Port Sudan follows Khartoum in tea seller ban

Local authorities have arrested street and tea vendors in Port Sudan and confiscated their property in a campaign to regulate the markets.

In the previous days the market regulation campaign started in the early morning and continued until the evening, as directed by the locality Commissioner. Journalist Osman Hashim reported to Radio Dabanga that the local authorities can therefore justify the arrests and confiscations against street vendors, tea sellers and Kisra sellers in the Red Sea state capital.

“They confiscated the property of dozens of vendors in the past three days. After the arrested vendors are released, local authorities will immediately try them in the court, by a judge of the Public Order Police.

“They can expect various fines on their goods and property, or imprisonment in the case of non-payment,” Hashim said.

Awadiya Mahmoud Kuku, Head of the Union of Tea and Food Sellers Cooperative, told Radio Dabanga last month that a similar campaign against tea sellers and street vendors in various parts of Khartoum “affected thousands of them”. “The women are in desperate need to practice their trade, especially in light of the deterioration of living conditions that forces them to sell tea in the markets and streets,” she told Radio Dabanga.

In July 2016, the state Commissioner issued a decree withdrawing the permits of vendors to sell tea at Nile Street, the boulevard along the Blue Nile, without offering alternatives in other areas. The harassment of tea sellers in the city continued during the rest of the year.