Thousands protest soaring prices in Sudan

Thousands of Sudanese demonstrated in the capital, Khartoum, on Thursday to protest price hikes and poor living conditions, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Protesters gathered near the presidential palace in Khartoum, raising banners condemning difficult economic conditions, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter on the ground.

Last week, the Sudanese government devalued the local currency to reach 610 Sudanese pounds against the dollar. Authorities defended the move as necessary to unify the exchange rate in the country.

“Living conditions are deteriorating every day,” Walid Ahmed, a 51-year-old engineer, told Anadolu Agency.

“Prices in the local market are skyrocketing these days,” he said. “Living conditions have become too bad and the expenses of the very basic needs are no longer bearable for us as ordinary citizens.”

READ: Sudan seizes smuggled weapons

“The government has lifted the subsidy of fuel, electricity, flour and cooking gas,” Ahmed said. “This all affected the markets, amid absence of any kind of monitoring by the authorities.”

Sarah Hussein, 30, blamed the military takeover for the difficult living conditions in Sudan.

“The military coup is responsible for this economic deterioration,” she said.

“There are a lot of sanctions re-imposed on the country, and international donors and aid organisations have withheld billions of dollars that were supposed to be flown into the country before the coup,” Hussein said.

Sudan has been in turmoil since 25 October, 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency, in a move decried by political groups as a “military coup.”

Prior to the military takeover, Sudan was governed by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials tasked with overseeing the transition period until elections in 2023.