Hemedti: Peace Will Certainly Be Achieved in Sudan

Vice-Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Gen. Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Hamdan Dagalo (File photo: Reuters)
Vice-Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Gen. Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Hamdan Dagalo (File photo: Reuters)
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Hemedti: Peace Will Certainly Be Achieved in Sudan

Vice-Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Gen. Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Hamdan Dagalo (File photo: Reuters)
Vice-Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Gen. Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Hamdan Dagalo (File photo: Reuters)

Peace will inevitably be achieved in Sudan through the agreement expected to be signed with the armed movements in the ongoing negotiations in southern Sudan, stressed Vice-Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Gen. Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Hamdan Dagalo.

Hemedti, who is also the head of the government delegation to the negotiation, invited France-based head of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), Abdul Wahid al-Nur, to join the peace negotiations in which all Sudanese parties participate.

He pointed out that his meeting with Abdelaziz al-Hilu, head of Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), broke the barrier of isolation, describing Hilu as a virtuous man.

During an interview with Ashorooq Network, Vice-Chairman indicated that peace is “inevitably coming”, stressing the need for all to unite to achieve the desired stability and peace.

Hemedti discussed a solution for the issue in eastern Sudan, peace with armed movements, and other issues in the region, according to the Network.

Meanwhile, the South Sudan Mediation Committee for Sudanese Peace Talks announced the suspension of negotiations on the eastern Sudan track for three weeks. The government delegation presented the framework agreement on the eastern track for consultation.

In his turn, member of South Sudan's mediation team Dio Matok said that after consulting with the government and the Revolutionary Front, they decided to adjourn the meeting to enable representatives to participate in the East Sudan conference.

For his part, Beja Congress Sec-Gen Osama Said said in a press statement that the framework agreement for negotiations on the eastern track includes economic, political, and, security issues.

The mediation announced major progress made in the current round of negotiations between the government and SPLM-N which adheres to its demands of a secular state and the right to self-determination.

Last week, the government delegation received from the armed movements the framework agreement to negotiate Darfur issues, which contains the general framework of the main issues to be negotiated during the current round.



Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.