SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Sudan Tribune – Remove Sudan from the terror list

19/2/2020: Sudan Tribune – Remove Sudan from the terror list, by David L. Phillips

 David L. Phillips, a Director of the Program on Peacebuilding and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, calls for the Sudanese government to adopt confidence-building measures to act as benchmarks for the process of Sudan’s removal from the US State Sponsor of Terrorism list.

 The benchmarks that Phillips highlights are: the enforcement of money-laundering restrictions and banking reforms; establishing control over the gold sector that has been a major source of corruption; and, concluding peace talks with armed rebel groups that would involve security sector reform and the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of non-state militias.

 In addition, to dismantle the remnants of Omar al-Bashir’s “corrupt” system, Phillips calls for the Sudanese government to invite hybrid courts with international judges and prosecutors to mitigate the lack of capacity for accountability of Sudan’s national courts.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga – High fuel prices lead to water shortages in Darfur camp

19/2/2020: Radio Dabanga – High fuel prices lead to water shortages in Darfur camp

 Radio Dabanga report on the impact of the fuel crisis in Darfur.

 Two out of seven water well pumps in South Darfur’s Gireida camp for the internally displaced are not functioning, leading to long waiting lines, high prices and water shortages.Diesel and petrol is also being sold at four times the price usually sold.

 The residents of Kutum in North Darfur also complain about high prices for fuel and consumer goods, with diesel is four times as expensive at the market than at petrol stations, and petrol twelve times as expensive. The high fuel prices led to increased costs for transportation.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Reuters - Revolutionary squads guard Sudan's bakeries to battle corruption

19/2/2020: Reuters - Revolutionary squads guard Sudan's bakeries to battle corruption, by Aidan Lewis

 Reuters feature piece reports on Sudanese activists monitoring bakeries in order to prevent the smuggling of wheat and bread, which is “contributing to shortages that have left a weak civilian government struggling to respond.”

 Reuters note that bread was a symbol of the revolution, with raising prices triggering the first major protests against Omar al-Bashir’s regime.

 The volunteers say they have caught wheat or bread being smuggled out of bakeries in Arkawit in Khartoum, highlight a case of 2,000 loaves being sold at triple the price outside Khartoum, and bread being sold to restaurants at a 20% mark-up.

 The volunteers are hoping to expand their activities to flour mills and distribution networks, with software engineer Mohammed Nimir noting that data collection is crucial in monitoring smuggling.