Salary Crisis, Unemployment Augment Sudan’s Darfur Residents' Suffering
(AWP) - Sudanese teacher Othman Soliman is struggling for months to bring the basic needs for his wife and 10 children as food is becoming scarce in Nyala, the capital city of the state of South Darfur, western Sudan, and his salary, like many other public sector employees, is delayed.
Since the conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April, the authorities have not delivered on their repeated promises to settle the salary disbursement crisis.
“We are employees. We have no other job except this one. All government schools stopped. This war is causing us so much trouble. Markets and all facilities were destroyed. There is no water, electricity or anything. Some people are not suffering, but I, as an employee, have 10 children. We have a real problem with lack of food and water,” said Othman Soliman, a teacher.
Last week, the Sudanese cabinet gave instructions to the finance ministry to release only the April salary to the state employees.
The Central Bank of Sudan has been facing difficulties on network linkage of Sudanese banks and their branches nationwide, hampering the transfer of salaries to government employees, who mostly relocated to safe provinces outside the capital city.
The Darfur crisis is not confined to the public sector employees. It comprises thousands of the province’s residents who work in the free labor sectors. The closure of markets and collective displacement from the cities have caused them the loss of their source of income and hurled them to the brink of famine.
Umm Kalthoum, a resident of Darfur, complained of the young people’s unemployment since the conflict broke out.
“Ever since the war began, we have not had a job. The people are unemployed. They just play cards. There is no work, no food and no drink. We don’t know what to do. We have nothing,” she said.
Professional syndicates and trade unions in Sudan have sent a memo to the International Labour Organization (ILO) in which they accused the Sudanese government of ignoring the international work standards after denying the public sector workers and pensioners their salaries for four months.
Moreover, they added in their memo, the private sector companies have conducted arbitrary dismissal of a large number of workers.