Photo credit: Al Alrabiya
In the safety of Sudan’s eastern coast, residents preparing for Ramadan were struggling to afford basic holiday staples as the war raging elsewhere in the country has sent prices soaring.
The New Arab reports that the situation was much more dire in areas hit directly by the nearly two-year war. Famine, displacement, severe shortages and looting overshadowed the usual spirit of generality and community of the holy Muslim month that began on Saturday.
At a market in Port Sudan, prices are out of reach for many families.
Sugar goes for 2,400 Sudanese pounds ($1) per kilo, a kilo of veal costs 24,000 pounds, and mutton 28,000, according to consumers.
A resident Mahmoud Abd El Kader said: “We are struggling to afford Ramadan goods.”
Another resident, Hassan Osman, said: “Prices are too high, goods are too expensive, people cannot afford them.”
According to labour unions, the average monthly pay is around $60. However, public workers in some states have not been paid during the war. Those who did have had to grapple with the plummeting value of the local currency. it went down from about 600 pounds to the US dollar to 2,400 pounds on the parallel market. Inflation hit 145 percent in January, according to official figures.
Food was not even available in some parts of the country.
The fighting since April 2023 between the forces of rival generals, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million, has also pushed entire areas of Sudan into hunger and cut off crucial supply routes.
In some places, the conflict is so bad that food supply routes have been cut off for months and starvation has set in. some residents in Darfur have resorted to eating peanut shells and tree leaves to survive.
