Sudan: Dealing with Covid and Sanctions

Business Daily

BBC

Business

4.4 • 816 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2020

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Efforts to get healthcare and support materials into Sudan to assist their battle against Coroniavirus are being impeded by sanctions on the country. Although many sanctions have been lifted, Sudan is still listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States, meaning many companies are barred from dealing with the country. Dr Husain Abuakar, head of the emergency department at Omdurman Teaching Hospital in Khartoum, tells us how they've had to make do without vital medical equipment, and his concerns about a second wave. Meanwhile, Dr Sara Abdelgalil of the Sudanese Doctors Union explains how difficult it is for her and other diaspora Sudanese healthcare workers to support their colleagues in Sudan, financially as well as in terms of information-sharing. And Madeleine Crowther from the UK-based charity Waging Peace explains how Sudan ended up on the state sponsor of terrorism list to begin with and why it might soon be off it.

Producer: Frey Lindsay.

(Picture: A man wearing a face mask in Khartoum. Picture credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Tamerson Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:06.7	Coming up, in Sudan, doctors are begging the American government to lift sanctions
0:11.7	and remove it from the US state's sponsors of terrorism list.
0:16.2	I think this is the time that for the international community to lift our sanctions,
0:20.7	at least Sudan will be more stable for the region that for the international community to lift our sanctions, to at this Sudan,
0:21.7	will be more stable for the region and for the world. We take a look at how being labeled as a
0:27.1	terrorism country is impeding coronavirus efforts in Sudan. I personally, honestly, feel this is
0:33.9	human rights violation because at the end of the day, you have denied some people
0:38.0	their right to save their lives and the doctors and the nurses to get the right information to treat
0:44.2	people. That's all in Business Daily from the BBC.
0:50.7	We have inherited a very serious 30 years of bad legacy, collapsing economy on all fronts, poverty, tax issues, institutions, almost collapsing banking sector and all that. But this year provided us an opportunity.
1:08.2	That's Sudan's Prime Minister, Abdullah Hamdock, telling the BBC he's confident he can fix
1:14.2	the country's dwindling economy.
1:16.8	Reforming the banking sector, certainly reforming the tax, addressing all the imbalances.
1:22.4	We are moving in this respect in the right direction.
1:25.9	We know things are yet for our people to improve,
1:30.0	yet our people to reap the benefit of this great revolution.
1:34.2	But I confidently believe we are moving in the right direction.
1:37.9	Sudan has been in decline since the 90s.
1:40.9	The US put the country on a list of state sponsors of terrorism in 1993, after attacks in Kenya and Tanzania killed hundreds of people, including 12 Americans.
1:52.8	It accused Sudan of harboring the Al-Qaeda militants responsible and giving a safe haven to Osama bin Laden.
2:00.4	The list means Sudan can't operate in the global financial world like a normal country.
	...

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