Long queues for ‘pricey’ passports across Sudan

Passport and civil registry offices across Sudan continue to witness large crowds of people seeking to obtain passports. The increased cost of minimum SDG150,000 for adults and SDG75,000 for children has been widely criticised.

Large crowds gathered in front of the passport offices in Dongola, Wad Madani, El Gedaref, Kassala and other Sudanese cities, seeking to renew their passports. The fees for issuing a passport for adults in Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, rose to SDG700,000 and for children to SDG89,000.

In Kassala, the fees for obtaining a passport have risen to SDG175,350 for adults and more than SDG100,000 for children.

The El Gezira police stated that passports will be delivered within 72 hours of applicants completing the procedures, with 500 applications being received daily.

El Gezira Police Director Maj Gen Sufyan Abdelwahab explained that “the department will work in two shifts each day from morning until eight in the evening”.

‘Blackmail’

Many see the cost increases as an attempt by authorities to cover military expenses.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, economic analyst Kamal Karar suggests the large increase in passport issuance fees was an attempt to “blackmail people and exploit their need for passports in order to escape the hell of war, in search of a better life”.

Karar stressed that the increase cannot be justified, arguing the government has “begun to act like parasitic brokers and merchants”.