Famine profiteers milk Sudan relief

Press, 13 July 1985, Page 18

Famine profiteers milk Sudan relief

From ‘The Economist,’ London

Much of the food relief arriving in Sudan piles up on the quayside because there is not enough transport to move it immediately to the famine victims. That much is known in the donor countries of the West. What is not generally known is that some owners of what transport there is are charging exorbitant prices. The cost of moving grain, soyamilk, and other relief aid by road from Port Sudan to Darfur and Kordofan in Western Sudan has more than doubled, to $l7O per tonne from $7O, since November, when the international relief effort began. Given that each of the dozen or so privately owned longdistance fleets has between 30 and 60 lorries, and that each lorry can carry up to 60 tonnes per trip, the opportunity for profit is considerable. Lorries are costly and have to be paid for in scarce foreign exchange. The owners say they have to charge a lot to recoup their costs. But the lack of competitors who might charge less has made some of them greedy. They are in a sellers’ market, too. Relief workers cannot play a

waiting game. Sudan’s rainy season begins later this month, and most roads will become impassable. The smaller lorries, the souk trucks, can travel over sand where larger lorries cannot go, but can' carry only seven tonnes. Rail transport in Sudan moves more grain than the lorries do, but not as much as it might. The rolling stock and track need repair, and the railway unions are not particularly co-operative. Their wages were kept down during the Nemery regime, and they are suspicious of his successor, General Swar al-Dahab. The railways also have to serve the cities, as well as the rural areas where the hungry are. General Swar al-Dahab is anxious to see that the cities do not go short and become discontented. Sudan’s best hope of moving more food clearly lies with improving the efficiency of its railways. The United States has contributed $6 million towards bettering the system, and Britain has sent a team of engineers from British Rail. Copyright — The Economist.