Defying security crackdowns, Sudanese people have continued to rally in the country's cities in protest against the military coup carried out on October 25, 2021 by General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan. More recently, a new type of resistance has emerged in the rural Northern state: since early January, protesters have prevented lorries from transporting goods to neighbouring Egypt.
It all began on January 9, when hundreds of peasants in Ed Debba blocked the highway leading to the Egyptian border to protest against hikes in the cost of electricity, which recently rose from 9 to 22 Sudanese pounds per kilowatt/hour. According to the Ministry of Energy, this increase in prices stems from a series of austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help relieve the country's debt burden, estimated to be more than 50 billion dollars (or 43 billion euro).
