Water shortage leads to street protests in Sudan’s capital
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May 11, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Shortage of water has hit large parts of
Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, leading to the outbreak of street protests
on Wednesday.
Hundreds of citizens in Buri Abu Hashish area in eastern Khartoum on
Wednesday took to the street in protest against shortage of water, eye
witnesses told Sudan Tribune. The protestors clogged traffic in the
area’s main street and burned car tires as police forces cordoned the
protesters off without attempting to disperse them. Eye witnesses told
Sudan Tribune that the protestors chanted “the people want water” and
some of them canted anti-government slogans.
Some protestors attempted to march towards senior state officials
living in the area but police forces prevented them, eye witnesses
said.
Meanwhile, the director of Khartoum Water authority, Khalid Hassan
Ibrahim, has accused “organized political quarters” of standing behind
the water shortage crisis.
Speaking to the subtly pro-government daily newspaper Al-Ray al-Amm
following Buri protests, Ibrahim added that these quarters blocked
pipes in the water network. “Some sinister hands are exacerbating the
problem to exploit it politically,” he told the paper. “We brought
water to Buri citizens but they refused to take it” he said, adding
that local officials in the area had informed him that most protestors
are not even residents of the area.
Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the opposition Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM), Yasir Arman, demanded in a press release
on Wednesday that the government solves the water problem in Khartoum
state.
Large parts of Sudan’s sprawling capital Khartoum continue to grapple
with shortage of potable water despite the authorities’ much-vaunted
construction of water pipes networks and plants.
A similar protest erupted in February this year when hundreds of
Sudanese citizens staged a protest in one of the main highway streets
in Khartoum, demanding speed restrictions on the road after fatal
accidents grew in number.
The Sudanese government has used force to break up few anti-government
protests since the start of this year as public dissent increased over
worsening economic conditions and austerity measures adopted by the
government to offset the impact of the secession of the oil-producing
region of South Sudan.
(ST)
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