Al Bashir: ‘Sudan will overcome all crises in the near future’

Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir has affirmed that Sudan will overcome all the crises in the near future. Speaking to student supporters of his ruling National Congress Party (NCP) during a meeting the Friendship Hall in Khartoum, Al Bashir said that “the country has been targeted and fought by all means, but the resilience and patience of the Sudanese people have defeated all expectations”.

Al Bashir affirmed the expansion of education at all levels as a government priority. He said he appreciated the students’ efforts since the outset of the National Salvation Revolution and described students as “a torch that illuminates the homeland”.

The President said the government  is keen to meet the desires expressed by the students in Sudan, and hailed the role of teachers at all the  levels of the educational process.

Students nominate Al Bashir for 2020 elections

The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reports that the student supporters of the National Congress Party announced, the nomination of Al Bashir as their candidate for 2020 elections.

The Official Responsible for NCP students, Dr Hisham El Tijani, said at the Freedom Hall student gathering that  "the students support Al Bashir's nomination because he has not changed his principles since 1989",  affirming the students’ readiness for th elections.

Crises

In addition to the civil war in Darfur, Sudan is currently suffering from a chronic shortage of foreign currency and hard cash. This has led to widespread strikes by teachers and government employees across the country whose salaries regularly go unpaid for weeks.

There is also an ongoing shortage of fuel that hampers the transport and agricultural sectors. Shortages of fuel also mean that mills and water pumps often stand idle leading to a shortage of drinking water and flour.

This, along with a scarcity of cooking gas impacts on bakeries, which routinely see longs queues of shoppers waiting for bread.

Official exchanges

For the last weeks, the official daily rate for the US Dollar (USD) as quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan has been set at SDG 47.50. This is based on the rate determined by the Market Makers Committee (MMC), established by the Sudanese government last month to determine foreign exchange rates and designed to curb the increasing USD rates against the Sudanese Pound (SDG) in the parallel forex market.

Yesterday, the State Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Dr Mohamed Musalam, pointed to the Ministry’s quest to open other exchanges such as a Gold Exchange and Strategic Commodity Exchange to support the national economy.

‘Failure’

However, opposition economic commentators in Sudan are lamenting the failure of the policies pursued by the government in dealing with the current economic crisis.

Siddig El Sadig, the chairman of the economic committee of the major opposition National Umma Party, described the events in the country as “full-fledged crime”, pointing to the focus on spending on the military, security, and administrative sectors and neglecting of the service sector.