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Sudan PM Receives Forces of Freedom and Change’s List of Govt Candidates

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. (Reuters)
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. (Reuters)
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Sudan PM Receives Forces of Freedom and Change’s List of Govt Candidates

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. (Reuters)
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. (Reuters)

Representatives of Sudan’s Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) handed Sunday Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok its list of candidates for the new cabinet.

Meanwhile, differences are still delaying the submission of candidates of the National Umma Party and other parties to the peace process in the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) to the Council of Transition Partners (CTP).

The National Umma Party, which was given the portfolios of foreign affairs, agriculture, oil and religious affairs, has been witnessing sharp internal differences, preventing it from naming its candidates, an informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The source pointed out that another reason for the delay is that a prominent party leader has nominated himself as member in the Transitional Sovereign Council, refusing to withdraw his decision.

The CTP had announced it will form the cabinet on Feb. 4 and complete the transitional sovereign council.

It held on Sunday a meeting to discuss the new government’s agenda based on a draft submitted by the FFC.

Sources revealed that the FFC has re-nominated Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari and Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas to their posts.

Among the most prominent candidates in the new cabinet are the Umma’s Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ibrahim al-Sheikh for the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Hamza Baloul for the Ministry of Culture and Information.

One of the SRF’s alliance members expressed its rejection of the current way the government was being formed, suggesting that early elections be held.

Proceeding with the partisan power-sharing approach in forming the government will affect its performance, leader in the SRF Eltom Hajo told a press conference.

The formation of the cabinet is in line with the Juba Peace Agreement that was signed between the government and several armed groups affiliated with the SRF in October.

Under the agreement, armed movements will be granted 25 percent representation in the cabinet, the defense and interior portfolios will be headed by military figures, 17 seats were allotted to the FFC, and three seats to the Transitional Sovereign Council. The Transitional Legislative Council was granted 75 percent representation.

The new cabinet is therefore expected to include 26 ministries instead of 20, including seven portfolios to the SRF, which is divided into two alliances.

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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
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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.