To stay up to date with African news, subscribe to the “World Africa” newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 a.m., find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of World Africa.
Revise your exams under the halo of a lamppost, sleep at the gas station hoping to be able to refuel when it opens, wake up at dawn to be sure to find bread at the bakery, refuse appointments you at the other end of the city because the price of the bus has doubled… In Sudan, the economic crisis has plagued daily life for over a year.
The stagnation is such that it has helped nurture a feeling of bitterness among the population who hoped for a new start after the fall of the autocrat Omar al-Bashir, overthrown in 2019. It is in this breach, between others, that the soldiers rushed to justify their coup, Monday, October 25.
After dissolving the government supposed to ensure the transition to democracy and arresting ministers and senior civilian officials, General Abdel Fattah al-Bourhane, now alone in command, said that “Political forces do not care[aient] not to solve the problems of the citizens ”. His deputy in the sovereignty council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemetti”, had already made the same kind of speech, blaming the government of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok for the multiple crises.
After the fall of Bashir, the military-civilian tandem which divided the transitional authorities inherited a bankrupt Sudan. And its efforts have failed to stem the economic collapse. The austerity measures put in place to get into the nails set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have enabled the country to start paying off its debt (estimated at more than 50 billion euros) with international donors. But they had a strong impact on low-income households – in other words the majority of the population.
The phased removal of subsidies on flour and fuel and the introduction of a floating exchange rate in February (which corresponded to a brutal 85% devaluation of the Sudanese pound) caused prices to skyrocket. In July, inflation exceeded 400% year on year for commodities. That same month, the Eid al-Adha sheep were sold for four times the price of the previous year, due to increased transport costs. In addition to this waltz of labels, the Sudanese have had to get used to power cuts and chronic shortages of gasoline or medicine.
You have 68.98% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.