Foreign currency from exports, particularly from the $2 billion gold trade through Dubai, is vital for impoverished Sudan to import fuel, wheat, medicine and food as it grapples with a humanitarian catastrophe. Legal gold exports to Dubai have stopped completely because they rely on air shipments and Sudanese airspace has closed to most flights, a gold importer in the Emirate said. Commercial shipping through Port Sudan, the main maritime hub, has also stopped completely, a port official said, with major shipping companies pausing new bookings. Sudan's Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim said that government, port, and banking officials in Port Sudan were trying to solve the problem. Sudanese residents have say that police have been absent, and both sides have accused the other of participating in looting.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 13, 2023 04:28 UTC