El Geneina — The power outages in El Geneina in West Darfur have entered the third week, trying the patience of residents and traders.

A number of residents and traders complain that the city has been left in total darkness after sundown for the last three weeks, and there is also a severe drinking water shortage.

The authorities have developed a programme for the distribution of electricity, dividing the city into nine districts, which has caused harm to their interests, according to residents.

This leads to the non-operation of water pumps which has caused the cost of a barrel of drinking water to soar.

MP El Tahir Hasan Abboud reported that El Geneina is living in total darkness.

He pointed out that the power outages coincided with the Parliament committees' presentation of on the issue of electricity to El Fula, demanding the extension of the states of Darfur with electricity until El Geneina.

* Based on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan.