Babanusa town in the western part of South Kordofan has suffered electricity outages for nearly seven days, ever since the outbreak of fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan Revolutionary Front in other parts of the state several weeks ago.

An activist in Babanusa attributed the outage to the insecurity which the town is witnessing as a result of the renewed clashes in the region. He said that traders who were bringing fuel from El Obeid in North Kordofan have ceased doing so owing to the threat of SRF attacks

This could not be confirmed, though it was claimed yesterday by a JEM military official that rebel elements are now threatening roads linking El Obeid and Kosti.

The source in Babanusa also pointed to damages to the generators in the town, as well as accumulation of debts by the state Ministry of Urban Planning.

He claimed that the accumulated debt amounted to approximately 17,000, which caused the electric or fuel company to demand the ministry first clear its debts before entering into another contract.

“The other problem is that, the manager and company are based in Khartoum and there is no frequent follow up. He is now in El Obeid town on the way to Babanusa. Also there is an issue in reporting the monthly income to the company,” the source said.