Khartoum- The leadership of the Rapid Support Forces escalated its positions towards Cairo, and adopted a “commercial” boycott with Egypt, by obstructing Sudanese exports to it, while observers considered that the decision was political and did not have a major economic impact, and would negatively impact a sector of Sudanese producers and farmers in the states of western Sudan.
The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Sudan amounted to $1.4 billion in 2023, compared to $1.5 billion in 2022, a decrease of 6.4%.
Last June, data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in Egypt reported an increase in the value of Egyptian exports to Sudan, recording about $980 million during the year 2023, compared to $954.3 million during the year 2022, an increase of 2.7%.
While the value of Egyptian imports from Sudan amounted to approximately $387 million during 2023, compared to $505.4 million during 2022, a decrease of 23.4%.
In support of the accusations of the Rapid Support Forces Commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti”, against Egypt of bombing his forces with military aircraft, which Cairo strongly denied, Al-Mak Abu Shotal, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces from the Blue Nile region, warned in a video clip, merchants in the areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces against exporting any… goods to Egypt, and threatened them with accountability according to a decision issued by what he called the Advisory Council of the Rapid Support Forces.
Sudan exports agricultural and animal commodities to Egypt, including peanuts, sesame, gum arabic, cotton, camels, cows, sheep, and others, some of which are produced in rapid support areas in Darfur and Kordofan, in addition to sites crossed by trucks and camel convoys heading to Egypt.
On October 8, the General Counsel of the Rapid Support Forces, Al-Nazir Younis Ahmed, issued a decision banning the crossing of goods into areas under army control, including gum, peanuts, edible oil, livestock, sesame, millet, corn, gold, other metals, hibiscus, and ambas ( Animal fodder), and dried okra (weka).
Ahmed warned that anyone who violates this will expose himself to accountability, detention, and confiscation of smuggled goods for the benefit of the Rapid Support Forces.
A decision without effect
Omar Awad, director of the meat sector at the Egyptian Sudanese Company for Development and Multiple Investments, confirmed that the Rapid Support Forces do not control the export areas, noting that a shipment was supplied last Thursday, and new shipments are being supplied.
Awad explained, in a statement on Sunday, that the border crossings are operating normally and receiving exports, and not as is rumored that the export of Sudanese exports to Egypt has been banned.
He pointed out the continued supply of Sudanese meat to the local market, via Nile River barges, as a result of the circumstances witnessed by the State of Sudan.
As for the former Sudanese Minister of Commerce, Al-Fatih Abdullah Yusuf, he downplayed the RSF decision, because Sudanese exports to Egypt, despite their decline, came from not only RSF-controlled sites, but also from other states in eastern, central and northern Sudan, indicating that the volume of exports declined due to the war.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Youssef said that the Rapid Support Forces impose large “royals” on the owners of agricultural goods and crops on the roads where they are spread, especially from Kordofan and Darfur, which doubles their prices and makes them not competitive in foreign markets if they are exported, and therefore most of them are marketed within The country.
The former minister explains that gold and livestock are the largest Sudanese exports after the war, and most of them go to Saudi Arabia, while Egypt imports camels and cows, in addition to oilseeds.
He points out that Sudan imports most food commodities from Egypt because 85% of the country’s industrial sector was destroyed as a result of the war.
Awad: The border crossings are operating normally and receiving exports, and not as is rumored that the export of Sudanese exports to Egypt has been banned.
Confusion in Darfur
Transport and trade movement from the Darfur region to northern Sudan was disrupted on Sunday, after the Rapid Support Forces banned the crossing of some goods into areas under army control.
Meanwhile, armed men from the Rapid Support Forces imposed high financial “fines” on trucks on the road between the city of Al-Dabba in northern Sudan and the states of Darfur, causing disruption of transport movement and confusion in markets in Darfur.
Traders in Al-Daein market, the capital of East Darfur state, to whom Al-Jazeera Net spoke, feared that they would be exposed to losses and stagnation of goods due to the cessation of the marketing of agricultural crops, which are transported to the Al-Dabba area in northern Sudan before being transported to the port of Port Sudan or to Egypt for export or distribution within the country.
For his part, economic expert Haitham Fathi says that Sudan exports agricultural and animal commodities to Egypt, most notably peanuts, gum arabic, camels, sheep, cows, watermelon seeds, and others. These commodities are produced in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces in the states of Darfur and Kordofan.
According to what the economic expert told Al Jazeera Net, since the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir’s regime in April 2019, Egypt has worked to find alternatives. It imports meat from several other African countries, such as Djibouti, Somalia, and Chad, and according to official statistics, Egypt imports larger quantities from these countries. Of those imported from Sudan.
The expert reports that since the outbreak of war in the country in mid-April 2023, major producers of gum arabic have stopped working as the risks surrounding them increase, and the product is smuggled to neighboring countries, which greatly affected Sudanese exports, and revenues ranged between 100-120 million dollars annually. .
Products coming from western Sudan witnessed a significant decline due to deteriorating security conditions on the roads, which led to an increase in the cost of transporting livestock from the states of Darfur and Kordofan, with numbers of them being looted from every truck, which affects the profits of the Sudanese exporter, according to the economist.
