Sudan’s political and socio-economic insecurity have been significantly exacerbated by COVID, adding pressure to the existing challenges in the country. This report highlights the areas where a reimagining of Sudan’s development strategies may be appropriate.
COVID restrictions, affected imports and food security
COVID intensified economic challenges and food security problems already affecting Sudan. Government policies to control the virus spread, such as border closures and movement restrictions have affected food imports, transportation and agriculture production (Rhodes, 2020). Market closures meant that traders increased prices for staple goods and commodities, with the UN reporting that prices of grains such as sorghum and millet have seen a rate increase of almost triple compared to last year for (United Nations, 2020). Reports show that between June and September 2020 ‘25.5 million people, representing more than half of the population, were suffering from some level of food insecurity - nearly double the rate of last year (2019)’ (Ibid).
Harsh social distancing measures were used to curb the virus spreading, due to the precacity of Sudan’s under-funded healthcare system and many living in urban slums (Rhodes, 2020). Michel Foucalt’s concept of biopolitics (1998) is useful to think through these social distancing restrictions as a form of exercising power. Biopower can be seen as an extension of state power over the physical and political bodies of a population, controlling the functions and processes of natural life. This theory provides a lens for considering the global response to the COVID pandemic, such as enforced lockdowns and quarantines that hindered the economic ability of entire populations. This had heavy economic consequences on the already shaken Sudanese economy.
Prior to COVID, Sudan’s economy was already unstable, with deep fiscal deficits, high inflation, widespread inequality and low public expenditure on basic services. The pandemic has furthered this, restricting exports of oil, labour and livestock. Real GDP was estimated to have shrunk by 8.4% in 2020, compared to 2.5% in 2019 (World Bank, 2020).
Sudan was put on the US’s list of state-sponsors of terrorism in 1993 and was not removed until December 2020. By rights, Sudan should have been removed after 9/11, as the Sudanese began working with the CIA, but was kept on as a means of political control. Being on this list meant that Sudan was blocked from participating in the global economy as the sanctions stopped any transactions using US currency or products, essentially meaning that any business that operated in the US could have no involvement in Sudan and neither could many global institutions such as the IMF.
Some of the sanctions were lifted in 2018 but didn’t have the desired economic impact and prices rose far above wages. This meant many families faced increased food poverty, in a country where food security was already a massive problem. The US keeping Sudan on their terrorist watchlist stopped them from being able to take out loans, and be involved in the global economy. This has caused what Duffield (2014) would describe as a state of ‘underdevelopment’ which has caused the country to be politically and economically destabilised, invoking the displacement and terrorism that followed in the country.
Displaced persons: Darfur and the impact of COVID on humanitarian aid camps
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 9.3 million people in Sudan already required humanitarian assistance in 2020 before the COVID pandemic. This includes over 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Darfur region, as well as 1 million South Sudanese refugees (Kurtzer and Schaaphok 2020).
Sudan has a long history of obstructing humanitarian aid. In Darfur, aid workers have documented the obstruction of aid since at least 2004 under Former President Omar al-Bashir, who used denial of access as a weapon of war by blocking humanitarian aid organizations’ access to rebel-held areas.
Darfur is especially high-risk due to decades of disinvestment and conflict that has left the region with limited access to a weak health infrastructure. The Darfur IDPs camps are a big threat in curbing the virus as there is severe overcrowding and unhygienic conditions with limited access to health facilities and basic resources such as soap and water. There are no quarantine centres within the camps, only one in the city hospital, making the spread of the disease inevitable.
The humanitarian crisis in Sudan, especially Darfur, is intensified by the COVID crisis due to the lack of safety regulations and basic healthcare provisions in IDP camps. These conditions make the initial intention of humanitarian aid work progressively more difficult to achieve.
Underequipped health system
COVID has severely impacted Sudan’s already unstable health system. This instability was already an issue pre-COVID, with only 2.6 medical doctors per 10,000 inhabitants and high levels of out of pocket health costs (WHO, 2017). Economic and social issues pose profound challenges to the struggling health system, and COVID has added to this pressure. This is primarily due to the lack of PPE and a scarcity of healthcare resources. These shortages push Sudan closer to tipping point for political instability and conflict.
Despite official statistics suggesting that the COVID infection and death rates are relatively low (WHO, 2021) researchers claim that these statistics are inaccurate due to the lack of extensive testing capacity throughout the country (Altayb et al., 2020; Elsland and Johns, 2020). The lack of data and the increased pressure on the health system is proving difficult for the Sudanese government to adequately respond to the crisis and is pushing the country to rely on financial donors and aid as a solution.
Conclusion
The above issues that Sudan faces require a rethinking of what development needs to focus on in a post-pandemic context. COVID has demonstrated the issues with historical underdevelopment within Sudan- exposing the existing fragile system, displacement of people and the deficiencies of humanitarian aid. Having highlighted some of the limitations of humanitarian action in light of this crisis, this report proposes that certain areas of development need to include more precautionary measures to avoid intensified crises in the future.
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Pictures:
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