Med students, civil aviation staff strike in Sudan’s capital

Hundreds of trainee doctors  staged a sit-in at the Ministry of Health in Khartoum on Wednesday, in protest against the non-payment of their salaries for more than two months. On the same day, personnel of the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Labour, for not receiving their remuneration since eight months.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, yesterday, a young medic said that he did not receive his salary since October. “Others have not been paid for a longer period.”

The doctor stated that the Ministry of Health “has been lying to us since the beginning of the year, saying that the state cannot afford to raise the salaries”. “Our monthly remuneration ranges between SDG500 ($87) and SDG1400 ($244). In 2014, the Sudanese government spent SDG1.300 billion ($226.151 million) on the security apparatus, while it allocated SDG500 million ($86.981 million) to the health sector.”

Austerity measures

After having protested several times in vain against the delay of their remuneration, employees of the Civil Aviation Authority in Khartoum decided on a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Labour on Wednesday.

Khaled Mohamed Ibrahim, one of the organisers of the protest, explained to Radio Dabanga that because of a reduced budget, the management decided in 2006 to implement austerity measures. The monitoring and operational sectors were separated, which led to the dismissal of hundreds of employees.

“954 employees rejected the decision, and did not leave. Last year, the director decided to grant us an indefinite leave, to give us time to prepare ourselves for the removal of our functions, and an early retirement. Then eight months ago, the payment of our entitlements stopped.”