Drinking water, bread shortage in White Nile and North Kordofan

A severe drinking water crisis has gripped El Gezira Aba in White Nile state, in south-east Sudan. A bread shortage in El Obeid is causing long queues in front of bakeries.

A number of residents told Radio Dabanga that the water stations on the Nile have stopped pumping water into the water network of the town for several continuous days. “Meanwhile, the parties responsible are completely absent. This is causing a great suffering for the local people,” a listener said.

Since the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan, the capitals of North Darfur, Red Sea, and Blue Nile states witnessed a severe shortage of drinking water because of varying reasons: districts cut-off from the water network or broken water pipelines. The prices for barrels of water increased sharply.

Meanwhile, residents of El Obeid in North Kordofan complained of a scarcity of bread. “It is difficult to get bread, for which people have to queue in front of a few bakeries to get their daily bread,” a villager said.

A number of bakeries do not regularly open their doors in El Obeid, he added, but the reasons are unclear.