Cargo ship carrying sugar leaves Port Sudan without unloading

The Future, a cargo ship carrying sugar, left Port Sudan without unloading its 50,000-ton cargo due to new financial measures approved by the Central Bank of Sudan.

According to sources, the new measures stipulated that wages of loading and unloading as well as other Sea Ports Authority workers wouldn’t be paid in cash, as their wages would be deposited into bank accounts.

A number of Sea Ports workers organized a statement granting the Bank of Sudan a week to comply, however, it seems the Workers Association isn’t willing to wait a week and refused to work on the (Future), which docked four days ago and is now leaving the berth.

The crisis plaguing the Sea Ports Authority has noticeably escalated, as the demonstrations expanded in Port Sudan and the northern coastal road linking (Port Sudan – Oseif) today, Thursday, in response to administrative measures and an attempt by the de facto Finance Minister, Gibril Ibrahim, to empower (20) of his leaders from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) by granting them leadership positions in the Sea Ports Authority. The demonstrators chanted slogans calling for the expulsion of the Armed Movements from eastern Sudan.