By The Sudanese police on Sunday 7, January, is said to have had a hard time calming the nationals’ protesting which was stimulated by the extreme prices the bread has gotten to – reports explain.
According to the sources, the prices of bread in Sudan have just in a week been more than doubled. Bread prices’ going high, is due to the prices of flour that also more than doubled.
Nationals explain that the prices of flour increased after the government stopped importing grains into the country, leaving all the authority to the private bakeries that do the flour manufacturing, hence inflating the prices.
The cost of flour is reported to have surged to 450 Sudanese pounds ($25) for a 50-kilo (110-pound) sack from 167 Sudanese pounds.
‘No, no to high bread prices!’ chanted the residents of Khartoum, Darfur and Blue Nile, where the protests were at the peak.
Witnesses explained that the anti-riot police fired tear-gas at the protesters who had angrily blocked the roads and set tires on fire in the middle of the roads.
‘The price of bread is high because many bakeries closed due to the shortage of flour,’ one resident informed the journalists.
Following the situation in Sudan, the newspapers that had reported about the risen prices of bread and the causes, their print runs were also confiscated by the government officials.
‘No reason was given for confiscating copies of our newspapers, but I think it was due to our transparent coverage of the food price rise,’ said Hanadi Al-Sidiq, editor of Akhbar Al-Watan, which saw its entire run seized along with Al-Tayar, Al-Mustagilla, Al-Karar, Al-Midan and Al-Assayha newspapers.
Sources further report that the protest was motivated by the opposition parties that called upon the Sudan nationals to get to the roads and protest against the government’s act of stopping to import grains, which led to the inflation.
However, two senior leaders of the opposition Sudanese Congress Party were also detained by NISS agents, during the protest.
Reporter: Shamilah Namuddu