SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - West Darfur death toll at 163, situation still unstable

26/1/2021: Radio Dabanga - West Darfur death toll at 163, situation still unstable

 Radio Dabanga report that the number of victims from the massacre in al-Geneina rose to 163 after a severely injured person died and another body was found.

 The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) committee in West Darfur voiced its rejection of ‘‘tribal speech’’ and said that the conflict in al-Geneina is “a political struggle supported by elements of the former regime who have taken advantage of tribal divisions”. The FFC called on humanitarian organisations and relevant government agencies to provide urgent humanitarian aid to all those affected by the conflict.

Brig Gen Ali Yagoub the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander responsible for security in Darfur said the RSF has secured the city, and called on protesters who are preventing access to water resources in the area to cease their activities immediately. Many are displaced and unrest, instability, and protests remain present, add Radio Dabanga.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times – Sudan loses out on wealth from gum arabic harvest

26/1/2021: Financial Times – Sudan loses out on wealth from gum arabic harvest, by David Pilling

 The FT’s feature on Sudan’s gum Arabic industry reports that European producers monopolise the value of one of Sudan’s biggest exports. While Sudan accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s raw exports, 90% of the income from exports of processed gum go to European producers.

“Sudan does not only have an advantage, we almost have a monopoly,” says Amjed Farid, assistant chief of staff to Sudan’s prime minister. “But corruption and mismanagement of the previous regime has prevented us from taking advantage of this great wealth.”

Osama Daoud Abdellatif, chairman of the DAL group, Sudan’s biggest conglomerate, said “this market is dominated by companies who have controlled it for years.” He added that: “Sudan has been exporting raw gum arabic for decades and some French and Irish companies make all the money. They are not going to make it easy for us.”

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times – Sudan pins tourism hopes on archaeological treasures

26/1/2021: Financial Times – Sudan pins tourism hopes on archaeological treasures , by Andres Schipani

The FT’s feature on the “sluggish” state of Sudanese tourism notes that Sudan’s “greatest archaeological treasure” – the pyramids of the royal city of Meroë is “largely unvisited by outsiders” 

However, Hatim Elnour Mohamed, who heads Sudan’s General Authority of Antiquities and Museums, said the “hospitable Sudanese people — still unaccustomed to mass tourism” are a source of optimism despite the lack of tourism infrastructure.

Carla Piazza, director of the Italian Tourism Company (ITC), one of the largest private operators in Sudan, said Sudan is “unready for big numbers, yet it is ready for gradual growth and [Sudan] needs to understand that”.

FT add that tourism visas to enter Sudan and official travel permits to roam outside Khartoum are “still cumbersome to obtain”, and western credit cards are rarely accepted. Still, Sudan desperately needs hard currency, “so the country and its people merit all possible effort to fix this,” adds Piazza.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times – Sudan wants to ‘turn the desert green’ in agricultural modernisation push

26/1/2021: Financial Times – Sudan wants to ‘turn the desert green’ in agricultural modernisation push, by Andres Schipani

 FT’s feature piece explores issues facing Sudan’s “neglected” agriculture industry, whereby “poor infrastructure is holding back development”.

 Although agriculture provides a living for two-thirds of Sudan’s working population, Agriculture Minister Abdelgadir Turkawi said: “we are only using just about one-third of our arable land. It requires a huge investment to put all land into agricultural production.” Turkawi expressed intentions to build a strong basic infrastructure for cultivating land, value added elements for the agricultural production, and reduce fuel, fertilizer and fodder imports while increasing agricultural exports.

Big projects by DAL group, Sudan’s biggest conglomerate and one of the country’s top private agricultural investors, face problems such as Sudan’s ageing export infrastructure, including its ports. DAL chairman Osama Daoud said agriculture should add value processing by manufacturing and be integrated with animal production.  

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times – Sudanese citizens lose patience as economy falters

26/1/2021: Financial Times – Sudanese citizens lose patience as economy falters, by Andres Schipani

 FT’s feature piece on Sudan’s economy identifies key issues contributing to the long bread and fuel queues caused by the government’s scarcity of hard currency to pay for fuel and wheat imports.

Officials say that Sudan’s economic issues are caused by the value of imports surpassing exports by 50% and the economy being “starved of foreign exchange since South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking three-quarters of oil reserves.”

FT add that the hardship is exacerbated by a plunge in the value of the Sudanese pound on the black market to 300 to the US dollar - the currency used for 90% of Sudanese imports and exports.

According to officials, diplomats and economists, while the official exchange rate is 55 Sudanese pounds to the dollar, black-market traders “often loyal to the old regime” are pushing the exchange rate to excess.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times - Sudan faces hard road to democracy as revolutionary euphoria fades

26/1/2021: Financial Times - Sudan faces hard road to democracy as revolutionary euphoria fades, by David Pilling

 David Pilling’s feature piece explores the “[fading] revolutionary euphoria among Sudan’s public”.

Journalist Osman Mirghani blames Prime Minister Hamdok’s “indecisiveness” for the military’s power.

 Human rights lawyer Nabil Adib cites “achievements” including a more liberal atmosphere promoting “freedom of expression,” but blames the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition’s “unneccesary squabbling” for the failure to nominate a parliament.

Protester Muzan Alneel said the government is reverting to “failed [neo-liberal] economic recipes” including the gradual removal of subsidies. However, businessman Mo Ibrahim called for the government to do a better job explaining that fuel subsidies “mostly benefit the small proportion of the population that owns cars and generators.” Hamdok’s chief of staff Amjed Farid said the government plans to introduce a temporary basic income of about $5 per head per month for a substantial portion of the population, “though many worry the safety net will arrive too late,” notes Pilling.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – Sudan government and SPLM-N Agar sign peace framework agreement

26/1/2020: Multiple sources – Sudan government and SPLM-N Agar sign peace framework agreement

• Radio Dabanga

• Sudan Tribune

• Reuters

• AP, by Noha Elhennawy

Sudan’s transitional government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement faction under the leadership of Malik Agar (SPLM-N Agar) have signed a framework peace agreement in Juba.

Both parties expressed their willingness to reach a comprehensive peace agreement for the conflicts in the Two Areas – the Blue Nile and South Kordofan - before mid-February.

The agreement includes political, security arrangements and humanitarian issues, as well as stipulating rights to legislate power, land issues, resources and power sharing.

The SPLM-N Agar rejected the inclusion of secularism as pre-condition to conflict resolution in the negotiations, arguing that the matter is not only related to the Two Areas. However, SPLM-N Agar demands the right to legislate the Two Areas without Islamic legislation.

SPLM-N Agar Deputy Leader Yasir Arman told reporters that Himedti, who signed the agreement on the government’s behalf, is “serious about peace.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudan, South Sudan agree on joint security plan in Abyei

26/1/2020: Sudan Tribune - Sudan, South Sudan agree on joint security plan in Abyei

Sudan Tribune reports that Sudan and South Sudan agreed on how to deal with the security issues in the disputed border  area of Abyei, said the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesman Amer Mohammed al-Hassan.

Over thirty were killed as a result of a revenge attack by Misseriya tribesmen on 22 January. 

Al-Hassan dismissed social media rumours that the South Sudanese army mounted attacks to control Abyei, but said that the defence ministers of the Sudans met in Juba and agreed on a plan to solve the problem. Al-Hassan did not elaborate on the agreement.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Ousted regime plans to sabotage Sudan’s oil facilities

26/1/2020: Sudan Tribune - Ousted regime plans to sabotage Sudan’s oil facilities

Sudan Tribune reports that Hamid Suleiman, the undersecretary for the Sudanese Ministry of Energy and Mining, said that elements of Omar al-Bashir’s regime planned to sabotage oil fields in East Darfur and West Kordofan states, “to damage oil production areas by causing a rift between the local tribe.”

Suleiman added that the transitional government has taken the preventative measures, with a security committee consisted of the Sudan Armed Forces, the Central Reserve Forces, the police and the General Intelligence Service monitoring and inspecting the oil facilities to avoid sabotage attempts.

The committee recently deployed additional forces to the oilfields Suleiman added.