Transporters block Nyala bridge to protest Darfur fuel crisis

The owners of rickshaws and various transportation vehicles blocked the Mecca Bridge in Nyala, capital of South Darfur on Saturday in protest against the fuel crisis currently gripping the state. The protest blocked the main link between the southern and northern side of Sudan’s second-largest city. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga the protesters complain that the government forces “take advantage of their influence to obtain large quantities if fuel, even cutting into the share set aside for civilian use”. This, the sources point out, “is not in accordance with the fuel ration card solution developed by the Ministry of Finance”. One vehicle owner said that while the official price for a gallon of petrol at the pump is SDG20 ($4.55), the price has soared to SDG60 ($13.67) on the black market. File photo: Transport in Darfur (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related: Sudanese Communist Party criticises lifting of fuel, sugar subsidies (22 July 2013)Fuel prices, transport fares double in Nyala, South Darfur (27 June 2013)’Fuel price rise may impact on commodity prices in Sudan’ (25 June 2013)