Power outage hits Sudan

Sudan’s National Electricity Corporation (NEC) yesterday announced a power cut across the country.

In a statement, NEC said that its engineers and technicians began to “gradually” restart stations and feed the network.

The state-owned organisation did not provide details on the cause of the outage or when electricity is expected to be restored.

READ: Sudan’s Bashir says protesters trying to copy Arab Spring

On 10 January, electricity was cut off across Sudan, due to what authorities said was a “technical failure”. Later in the month, a full electricity shutdown took place across the country without any explanation being given by officials.

Sudan has witnessed a growing demand for electricity amid slow construction of new plants due to the ongoing US sanctions which have lasted two decades before they were lifted in October.

Since 19 December, demonstrations have erupted throughout the country against the deteriorating living situation and calling for ousting the regime. About 25 people have been killed during the demonstrations, according to the Sudanese government, though Amnesty International claimed the number of deaths is around 40.