North Darfur pensioners struggle after ‘payouts halted for five months’

The head of the North Darfur Civil Service Pension Union has appealed to the Minister of Welfare and Social Development, to intervene urgently to solve the crisis in the state’s pensions, ‘which have not made any payments for five months’.

The head of the pension union, Youssef Ahmed Badawi, told Radio Dabanga, that several old-age pensioners have been killed, and many wounded, in the crossfire during hostilities between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.

Badawi said that he himself was injured after the fall of Dasa. “A number of pensioners died, and many were injured during the fall of Dasa.”

He says that conditions are harsh for pensioners in North Darfur because they struggle to meet their daily needs. “Pensioners live with war, hunger, disease, death and destruction, and have not received any payouts for five months,” he laments, despite their appeal to the management of the fund, and the head of the Union of Civil Service Pensions North Darfur State.

Badawi called on the state government to intervene urgently. The North Darfur government has been approached for comment.