OMDURMAN, Sudan, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Sudanese welder Shannan Mohammed has been building furniture for a family in Omdurman little by little as constant blackouts interrupt his work.
Pointing to half-built doors, chairs, and tables in the courtyard of a home, he says, “All this is money that has been frozen because of lack of electricity stopping the work.”
Army-controlled areas of Sudan have been plagued by blackouts that have worsened recently due to a combination of targeting of the power grid by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and meagre government funding to carry out repairs.
The blackouts have impeded the lives of hundreds of thousands who have returned to Khartoum since the army retook it last year and have undermined attempts to rebuild the devastated economy.
“They give you five hours [of power], and then it cuts. It comes back the next day. And it has no benefit for a working person because it comes at night,” Mohammed said.
Even household tasks have become impossible, Mohammed’s sister Awatef told Reuters.
“Every time I do the laundry, I don’t get to finish it because the power cuts off,” she said. “We only eat take-out from the street, so that nothing is left over for us to put in the refrigerator.”
High gas prices put generators out of reach for many. Earlier this month, Sudan’s prime minister exempted solar panels for personal use from customs and fees.
The conflict in Sudan has increasingly turned into a drone war, with both sides targeting key civilian infrastructure in addition to military targets. The war has devastated livelihoods and spread famine in multiple parts of the country.
“The targeting of the electricity sector in particular was very significant,” said a spokesperson for the Khartoum state government, Altayeb Saadeldin, listing looting of copper wires and fuel and other components, as well as drone attacks, as reasons for the outages.
Sudan’s main power source, the Merowe dam, had been among targets hit, he said, adding that the delay of annual rains had also impacted power generation in other dams.
Asked for comment, an RSF source said allegations that the RSF had targeted the power grid were “incorrect and army propaganda”.
(Reporting by El Tayeb Siddig, additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, writing by Nafisa Eltahir; editing by Gareth Jones)
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