New fees vex South Darfur military recruits

Sudan Armed Forces recruits in South Darfur reject new fees imposed on them by the Coordination Office of the National Military Service. “The military Coordination Office raised the fee for an identity card from SDG10 ($1.75) to SDG35 ($6.10), the costs for a leave permission were increased from SDG10 to SDG20 ($3.50), and we have to pay now SDG5 ($0.90) for the release of documents, and SDG10 for other data, while both services used to be free,” one of the recruits reported to Radio Dabanga from Nyala, capital of South Darfur. According to the recruits, the fees, amounting to SDG70 ($12), are illegal. They accuse the officials of the Coordination Office of “corruption and abuse of power”.  The recruits stressed that they do not have the money to complete their procedures, or obtain a document for authentication of their certificates or diplomas, and appealed to the South Darfur state and the federal authorities to intervene and put an end to “this chaos”. File photo: Sudanese army soldiers on patrol in Darfur (AFP)Related: South Darfur Chamber of Commerce imposes ‘security fees’ (27 August 2014)