Less than four months after the demonstrations began, the ranks of their participants in Sudan’s capital Khartoum alone swelled to several hundred thousand. In the following days, protests spread across the large northeast African country of 43 million people, with participants demanding an end to Bashir’s military-backed presidency and a transition to civilian rule.Īhmed Kodouda is a doctoral student in political science at George Washington University. Their protest was sparked by rising prices and the lifting of subsidies on basic goods, but demonstrators linked these economic hardships to the rule of longtime president Omar al-Bashir and his autocratic Inqaz (Salvation) regime. On 19 December 2018, citizens in the provincial town of Atbara in northern Sudan burned down the local headquarters of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). In Sudan, the renewed strength of the security forces continues to threaten the nascent democratization process ushered in by the popular uprising. But Sudan’s 2018–19 popular uprising, which resulted in al-Bashir’s ousting by his own security forces, suggests that, under pressure, personalistic regimes may quickly evolve in a way that strengthens alternative power centers. Like other autocrats, al-Bashir attempted to prevent coups against his rule by crafting a personalistic regime that weakened important political actors and tied their fates to his own. It must be absolutely discouraged,” he said.This article traces the reign and downfall of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s longtime autocrat. “This unacceptable practice fundamentally undermines and threatens to erode public confidence in SSP as legal tender. The Governor of the Central Bank indicates that several governmental and financial institutions, NGOs and many companies regularly use the US dollar. It now remains to be seen how the state will control the transactions. Its governor, Johnny Damian Ohisa, also asks tourists to pay for their trips – flights, hotels and leisure – in local pounds. The Central Bank of South Sudan, however, believes that the ban on using the US dollar will help counter the volatility of the exchange rate. The use of the South Sudanese pound came as a surprise, however: the local currency, between 20, in fact collapsed against the dollar, with a depreciation of 97,5%, according to Ilyes Zouari, president of the Center d'études and reflection on the French-speaking world. ![]() In South Sudan, the vast majority - 90% - of state revenue comes from oil exports. ![]() But President Salva Kiir had appointed a committee of experts which sent the government several proposed measures, including this one. The South Sudanese pound is however very volatile, hence the preference, for transactions, for the US dollar. South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth says this is "a Central Bank directive" and provides that "all commercial contracts must therefore be signed in our local currency". The use of the US dollar has indeed been banned by the government, which now wants all transactions to be carried out in local currency. But the fact that transactions within South Sudan are mostly done in US dollars was no longer to the liking of local authorities. The United States has regularly helped the country, such as at the end of last year, with a $43,5 million aid to train 500 young leaders. The country of Uncle Sam has drastically reduced its diplomatic presence there, allowing massacres to take place with complete impunity.Īs after every civil war, the economic situation is not very good in South Sudan. ![]() But little by little, Washington retreated, losing interest in the country that the United States itself helped to create. In the 1980s, the United States supported the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and participated in negotiations in 2002 between the SPLA and the Sudanese government. The youngest state in the world, which gained its independence on July 9, 2011, is it cutting ties with the United States? Between the country of Uncle Sam and South Sudan, the story has often been common: the USA indeed worked for the independence of South Sudan, which was able to obtain recognition from the United Nations fairly quickly thanks to Washington. The South Sudanese pound will now be preferred. In South Sudan, used in public and private contracts, the US dollar is now banned.
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