The army controls irrigation projects, meat-processing plants, import-export activities, retail operations and manufacturing units. The police turned every service they deliver – from passports to identity cards to number plates – into a company.
When Bashir was ousted in April 2019, the army moved to consolidate power in various lucrative sectors previously run by the intelligence services.
Sabika, a gold bullion company that supplies the central bank, comes under the control of the National Intelligence Services, says Suliman Baldo of the US-based The Sentry think tank.
So far the transitional government under Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has scored two small but vital victories: first, publishing a partial list of state-owned enterprises.
Second, it got control of the state-owned media, news agencies and printing houses, used for “propaganda, for controlling the thinking of the
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