Flour shortage sees long queues at bakeries in Sudan

The residents of Sawakin in Sudan’s Red Sea State have complained of a severe bread crisis that has lasted for more than a month. People must queue at bakeries for many hours in the hope of buying some bread. Some bakeries have shut-down altogether.

They explained that restaurants resort to bringing bread from Port Sudan because of the crisis.

Journalist Mohammed El Amin Osheik reported that the crisis witnessed a brief relief for a few days during the visit of the First Vice President Bakri Hassan Saleh last week because of the availability of quantities of flour, but returned again after Saleh left the state.

The residents blamed the state government for the crisis and urged the authorities to expedite the provision of flour to the bakeries.

River Nile

Residents of Atbara in the River Nile state have also complained of acute bread and fuel crisis. They say that a number of bakeries have stopped working because of lack of flour.

They pointed to the long queues in front of the bakeries which can work at just a quarter of their capacity because of the reduction of flour quotas to four sacks a day.

Also they said that there is overcrowding in front of the transport stations because of the lack of fuel and said that a large number of vehicles have stopped work.

North Kordofan

Residents of El Obeyed in North Kordofan have complained of a severe fuel and bread crisis.

Witnesses said there are long lines of vehicles in front of fuel stations and pointed out that the crisis began on Tuesday.

The residents have renewed their complaints about the ongoing bread crisis. They have stressed that the crisis has worsened as people are moving from bakery to bakery in search of bread.

They have called on the state government to explain the causes of the crisis.

The Sudanese security service arrested an activist, Hamrour Hussein, in eastern Sudan's Kassala on Wednesday, and held him until Wednesday night. He had published critical articles about the flour crisis in his state on social media.