Sudanese authorities on Wednesday announced a rise in the price of bread in the capital Khartoum, nearly a year after the fall of president Omar al-Bashir.

A tripling of the price of bread had been the trigger for street protests against Bashir in December 2018 — demonstrations that went on for months until the army deposed the longtime ruler on April 11 last year.

Wednesday’s change will mean that one Sudanese pound buys only a 50 gram loaf of bread, compared to 70 grams previously, according to Khartoum state governor Ahmed Abdoun.

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In mid-December 2018, the price of bread had been hiked from one pound for a 70 gram loaf to three Sudanese pounds in parts of the country, triggering the social unrest that turned into mass anti-Bashir demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said Wednesday that hundreds of thousands more people had slipped into the severely-hungry category in Zimbabwe, where over half of the population faces hunger.

It said a recent study revealed that the “number of acutely food insecure Zimbabweans had risen to 4.3 million, from 3.8 million at the end of last year”.

In all 7.7 million people, more than half the population were food insecure and needed multi-sectoral humanitarian support according to the UN.

In previous hunger years, mainly the rural population would require food aid, but lately millions of urban dwellers are needing food aid.

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria.