Cooking gas shortage: charcoal, firewood prices skyrocket in Sudan

Owing to the lack of cooking gas and the unprecedented cold wave, the prices of charcoal and firewood are skyrocketing in Sudan. 14 people died of the bracing cold last week.

Owing to the lack of cooking gas and the unprecedented cold wave, the prices of charcoal and firewood are skyrocketing in Sudan. 14 people died of the bracing cold last week.

“The price of a 100 kg sack of charcoal has risen to SDG100 ($14.50), while a single log now costs SDG10,” a listener told Dabanga from Tawila town in North Darfur.

In the national capital of Khartoum, the price of a sack of charcoal has risen again, from SDG170 ($24.50) to SDG270 ($39).

During the past days, three people died of the cold in El Fateh districts, northwest of Omdurman. The districts are populated by displaced from Darfur and South Kordofan.

In the Manawashi and Otash camps for the displaced in South Darfur, eleven people, among them six children, died because of the extremely low temperatures.

About ten days ago, the Sudanese Weather Forecast Authority warned the population for an extreme cold wave, predicting temperatures between 1 and 10 degrees Celsius at night.