Blackout in South Darfur capital

A complete blackout hit Nyala, capital of South Darfur, a week ago. Power has not yet been restored, because of overdue payments to the company that provides the electricity.

Doctors reported that emergency and intensive care departments, laboratories, blood banks and pharmacies have been closed in the Nyala Teaching Hospital and the Nyala Specialised Hospital.

The Socialist Doctors Association in South Darfur said in a statement on Sunday that the power outages put the lives of patients at risk since all the generators are broken. The medics hold the federal and state governments responsible for thehealth of their patients.

At a press conference on Sunday, South Darfur Governor Mousa Mahdi attributed the problems to the debts the federal Ministry of Finance has to pay to the Turkish company that supplies electricity to South Darfur.

He stated that the provision of electricity is a competence of the Ministry of Finance and that South Darfur does not have the powers nor the capabilities to solve the electricity problem.

Mahdi said that he forwarded the payment warning sent by the Turkish company to South Darfur to the prime minister and the energy and finance ministers five days before the blackout. The federal government promised to pay the debts weeks ago.

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