Sudan faces a deteriorating food shortage or even a crisis in 2022 and the people suffering acute hunger may amount to some 18 million out of the country’s total 45 million population, local experts have warned.

The three main contributors to worsening food shortage in Sudan are the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, internal economic policies and weak agricultural production, according to Sudanese economic experts.

“It is known that Sudan gets more than 90 percent of its needs of wheat from Russia and Ukraine,” Abdul-Khaliq Mahjoub, a Sudanese economic expert, told Xinhua.

“It is difficult to find alternative sources at present, and given the impact of the crisis, Sudan faces risks represented in its inability to purchase wheat at high prices,” he added. Currently, the price of wheat per tonne in Sudan amounts to more than 600 U.S. dollars, 180 percent higher than the same period last year.

Mohamed Al-Nayer, a lecturer of economics at Africa International University in the capital Khartoum, blamed the government policies for the risks of food insecurity in the country.

“Most of the international reports are trying to show the Russian-Ukrainian crisis is the cause of the global food crisis, but for Sudan, the government’s irrational policies act as the main reason,” Al-Nayer said in an interview with Xinhua.

“Owing to the lack of concern with farmers, failure to provide agricultural technologies and harvesting machinery, and failure to purchase wheat from farmers (at a reasonable price), the government is compelled to import wheat,” he explained.

The production of grain, especially wheat, has decreased this year in Sudan because of the high costs, especially in oil products, fertilizers shortage and the epidemics, according to the annual Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) report.

During 2021-2022 agricultural season, the total grain production amounted to 5.1 million tonnes, 37 percent lower than the previous season of 8.1 million tonnes, said the report.

Also, the government’s failure to purchase the wheat at an earlier set price may force farmers to smuggle their crop outside the country, said Al-Nayer.

In its latest report on the food situation in Sudan, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs warned that 14.3 million Sudanese people, representing about 30 percent of the country’s population, would need food aid in 2022.

Sudan has been witnessing a continued rise in prices of bread made of wheat flour, as one loaf of bread now costs about 50 Sudanese pounds (0.11 U.S. dollars).

Sudan has been plagued by an economic crisis since the secession of South Sudan in 2011, which costs Sudan 75 percent of its oil revenues.

ALSO READ: South Sudan declares new cholera outbreak

The crisis was exacerbated when the United States and international agencies suspended aid after Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the general commander of the Sudanese armed forces, declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25, 2021 and dissolved the Sovereign Council.

The United States has suspended 700 million dollars in economic aid to Sudan, while the World Bank failed to offer Sudan the 500 million dollars due in November 2021. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also halted the 150 million dollars in special drawing rights for Sudan.

Sudan’s debt relief process under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative of the IMF has also been suspended.