Tag: Sudan

Sudan Donor Event Raises $1.8 billion

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The event co-hosted by Germany, Sudan, the European Union, and the UN, gathered 50 states and international actors in Berlin to seek political and financial support for Sudan’s democratic transition and struggling economy, on June 25.  

The event raised $1.8 billion in badly needed funds for projects aimed at propping up the country’s poorest citizens. It is hoped that reducing Sudan’s economic instability will give the transitional government the best possible chance of moving forward with democratic reform after the exit of former leader Omar al-Bashir last year.  

Over $1 billion in funding came from three donors — the European Union ($350 million), United States ($356m) and United Arab Emirates ($300m). Co-host Germany pledged $168m, while France and the United Kingdom offered $112m and $186m, respectively.  

“We are thankful and extremely delighted with the level of participation in today’s partnership conference, it was indeed unprecedented,” the Sudanese PM tweeted after the event on June 25. 

“This partnership lays a solid foundation for us moving forward. We know that there is a lot of work to be done, but with this type of support, we will certainly move ahead,” the Hamdok added.  

 “The participants took stock of the achievements of the Sudanese transition so far, and discussed the challenges ahead,” said the end of conference communiqué.  

“Building on the progress made by the Transitional Government in putting in place political and economic reforms, a strong political consensus emerged to support Sudan and its transition in building peace, democratic governance and inclusive economic recovery as well as in progressing towards debt relief,” the countries present declared.   

Despite Hamdok’s positivity about the Berlin conference, the $1.8 billion raised still falls far short of the $8 billion in aid he called for in August 2019. It also falls short of the $1.9 billion Sudan’s The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning said it needed to support a cash-handout program aimed at alleviating the rising living costs.  

Prior to the conference, Hamdok told donors they needed to show up, stressing “I do not want to paint a rosy picture. Any transition is messy and there are so many challenges.” 

“So Many Challenges” 

Hamdok’s transitional government remains in a precarious power-sharing arrangement with the military and has struggled to restructure the economy after losing oil revenues through South Sudan’s recession in 2011. The Sudanese have taken to the streets multiple times to protest the lifting of fuel and other subsidies, which cost the government an estimated $3billion.  

Sudan’s government debt still stands at $62 billion, and it has struggled to get international financing after defaulting on International Monetary Fund loans and because it remains on the United States’ state sponsors of terrorism blacklist.

The country’s Central Bank is on life support, and with foreign currency reserves depleted, the Sudanese Pound has crashed. As a result of the pound’s devaluation, inflation currently stands at 114.33% and remains highly volatile, which places significant cost of living pressures on the Sudanese people  

The pledging conference not only raised funds, but has brought some progress on debt relief and international financing, which are challenges that have long plagued Sudan. 

Following the conference, Poland announced it is ready to settle $122 million of debt, “with favourable conditions to Sudan,” the Sudan News Agency (SUNA News) reported on June 26.  

A number of participants in Berlin including Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya, threw their weight behind calls for Sudan to be removed from the state sponsors of terrorism list.  

“The conference had political targets and it has put Sudan back on the map and signalled its return to the international community. Many countries asked for Sudan to be removed from the state sponsors of terrorism list which is very important for economic recovery,” Khartoum-based journalist Shawqi Abdelazim told the Inter-Press Service on June 26.  

Meanwhile, the US has indicated that a deal could soon be reached with Sudan regarding compensation for the victims of the terrorist attacks on the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.  

“My team on the ground is working closely with the Sudanese leadership to try to reach a good result, and I hope that this will be achieved in the coming weeks,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Sudanese media on Wednesday. 

The agreement, and growing international pressure, as expressed in Berlin could pave the way for the US to remove Sudan from its terrorism blacklist and open up crucial financing opportunities for Hamdok’s government.  Both will be crucial to providing international and local legitimacy for the civilian branch of the government and ensuring they can make the major economic advancements required to support Sudan’s transition. 

Read also: Sudan, Egypt Push for Diplomatic Solution to GERD Dispute

 

Sudan, Egypt Push for Diplomatic Solution to GERD Dispute

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said his country is fully committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the political impasse of the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Saturday, June 20. 

El-Sisi’s latest comments come a day after he called on the UN Security Council to intervene and help restart talks between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, which started on June 9 and stalled again on Wednesday, June 17. 

The $4 billion hydroelectric dam promises to bring untold development opportunities to Ethiopia but is seen as a major threat to human, food, and primarily water security in neighboring and downstream countries Egypt and Sudan. Dam talks failed in February, and there is a renewed focus on the issue since Addis Abba threatened to go ahead with filling the mega-reservoir in July, regardless of whether an agreement can be reached.

“For us, it is not mandatory to reach an agreement before starting filling the dam, hence, we will commence the filling process in the coming rainy season,” Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew said in an interview with the Associated Press (AP News) on June 19.  

“We are working hard to reach a deal, but still we will go ahead with our schedule whatever the outcome is. If we have to wait for others’ blessing, then the dam may remain idle for years, which we won’t allow to happen,” Gebu added.

For Egypt, which receives almost all its fresh water from the Nile, Ethiopia filling the dam before it secures a legal agreement ensuring minimum flows and dispute resolution is a matter of state survival.  

In his Saturday speech, el-Sisi said that referring the issue to the UN Security Council demonstrated Egypt’s goodwill and desire to “pursue diplomacy until the very last chance to resolve the crisis.” The location for the address — an airforce base — and his recent promise to send troops into Libya if the Sirte-Jufra “red-line” is crossed sends a stronger message. 

“We have set a rule for each of us: There should be neither harm nor malice, and I hope the Ethiopian people and their leadership will understand this message,” el-Sisi said.

 The Egyptian president reiterated that all states’ interests needed to be taken into account, but Ethiopia also needs to respect Egypt’s need for “life.”

“We need to move strongly towards concluding the negotiations and reach an agreement … and solutions that achieve the interest of all,” he said. 

Meanwhile, in a separate Saturday night statement, Sudanese Foreign Minister Asma Mohamed Abdalla said “recent rounds of negotiations on the Renaissance Dam have achieved a tangible progress in technical issues.” 

Abdalla said progress achieved during the latest round of negotiations was encouraging, and as a result, she believes the three countries can arrive at a diplomatic solution without external involvement from the UN, as el-Sisi has suggested. She also thanked South Africa, the United States, and the European Union for their roles as observers during multiple rounds of GERD negotiations. 

The Sudanese minister said that despite Wednesday’s progress, there are still differences “on some fundamental legal issues.” As a result, it “necessitated referring the file to the prime ministers of the three countries with the aim to reaching a political consensus that would lead to the resumption and completion of negotiations as soon as possible.”

Read also: Egypt Seeks EU Support to Break Arab-African Balance in GERD Standoff

Nile Dam Dispute: As Diplomacy Fails, is War ‘Only Option Left?’

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As negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over the latter’s controversial Nile River Dam reached a deadlock, bellicose rhetoric again took center stage and water diplomacy might escalate into direct confrontation.

While this is merely an impending logistical scenario for some, for others the current crisis is an indication that Egypt is losing much of its former diplomatic leverage. They see Egypt helplessly witnessing Ethiopia threatening its water security without being able to successfully intervene.

Beating the Drums of War

Headlines of online media outlets and television channels abound with war lexicon to describe the current stalemate surrounding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). These headlines give the impression that countries of the Nile Basin, Egypt and Ethiopia in particular, are heading towards an inevitable armed confrontation, a matter of when and not if conflict is going to happen.

“Will the War Take Place?” reads a title published by French magazine Courrier International. “Ethiopia Says a Border War with Sudan is Unlikely,” reads a headline on the Arabic-language news website Sudan Tribune.

“Filling the Renaissance Dam is a Declaration of War on Egypt” says another headline, published on Al Hurra.

While some observers downplayed the likelihood of an armed confrontation because going to war is not in the interest of any party involved, others feel such an ominous prediction should not be excluded.

“These are the germs of instability, and it will cause a water war… If not under this government then under another,” said Ahmed Al Mufti, a former Sudanese party to negotiations with Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve contentions over water issues.

Al Mufti told the Guardian that every day he sees “more evidence” that backs his bleak assessment, warning of the danger the dam poses to his fellow countrymen who will see their share of Nile River water decrease over the coming years.

‘All Options on the Table’

While Al Mufti seemed to state an inevitable outcome based on observations on the ground, Egyptian observers were more explicit. Many warned Addis Ababa of retaliation in the event it pursues its plans to start filling the dam during the rainy season in July.

Going ahead with these plans would constitute, according to Aymen Shabana of Cairo University, a “declaration of war on Egypt.”

“In this case, all options are going to be on the table, from peaceful alternatives to more coercive ones,” the Director of the Institute of African Research and Studies told Al Hurra.

Using even stronger war rhetoric, Naguib Sawiris, one of Egypt’s most prominent businessmen, tweeted: “If Ethiopia doesn’t come to reason, we the Egyptian people will be the first to call for war.”

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Ethiopia’s decision to move ahead with building the dam, while Egypt was preoccupied with the 2011 uprising and 2013 ousting of former President Mohamed Morsi, gradually helped it dictate a fait-accompli on Cairo and Khartoum as negotiations failed to gain a breakthrough.

The situation at times seems reminiscent of the iconic scene of Sergio Leone’s masterpiece film “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” where each of the three main characters, with his hand ready to grab his gun, considers which of the other two he should shoot first.

In the beginning of negotiations regarding the dam, Sudan seemed to side with Egypt. Both entered talks with Ethiopia over the effects the dam will have on their respective shares of the Nile water. Khartoum later on appeared to reverse course on the basis that the dam will benefit Sudan, providing much-needed electricity at a cheaper price, as well protection against floods.

Sudan’s refusal in March to endorse an Arab League resolution supporting Egypt in the dispute with Ethiopia sounded alarms for Cairo.

Tension erupted between Khartoum and Addis Ababa after May 29 clashes between Sudanese soldiers and an independent Ethiopian militia in the Sudanese province of al-Qadrif. A Sudanese officer was killed and six other soldiers were injured during the attack.

The Sudanese army described the attack as “hostile and criminal acts,” accusing the Ethiopian military of providing support for the militia. The Sudanese army  also stated that participating in negotiations to achieve an agreement is necessary before deeming war is the only option left.

Power Shift

As many in academia and resource diplomacy believe future conflicts between states will increasingly center on natural resources such as water, the countries which control such resources will yield immense power.

For some, the current Nile water crisis is already signaling a power shift in the region, with Egypt no longer the influential country it used to be.

For decades Egypt claimed a right of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile water based on a treaty signed with Britain in 1929 and a bilateral agreement with Sudan in 1959. In addition to these treaties, Egypt’s military and diplomatic superiority deterred Ethiopia from building the long-planned dam. This occurred despite grievances from Addis Ababa that the Blue Nile originates from Ethiopian Lake Tana, and that such a project is vital to generate economic benefits and ensure access to electricity for most Ethiopians.

Now Ethiopian officials are running the show, while Egypt’s leverage seems to be something of the past. The dam is a huge undertaking through which Ethiopia seeks to project its ambition to become a regional and continental power. The $4.5 billion project is expected to contain 70 billion cubic meters of water.

Despite early war threats from former President Mohamed Morsi and Egyptian politicians and society, Ethiopia pursued the construction of the dam. Addis Ababa responded to war threats coming from Egypt with an equally strong language when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in 2019 his fellow countrymen will take up arms if necessary to protect the dam.

“Some say things about use of force (by Egypt). It should be underlined that no force could stop Ethiopia from building a dam…If there is a need to go to war, we could get millions readied,” he warned.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In addition to Ethiopia’s growing sense of power, some foreign observers claim that Cairo showed weaknesses throughout the crisis. Many Egyptians also seem to share this belief.

“We’ve lost. We were unable to stop them from building the dam; we couldn’t get them to change any part of their plans, especially to reduce its capacity,” said an Egyptian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity as quoted by Orient XXI.

As time goes by the Egyptian position grows even weaker. Today, Cairo seems caught between a rock and a hard place.

While war is a devastating option and might not be the solution, Egypt may find itself at Ethiopia’s mercy when it comes to something as vital as water security.

Cairo also runs the risk of alienating millions of Egyptians who accuse their government of failing to protect their livelihoods as they see their share of water decrease day after day.

 

Read also: Egypt Set to Reopen Airports, Welcome Tourists Starting July 1

COVID-19 Spreads to Darfur Refugee Camps

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The term “Internally Displaced Person” (IDP) is a rather abstract term the United Nations uses to indicate a person who has been made a refugee in their home country. For the 1.6 million people crammed in the permanent camps in Darfur, Sudan, the term is anything but abstract. For almost two decades, the residents of Darfur’s camps for “IDPs” have lived in fear of returning home as they remain powerless in the face of violence.

The relative safety of Darfur’s camps are now facing a new threat as humanitarian and medical workers in the area have warned of an alarming rise in suspected COVID-19 related deaths. Darfur’s camps have only sparse medical facilities in a country that has suffered immensely from two tumultuous decades during which Sudan has broken into two, seen a fragile and inconclusive popular revolution, and is now in no way prepared to face the threat of the coronavirus.

COVID-19 in Darfur

The Sudanese government has reported 7,007 cases of COVID-19 and 447 related deaths, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 15—a vast underestimation of the true scale according to experts, the Associated Press reports. In Darfur’s IDP camps, the elderly are getting infected and dying from COVID-19 symptoms without any treatment or response. People are dying at a disastrous rate as medical workers are unable to treat the infections that are creating another untold tragedy for Darfur’s fragile population.

Dozens of death announcements are posted each day in the camps outside Al Fashir, the capital of North Darfur province. The town has nearly tripled in size since the influx of internal refugees when heavily armed militias burned down villages during  Darfur conflict and forced many to take refuge in UN camps. Now, a new threat has emerged in their midst, leaving no safe place for the victims of Darfur’s brutal conflict.

Vanished people

Mohamed Hassan Adam, director of IDP camp Abu Shuk, told the Associated Press that his camp has seen 64 unexplained deaths in one corner of the camp alone. Adam told the press agency about his neighbors, all in their 60s, who withered away and “vanished” one by one.

“They get exhausted then they die. There is no way to tell what happened,” Adam stated.

Ashraf Issa, spokesman for the local UN peacekeeping mission said “we are in the eye of the storm” about the explosion of COVID-19 infections, as local officials have little resources to treat or even detect cases of the coronavirus. A health ministry official told the AP that Darfur is “like a separate continent” as Darfur’s problems are exponentially worse than the eastern parts of the country.

No revolution

For those in Darfur’s camps, the virus presents a potential death sentence. Most people there have nowhere left to run as continued violence and oppression awaits them if they attempt to return home. For many, the entire concept of home has changed as children have grown up in Al Fashir’s sprawling and crammed camps, with many knowing no other life besides it.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) wants to try Sudan’s former dictator Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide and war crimes for his role in the Darfur conflict. Although the Sudanese transitional government has agreed to hand Al Bashir over to the ICC, few things have changed for the people in Darfur, for whom the revolution has meant very little.

With no outlook for change and the continued threat of violence outside of the UN camps, Darfur’s people face an unprecedented challenge with nowhere to go. “We’re losing a whole generation,” Gamal Abdulkarim Abdullah, director of Zam Zam camp, told the AP.

“The government barely knows we exist,” Mohamed Hassan Adam reiterated. “I fear the worst is yet to come.”

Black Lives Also Matter at Europe’s Borders

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Racists in Europe must have breathed a sigh of relief over the weekend. Thousands rallied across the continent in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and against police brutality, but few even mentioned that the EU is showing a similar disdain and disregard for Black lives at its borders.

In the US, the legacy of slavery is obvious and noticeable on a daily basis, as the victims of American slavery are part of the country’s society. In Europe, the victims of centuries of oppression and slavery are hidden away, kept from even entering the world’s most prosperous region and claiming even a fragment of the results of their ancestors’ labor.

When European empires stretched across the globe, as recently as 70 years ago, colonizers constantly reminded their subjects of their “mother country” in Europe. Now that these countries no longer profit from them, the descendants of the colonized, often separated by only a single generation, are considered unwelcome foreigners, with no right to enter the continent that their ancestors’ suffering helped build.

In a case of incredible projection, Europeans who once invaded countries to extract resources now accuse poor migrants of trying to “profit from and exploit” Europe’s welfare system that their ancestors helped build as much as Europeans did.

Europeans remain shocked and incredulous in the face of US racism but remain blind to their own similar or often even worse treatment of those that do not have the right immigration papers.

Anti-racism protests

European leaders were quick to express their condemnation of the brutal murder of George Floyd and some even highlighted similar forms of racism in Europe. The continent’s continued complicity in the daily deaths and suffering of its own colonial victims did not receive any attention.

Just in the one week since the anti-racism protests spread across the EU, dozens of Black people experienced their own silent and unreported “I can’t breathe” moment as they drowned in the Mediterranean.

Many have commented on the apparent lack of accountability for police violence in the US, but if George Floyd had been a drowning migrant, those who called for the officer to stop could have been prosecuted, as saving a migrant’s life during sea crossings is a crime in several EU countries. All sense of human decency appears to have been abandoned in the concerted effort to ensure Europe’s wealth is never shared with its colonial victims that helped create that wealth.

Countries such as Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy that have extracted untold amounts of wealth from their colonial subjects now accuse the descendants of their victims of exploiting them, with no apparent sense of shame whatsoever. “Let them die because this is a good deterrence,” is how a UN rapporteur described the European strategy.

FRONTEX

In order to avoid a confrontation with Europe’s colonial past, the EU has set up a paramilitary force in control of concentration camps, advanced military hardware, mobilized a $350 million budget, and granted an unspoken license to kill. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency is Europe’s version of a militarized police force, conveniently hidden from citizens’ view and used to commit daily human rights violations.

Black migrants in Europe are not even considered worthy of human rights, if they are not lucky enough to already be in possession of a European passport. Those unfortunate people in dangerously overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean are all structurally denied their human right of asylum (Article 33 of the Geneva Convention on Refugees.)

They are similarly denied the human right to not experience inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) and the right to leave any country (Article 13.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)

By keeping migrants away from European shores, the EU is ensuring it does not have to recognize the rights of those attempting the dangerous journey and instead putting that responsibility on regimes it knows will not uphold them.

Europeans have some of the most powerful passports on earth and can travel virtually unimpeded, but apparently see no moral problem in the fact that others are barred from entering their territory.

Deal with the devil

Increased scrutiny of FRONTEX has not changed Europe’s ways, instead it has changed its methods to avoid responsibility. Europe has made deals with oppressive regimes in Turkey and Libya that exchange large amounts of euros to move the structural and continuing death toll of Black people away from European coasts and towards those of North Africa.

The move has led to Libyan coast guard and European ships forcing migrants back to African shores, Libyan concentration camps full of migrants, and a reemergence of slave auctions in Libya.

But another devil with whom European politicians are making a deal is the anti-immigration voting bloc that they aim to appease. Politicians employ many of the brutal strategies to keep former colonial subjects out because of fear of losing support from Europe’s anti-immigrant voters. Far from a fringe group, they constitute enough political power to make even left-wing politicians approach the topic with caution.

Many on Europe’s right claim the continent is doing enough to help Africa through development aid. But the decreasing development budgets of EU countries stand in stark contrast with the net outflow of over $16.3 trillion of wealth extracted from developing countries to developed ones since 1980.

American law enforcement disgracefully kills an average of 1,000 Black people every year, while the EU’s tally in 2019 was 1,283. Its immigration policies killed 2,299 in 2018. The number of recorded deaths has gone down only because rescue ships are no longer searching for migrants and therefore not recording the death toll.

Since 2014, ships have found at least 19,164 migrants dead in the Mediterranean, all simply human beings trying to exercise their human right to claim asylum in Europe.

While Europeans protests in solidarity with America’s anti-racist movements, perhaps they should take a deep look at their own structural and continuing murder of their former colonial subjects in an effort to keep “them” away from Europe’s shores.

Europe needs to stop wagging its finger at others and perhaps take a deeper look into the structural racism and xenophobia that keeps Europe rich at the cost of Black lives, which, unlike those in the US, are lost far away from cameras and moral outrage.

Daily Nile Dam Negotiations Aim to Resolve Tensions

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For almost a decade Ethiopia has been working on the construction of the largest dam in Africa, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Construction has progressed to the point where Ethiopian authorities are preparing to start filling the dam’s giant reservoir, sparking fears of possible water shortages in Sudan and Egypt.

On Monday, June 8, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that Ethiopia is ready to proceed with a partial filling of the reservoir. “The dam is a project that will pull Ethiopia out of poverty,” Ahmed told lawmakers. “Ethiopia wants to develop together with others, not hurt the interests of other countries.”

However, the opinion was not shared in Egypt, a country that relies heavily on water from the Nile river, downstream from the GERD. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi released a statement on Tuesday, June 9, accusing Ethiopia of “a new tactic of stalling and shirking responsibility” and accused the country of stalling negotiations in order to start filling the reservoir.

Washington deal

“It is a hugely important and sensitive issue,” said Mirette Mabrouk, director of the Middle East Institute’s Egypt Studies program. “It’s a matter of life and death for a lot of people, certainly for more than a million Egyptians.”

The escalation of the war of words between Egyptian and Ethiopian leadership comes after Sudan and Egypt held separate meetings on February 24 where the United States, an observer in the negotiations, presented what is now called “the Washington deal.”

The United States Treasury department released a statement saying the US “believes that the work completed over the last four months has resulted in an agreement that addresses all issues in a balanced and equitable manner, taking into account the interests of the three countries,” urging Ethiopia not to commence the filling of the reservoir “without an agreement.”

Tuesday’s meeting

On Tuesday June 9, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok got Egypt and Ethiopia back to the negotiating table, joined by EU, US, and South African observers. The meeting resulted in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan agreeing to commit to daily meetings in order to ease tensions.

Ministers from the three countries spoke for five hours as Ethiopia claims sovereignty over the Nile water on its territory, while Egypt accuses Ethiopia of violating an agreement signed at the start of construction.

Ethiopia now claims the United States is overstepping its role as a mediating observer by presenting a deal to Ethiopia that was already signed by Egypt, a strategic ally of the US in the region. Sudan appears to accept much of the US proposal, which Ethiopia, in turn, objects to.

Differing opinions

Sudan and Egypt both want a “comprehensive agreement” before Ethiopian authorities start filling the reservoir, as they fear doing so would cause droughts in an already hot and dry year.

Sudan prefers the “Washington deal”, but Ethiopia rejects it because it did not take part in the February negotiations. Ethiopia also disputes the deal’s characterization that negotiations on guidelines and rules for filling the reservoir have been resolved.

For the foreseeable future, Sudanese, Egyptian and Ethiopian negotiators will now hold daily talks, with the exception of Fridays and Sundays, in order to defuse tensions where Ethiopia feels increasingly backed into a corner by powerful foreign actors aligned with Egypt. Sudan and Egypt, meanwhile, fear that the filling of the giant dam’s reservoir could worsen an already poor year for local agriculture and worsen the chance of famine and droughts in the region.

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