STORY: Sudanese embrace Eid al-Adha with soaring livestock price due to war
SHOOTING TIME: June 15, 2024
DATELINE: June 16, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:36
LOCATION: Khartoum
CATEGORY: SOCIETY/ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the livestock market
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): JIBRIL MOHAMED BASHIR, Livestock seller
3. various of the livestock market
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): HAMID ABDULLAH, Local resident
5. various of the livestock market

STORYLINE:

The Sudanese welcome the Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, without the usual joy of celebration, as the traditional rituals are becoming unaffordable during the civil war.
   
According to Islamic traditions, Muslim families buy cattle, usually a goat or sheep, as a sacrifice in the early morning of Eid al-Adha and distribute the meat to the poor as a charity gift.
   
Sudan, however, is currently faced with a great hike in the prices of livestock due to the national currency depreciation amid the war, making the sacrifice of sheep unaffordable for locals.
   
In a local market near Khartoum, the prices of sheep ranged between 500,000 and 800,000 Sudanese pounds, about 260 to 420 U.S. dollars under the exchange rate of the parallel market.
   
Jibril Mohamed Bashir, a livestock seller, attributed the high prices to the difficulty of transporting livestock from production areas in western and central Sudan to the Sudanese capital.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): JIBRIL MOHAMED BASHIR, Livestock seller
"There are difficulties, including high transportation fees and the fact that the livestock are purchased from the production areas at high cost. Therefore, the prices are high."

Previously, there had been government and popular initiatives that provided sacrifice sheep for the citizens at reasonable prices. However, such initiatives, together with unified markets that sell sheep at affordable prices, have disappeared due to the ongoing war.
   
At a livestock market in Al-Dabbah city in the Northern State, the prices of sheep stand at 400,000 to 600,000 Sudanese pounds.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): HAMID ABDULLAH, Local resident
"The cheapest sheep (this year) costs 500,000 Sudanese pounds. The livestock export is ceased and therefore, the sheep prices should have been much less than that."

Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 15, 2023, which have so far claimed more than 15,550 lives and displaced over 8.8 million people nationwide, according to recent estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Khartoum.
(XHTV)