Fuel shortages ongoing in Sudan as Prime Minister promises to manage crisis

The fuel crisis in Khartoum has entered its second week without any sign of a solution; diesel is especially scarce in the capital city.

Port Sudan is also suffering from a shortage of fuel. A number of residents informed Radio Dabanga of long queues of vehicles waiting for hours to fill up at fuel stations.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Motaz Mousa made a surprise visit to Port Sudan in eastern Sudan with the Director of Bank of Sudan, the ministers of Oil and Electricity, and a number of officials. 

At one of the ports he stood atop stores of strategic stocks of petroleum derivatives and pledged to redouble the management and coordination efforts to reduce the chances of unforeseen crises.

Forced

Residents also said that there is now a lack of transportation to and from various districts. On Wednesday and Thursday, police allegedly intervened and forced a number of buses and mini-bus owners to transport people to their destinations.

On Tuesday, journalist Osman Hashim told Radio Dabanga that the transport committee had increased the price of bus transport from SDG 3 ($ 0.63*) to SDG 4.

“Mini bus tickets went from SDG 3,5 to SDG 5. Rickshaws in the market now cost SDG 15 instead of SDG 10; to the city districts they cost SDG 30.”

Currency conversions are based on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)