Khartoum - The African Mirror

Apr

2021

Sudan’s basic income scheme aims to ease economic pain

NAFISA ELTAHIR and ELTAYEB SIDDING FOR Intisar Altayib, who ekes out a living drawing henna tattoos in Khartoum, soaring prices in Sudan mean running up tabs at local stores and cutting back on evening feasts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. She is one of millions struggling through an economic crisis that has deepened as Sudan tries to emerge from decades of isolation and conflict. Inflation has risen to more than 340% and there are shortages of everything from power to medicines. To ease the pain of reforms the government is introducing a donor-funded scheme that aims to provide…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Thousands protest in Sudan in call for faster reform

NEWS

THOUSANDS of Sudanese protesters took to the streets of the capital Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman, demanding an acceleration of reforms on the second anniversary of the start of an uprising that ousted Omar al-Bashir. The veteran leader was deposed by the military in April 2019 after months of mass protests against poor economic conditions and Bashir's autocratic, three-decade rule. Many Sudanese are unhappy with what they see as the slow or even negligible pace of change under the transitional government that has struggled to fix an economy in crisis. The government was formed under a three-year power sharing…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Sudanese police fire tear gas to disperse hundreds gathered across the capital

NEWS

SUDANESE security forces fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people in demonstrations across the capital Khartoum, as crowds gathered to put pressure on the government to improve conditions and push ahead with reform. The rallies came just days after President Donald Trump announced the United States would remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that dates back to toppled ruler Omar al-Bashir and made it difficult for the transitional government to access urgently needed debt relief and foreign financing. Calls for protests started days earlier, aiming to coincide with the anniversary of the overthrow…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

The Nile river led to Khartoum’s growth, but now threatens the city

AFRICITIES

ANDREA ZERBONI, Associate professor, University of Milan OVER the past few weeks, floods – following exceptionally heavy rains – have hit Sudan. Many parts of the country have been affected though it has been particularly destructive in Khartoum, the capital city. In and around the city, flooding of the Nile River has killed almost one hundred people, destroyed more than 1,000 houses and the incidence of water-borne diseases is now also rising. Along the Nile River in Sudan, floods are not unusual and destructive events have been recorded, for instance in 1946 and 1988. But, over recent years, the levels…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Record floods cause deaths and widespread damage in Sudan

NEWS

KHALID ABDELAZIZ FLOOD waters in Sudan have reached the highest levels on record, killing dozens of people, destroying thousands of homes and encroaching on some neighbourhoods of the capital Khartoum. The flooding comes despite Ethiopia starting to fill the reservoir behind a giant new dam upstream on the Blue Nile in July. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is expected to help Sudan control future floods. Flooding regularly hits Sudan in summer, but this year's unprecedented water levels have left larger tracts of farmland submerged and residents around Khartoum are looking anxiously outside their homes for fear of the rising…