(FILES) People protest calling upon the army-backed Sudanese government to extend the deadline to exchange Sudanese pound banknotes after authorities reportedly changed two of the notes in circulation, invalidating the old ones, in the northeastern Red Sea city of Port Sudan on December 31, 2024. Sudan's army-aligned government put into effect this month a contentious banknote switch in areas under its control, leaving citizens queuing for hours at banks, disrupting trade and transport while entrenching division in a country already grappling with war and famine. The swap replaced the old 500 and 1,000 Sudanese pound banknotes (worth around $0.25 and $0.5 respectively) with new ones in seven states under army control. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)