Sudan’s neglected north

This woman takes a long donkey ride to the edge of the Nile to fill two cans with water which she then empties into a tank. He does this over and over until the tank is full and then he takes his delivery to the town. This is how people in the village get their drinking water. this is a quiet village of about 3,000 people at the edge of the Nubian Desert in northern Sudan. The heat here is scorching and the people here say they want electricity or anything. Most of the people here live off remittances from family members who go abroad to help their family survive. The village does have a clinic and an elementary school, both built by the villagers without the government help. This community leader believes his village has been marginalized. These people clearly have not benefited from the country’s massive oil wealth. Khartoum maintains the government is helping them. He says Western economic sanctions have affected the government’s ability to help villages like this one. The government in Khartoum says it now gives half of its revenue to other parts of the country. back in the north, many say there have been some positive changes like a new dam and paved roads, but they say it’s not enough. This village leader says even before Darfur rebels took up arms, the government paid more attention to Darfur. The north has been peaceful but some observers say rebellion is a legitimate worry. Sudan’s government has signed separate power sharing deals in recent years. that’s left peep in the north to wonder where their share of the political pie is.