Salary strikes and vigils in Sudan

In Khartoum, the employees of the Office of the Auditor General announced that they will go on a three-day strike across the entire country, starting next Monday, to demand the implementation of a salary structure.

In a statement, the workers called the August 2019 Constitutional Document regarding the appointment of the Auditor General by the Council of Ministers to be amended. They demand that the appointment be made with the approval of two-thirds of the members of the legislature, and the approval of the Sovereign Council, in order to comply with the Auditor General Office Act of 2015.

Also in the capital, members of civil society organisations carried out a vigil in front of the Council of Ministers in Khartoum to demand that a new Tobacco Control Bill is passed, on Thursday. Sudan signed the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005.

Miners strike

The workers of the Ariab Mining Company in Red Sea state began to strike on Wednesday to protest low salaries.

Journalist Osman Hashim told Radio Dabanga that the salaries of the workers are SDG5,000*, while the salaries of their counterparts in other mining companies operating in the state are on average $700 (SDG38,500).

Workers called for a salary increase in line with inflation, which reached 166.83 per cent in August in Sudan. They warned of the impact of the strike on the revenues of the company.

Last week, the Ministry of Energy and Mining signed seven concession agreements for exploring for gold and associated minerals in Nile River state, North Kordofan, and Red Sea state.

Minister Abdelrahman said more concession agreements will be signed next week, amounting to 20 agreements.

* USD 1 = SDG 55.0000 at the time of publishing this article. As effective foreign exchange rates can vary in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the daily middle US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS). At the parallel market in Khartoum, the greenback is selling for around SDG250 (a record height of SDG260 was reported on September 10).

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