Day: November 27, 2022

The Minister of Health in the Blue Nile region Jamal Nasir, warned of an impending health catastrophe owing to the lack of adequate sanitation facilities available in the school buildings being used as shelters by the recently displaced.

Earlier this week, Nasir told Radio Dabanga that the thousands of displaced people using schools as impromptu shelters, “may suffer from an outbreak of diarrhoea and other waterborne illnesses”.

The health minister maintained the region was free of dengue fever.

He called for the displaced to return to their original dwellings, adding that if they were unable to do so, an “appropriate alternative would be to use tents”. The minister appealed to local organisations to provide more tents and shelter materials.

Security situation

Following the arrival of military reinforcements from Khartoum, the health minister explained that the Blue Nile region is more secure, and the regional government is “seeking reconciliation between the various parties”.

Earlier this month, the region’s security committee stated that displaced people living in schools in Ed Damazin “refused to return to their original dwellings in the El Qassem locality of Blue Nile”.

The displaced people stated that they would not return until a military garrison was established in El Gasem, and adequate security measures were introduced.

Blue Nile violence

In Wad El Mahi, near El Roseires in the Blue Nile region, inter-communal violence renewed on October 13. “As fighting continues, at least 1,200 people have been displaced and an unconfirmed 170 people have been killed and 327 have been injured”, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) writes in its latest update.

As a result of the conflict, the wali (governor) of the Blue Nile region issued a decree prohibiting the movement of civilians using trucks within big parts Wad El Mahi locality. “This restriction to freedom of movement prevents people from seeking safety and accessing life-saving services, thereby endangering their right to life,” OCHA states.

According to unconfirmed reports, two people from El Hamaj tribe were killed in a land dispute in Wad El Mahi on October 13, which led to clashes between the Hausa community and other tribes.

The inter-communal violence that erupted in mid-July between *Hausa, El Funj, Berta, El Hamaj, and other ethnic groups in the northern part of Blue Nile state, which left at least 105 people dead and caused thousands to flee to the state’s capital Ed Damazin and safe parts of El Roseires, has flared up before. In September, at least 24 people were killed as the violence resurfaced. At 149 people died before October 6, according to OCHA.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) announced the death of protestor Mohamed Omar Abdellatif, who died in hospital on Thursday, during anti-junta demonstrations on El Arbaeen street (renamed Martyr Abdelazim Street) in Omdurman on Wednesday.

The exact cause of death is still not clear, as a report by the CCSD states that Abdellatif died from a gunshot wound that lacerated his liver and caused severe abdominal bleeding. However, the autopsy report and witnesses stated that the Omdurman protester died from a head injury, as a result of stone fired with a tear gas launcher.

A picture of the stone that was reportedly retrieved during the slain demonstrator’s autopsy is circulating online.

Sudanese activist group United Against Violations (UAV) previously reported that government forces used an Oblin, an improvised projectile weapon that shoots stone and glass.

This brings the total number of people killed during pro-democracy demonstrations in Sudan since government forces successfully launched their coup d’état on October 25 last year, to 120.

On Friday, resistance committees organised a one-day sit-in and barricaded all roads leading to the Umbadda El Sabil neighbourhood in Omdurman, in honour of Abdellatif.

Source: Radio Dabanga

A post on Twitter claimed that Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim directed the removal of subsidies on medicines. on November 19, 2022. The minister who is also the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) quickly denied the fake news, from his official account on Twitter saying “This is an outright lie”.

Why it matters

The press service at the finance ministry told Sudan Tribune that Ibrahim stressed “the need to provide all health services free of charge, and announced an increase in health spending in the 2023 budget. He called to direct financial resources for prevention in order to reduce diseases and epidemiology.

Where did the confusion come from?

Among others, the workshop recommended: “to provide free treatment services, distribute them fairly, and divert support from medical supplies to free treatment, and health insurance.”

In his speech to the workshop, Minister of Health Haitham Ibrahim praised the “free treatment” program, under which the state bears the cost of treating patients (kidneys, heart and tumours) and providing medicine through the National Medical Supply Fund.

Further, an official in the Ministry of Finance, confirmed to Sudan Tribune that the recommendation to transfer support from medical supplies to the free treatment program was requested by the National Fund for Medical Supplies (NFMS).

The same fund requested to end the subsidy for imported medication, a measure that would lead to raising drug prices.

The workshop, also, decided to end support for imported medication prices through a special exchange rate for the dollar. Due to the complicated procedures to get this subsidy, the fund says that the huge debts to international firms make it difficult to purchase medicine.

NFMS officials declined to speak to Sudan Tribune about the recommendations of the workshop. They said that they prefer to wait for the conclusions of a specialized committee formed to deal with the recommendations.

Nonetheless, the joint committee endorsed all the recommendations of the workshop, according to a statement issued by the health ministry on November 22, 2022.

Sudan allocates (9%) of the national budget to the healthcare sector, by supporting life-saving medicines and rehabilitating and building rural hospitals, and health centres. However, the Ministry of Health calls to raise funding to 15% of the budget.

Surrounded by fake news

“The Finance Ministry is facing a major media challenge: the ministry and its minister are targeted with a flood of fake news. This situation led to the formation of an internal committee to address this dilemma and its negative effects,” an official at the ministry told Sudan Tribune under the cover of anonymity.

The official added that Ibrahim’s political background and his difference with the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) contributed to confusion about statements and attempts to distort them.

“Today, the Ministry of Finance suffers from mixing the professional with the politician, the national institution with the person of the minister and his political positions,” he stressed.

He pointed out that the media and users of social media criticized plans and projects prepared by technicians, and professionals, according to scientific insights and foundations, because the one who presents or expresses them is Gibril Ibrahim.

Ibrahim backed the October 25, 2021 coup that toppled the FFC civilian government. Also, he and his allies of the “Democratic Bloc” rejects a draft transitional constitution calling to form a civilian government and call the repeat a partnership with the military in line with the 2019 constitutional declaration.

He, Minnawi and their allies face huge criticism every time they post messages on social media.

On multiple occasions, his group the Justice and Equality Movement has complained that its leader has been a target for criticism based on political stances.

Political analyst Abdallah Rizk said this situation is not limited to the armed groups that supported the coup of General al-Burhan.

“This is a general situation that almost applies to everyone. Here I refer to the coordinated attacks that the FFC have been subjected to by rival political forces, he added.

Source: Sudan Tribune