reaking fast at sundown during Ramadan, which started on April 2nd, will not be the usual joyful family occasion for many Sudanese this year. The communal iftar will be blighted by the shortage, and spiralling cost, of wheat and other basics. Some expect this year\u2019s Ramadan to explode into a confrontation between a frustrated, immiserated people and the country\u2019s brutal military regime.<\/p>\n
Few Sudanese can remember a time when their country was in such a bleak state. The currency is in free fall, having plunged by more than a quarter since October. Inflation is officially 260%, but probably even higher. Some 9m people (out of a population of about 44m) face \u201cacute hunger\u201d, says the un\u2019s World Food Programme, and this number could double by September. Khartoum, the capital, is rocked by daily anti-regime protests and the often-violent response of the security forces, who have killed about 90 people over the past five months (see chart).<\/p>\n
Blame this mess on a military coup led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in October, which reversed Sudan\u2019s fragile transition to democracy. This had started three years ago after protesters took to the streets to eject Omar al-Bashir, a ruthless Islamist despot who had ruled the country for 30 years.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n "Few Sudanese can remember a time when their country was in such a bleak state. The currency is in free fall, having plunged by more than a quarter since October. Inflation is officially 260%, but probably even higher. Some 9m people face acute hunger." https:\/\/t.co\/M4r9sCXsCC<\/a><\/p>\n — Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) April 12, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n