♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ Khartoum promises fuel supplies 'soon', water outages continue

April 10 – 2018 KHARTOUM / EL FASHER / EL GENEINA Drinking water remains scarce in a number of camps and towns in Sudan because of stalled water pumps and water supply outages resulting from the lack of fuel. The fuel supply is about to be restored, according to Khartoum.

Zamzam camp for displaced people, close to El Fasher city, has seen a severe drinking water crisis, displaced people told Radio Dabanga.

Residents in West Darfur’s Murnei reported that the grain mills in the area have been halted because of the lack of fuel to run the mills. In the Sudanese capital, residents in Umbada and Shargelnil district have complained of an interruption of the water supply for two weeks. In general people complain about a rise in prices of basic necessities.

Khartoum state Minister of Finance, Abdelrahman Dirar, has announced that gasoline and diesel that had arrived in Port Sudan are on their way to Khartoum. In the past month observers told this station that Khartoum is planning to “silently implement another fuel prices increase”. They pointed to the government’s decision to increase the customs rate of the US Dollar from SDG 6.7 to SDG 18 in early January. The prices of basic commodities doubled, and in a number of cases tripled immediately.

Continue reading

♦Darfur: 50k civilians taking refuge in Jebel Marra caves

April 5 – 2018 LIBEI An estimated 50,000 people displaced by recent fighting between government troops and rebels in Darfur’s Jebel Marra, are reportedly taking refuge in mountain caves in the Libei area.

Voluntary work activists estimated the number of those fleeing their villages in the eastern areas of Jebel Marra after the government's attacks at about 50,000. Activists told Radio Dabanga that these civilians have been displaced from the areas of Sawani, Terongafogi, Owru, and Rokona after the government attack and the battles with the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) that started again on Friday, March 30.

Activists said the civilians in the caves are sleeping on stones with no water or food. The association of displaced people and refugees said that the government attacks have led to the burning of 11 villages and displacement of their residents, confirming that the humanitarian organisations and Unamid have not arrived yet to provide help.

More news from Radio Dabanga: