Africa

Ghanaian artist AY Poyoo is a comedian turn musician and a self-proclaimed face of Ghanaian hip-hop scene.

Torrential rains and flooding across South Sudan have created the threat of “catastrophic” levels of hunger and left hundreds of thousands homeless, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday. 

September 29, 2020 (KHARTOUM) -The Sudanese army on Tuesday launched the destruction of 300,000 illegal firearms collected during disarmament campaigns in the country over the past years.

The operation was carried out on Tuesday in Hajar Alasal military base of the Nile State about 200 km north of Khartoum in presence of Lt Gen Ibrahim Jabir Ibrahim, a member of the Sovereign Council, Gen Ibrahim Yassen Defence Minister, Idris Dafa Allah Interior Minister and a number of ambassadors as well as representatives of international and regional organizations.

Ibrahim Jabir said that the army carried out three phases of the disarmament which culminated in the destruction of 300,000 unlicensed arms.

He further said that the fourth phase of the forcible arms collection will be accompanied by very strict measures to prevent the possession of guns or ammunition except by the regular forces.

Thousands of firearms collected over the past three years were destroyed in a controlled explosion by the army to launch the destruction campaign.

In August 2017, the Sudanese government launched a six-month disarmament campaign to eliminate illegal weapons in the conflict-affected areas in Sudan, particularly in Darfur region.

The proliferation of illegal arms ignited intercommunal clashes and displacement of civilians in Darfur.

Jabir called on the international community to provide Sudan with needed technical support, especially that Sudan is a vast country surrounded by many countries, which requires coordination with it, as he said.

For his part, Major General Abdel Hadi Abdallah Osman, the rapporteur of the Higher Committee for Weapon Collection, said that the cost of the first three stages amounted to $40 million, and called on the international community to contribute to the next stage.

(ST)

A new book highlights the "sapeurs" in the twin Congolese capitals of Brazzaville and Kinshasa.

Every year, an estimated $88.6 billion, which is equivalent to 3.7% of Africa’s GDP, leaves the continent in the form of illicit capital, according to UN trade and development agency UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa Report 2020, launched on Monday.

Independent UN human rights experts have called on the Government of Nigeria to immediately release a singer sentenced to death over an allegedly blasphemous song he performed and shared on social media. 

September 28, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan denied any change in the leadership of the government negotiating team the SPLM-North, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu.

In a statement on Monday, the council denied reports that the deputy head of the Sovereign Council and the head of the government negotiating delegation, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, "Hemetti", had been removed from the negotiation team.

"This report is completely inaccurate," stressed the statement.

The statement further said that the media also, claimed that the military component of the Council agreed to separate between the state and religion.

“The Sovereign Council wants to make it clear that this issue has not been at all discussed in the High Peace Council meetings and that the Council is not concerned with it,” further said the statement.

Last August, the SPLM-N al-Hilu withdrew from the peace talks saying the Hemetti who is the general commander of the Rapid Support Forces was not neutral and is not qualified to lead the negotiation delegation.

The rebel group went further to demand his removal from the leadership of the government negotiating delegation before to resume talks with the government delegation.

Regarding the separation of religion and state, the peace talks between the government and the SPLM-N al-Hilu had been suspended for several months because of the latter insistence to include the secular state in the peace talks.

Hamdok and al-Hilu, on 3 September, reached a joint agreement providing to hold informal talks on the separation between the state and religion before the resumption of formal peace talks.

(ST)

Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij is an Open History Book for Readers, Whether He Was Alive or Deceased in the Grace of God

by Mahmoud A. Suleiman

Dear noble reader, this article comes out of the habit, against the backdrop of the saddening news of passing away and paying prayer to the spirit of the late Mr Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij, who answered the call of his Lord Allah, may God Almighty accept his spirit in the gardens of eternity in the Paradise with the prophets, the martyrs and the righteous. Mr Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij has died in the country of Botswana, Southern Africa, departing this mortal world, leaving behind a rich political and societal history about the rule in Sudan in general and the Darfur region in particular. The talk about Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij is considered an open book to read on the most important stations in the political and social history of Sudan. This is because Dreij is considered a witness to the most important political era issues in the history of the Post-independence of Sudan from the Anglo-EgyptianColonialism -aka – Condominium on Sunday, January the First 1956.

The honourable reader is requested to note that my article this time, not, as usual, includes quotes from mourning letters from those who knew the late Dreij and his contemporaries who wrote about him and about his merits as a distinguished politician and statesman. Furthermore, it is more or less in a form of a compilation of articles and condolences written about the statesman Ustaz AHMED IBRAHIM DIRAIG, May Allah have mercy on him and May God bless him and offer a condolence to his family and bless his offsprings. This article, as I said earlier, comes in a sad atmosphere, following the transfer of the late Diraig, Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij to the hereafter with his predecessors from the righteous, martyrs and prophets; thus one has enabled himself to collect quotes from the condolences written by individuals and groups that previously worked with the late Dreij in Various sites during his life of political and social events in the Darfur region and throughout Sudan and in the countries of the world around us and I have compiled those documents and made them as part and parcel of the article.

As for my personal acquaintance with the late Ustaz Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij, the conversation will be prolonged, and the volume of the article will not accommodate that. I am satisfied that I have known him since I was a student at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Khartoum in the 1960s. Furthermore, I have met with him at several occasions related to the Sudanese politics in general and the Darfur region in particular. I met him last time about 6 years ago, that is before he left his London home to Botswana, the country in Southern Africa. At this juncture, one says: “Verily we belong to Allah, and truly to Him shall we return”.

The name Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij/Diraig remained linked to the politicians 'disagreements with former President Jaafar Nimeiri, and his relationship with the Republican Palace since his assumption of the position of Governor of the Darfur region in 1982 CE has been marked by the constant tension that culminated in the confiscation of his property by the May regime and his final exodus from Sudan to his self-imposed exile in London.. We are trying to shed light on his political life and the path of his successes and failures on the path of politics.

Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim did not know that the name of the English inspector “Dreij” in the Garsila region, which he admired so much as a nickname for his son “Ahmed” for his light colour compared to his peers, that this would obliterate his father's name. It also did not know that Ahmed, who was born in the village of Kargula, in the countryside of Zalingei District i.e. the state of West Darfur in 1935 AD, he will have an effective political role in Darfur, and his personality is known worldwide, as well as being associated with Germany.

Ahmed Ibrahim Dreij received his first/primary/elementary education in the Zalingei District in the Central district of the then Darfur Province in the countryside. He then moved to the city of Kuwait in the White Nile State, because there was no middle/ intermediate schools at that time in the Province of Darfur. His professional speciality is in Statistics. Before joining the University of Khartoum, he worked as a teacher for a short period at El Fasher National School.

During his studies at the university, he practised his activities as an independent and did not have a clear political activity at the university, but he was gifted with jogging and high jumping that he has practised so far.

It was not long before him as an independent member until he announced his joining the Umma Party, the wing of the Sadiq al-Mahdi, and he was appointed as a central minister to work in the 1967 government, then he became the leader of the opposition in the Second Constituent Assembly (1968). Observers say that his accession and his tenure buried the Darfur Renaissance Front alive and it is a child similar, which led to The people of Darfur, especially the intellectuals who supported him and appointed him president of the front at the university, are accused of aborting the first collective action of the people of Darfur, where Ali Hassan Taj al-Din joined the Umma Party and Ali al-Hajj remained in the Islamic movement and Muhammad Abdel Manan belonged to the Islamic Charter Front. Diraig was accused of giving up his responsibilities after Nimeiri's coup and fled the country to preoccupy himself with his private work, even though he is a public figure whose historical responsibilities prevent him from leaving the country, especially since May was besieging the supporters and in front of them on the Gezira Aba, in the White Nile District.

He is a member of the Umma Party and the leader of the opposition, which made the supporters and people of Darfur feel bitter from this behaviour, which many described as irresponsible.

After the national reconciliation in 1977 AD between Al-Nimeiri and Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, a political breakthrough occurred, and Al-Nimeiri issued decisions to appoint governors, among them was the Brigadier General “retired” Al-Tayeb Al-Mardi. The decision to appoint him sparked an uprising in Darfur, considering that he was from outside of the Darfur region, given the fact that all the other regions in Sudan enjoyed appointment of Governors from their own sons and during the Darfurian uprising “seven” sons of Darfur were killed during the riots, the fact which prompted Nimeiri to acquiesce. Dreij was appointed as the Governor of Darfur as the first of the sons of Darfur, and Dreij found a rally around him from the people of the region and supported him unanimously, and this was evident in the great and massive reception he received at El Fasher airport. However, accusations were levelled against Dreij that he did not exploit this consensus and influence in uniting the people of Darfur. On the contrary, during his tenure in office, he caused many tribal problems due to his misjudgment of things and his irresponsible statements against some tribes.

Dreij is considered one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Daoud Bolad movement, who defected from the rescue and led a rebellion in the early nineties in Darfur. It is said that Bolad consulted Dreij and found support and support for the idea from its early stages until it reached advanced stages.

In 1995, Dreij travelled to Asmara to join the ranks of the National Democratic Gathering opposed to the Islamist/ Muslim Brotherhood's Islamic Salvation Front Government and participated in the gathering conference in the name of the Federal Alliance, the party that was abroad with a number of opponents (Muhammad Ibrahim Khalil, Sherif Abdullah Harir and others. ”

Dreij participated in armed action against Islamic Salvation Front regime from Eritrean lands, and upon the outbreak of armed action in the west of the country, Dreij refused to integrate his forces and unify leadership and said that he “does not want to conclude his political life with military action.”
Dreij's opponents say that his influence at the time was running out, evidenced by the fact that most of his bases and supporters have preferred to join the two rebel movements in Darfur,

Karzai, Darfur
Dreij's opponents, especially in the two Darfur rebel movements, called him "Karzai Darfur" and expressed their surprise at his sudden appearance and his meeting with the First Vice President of the Republic, Mr Ali Osman Muhammad Taha in Naivasha at the beginning of this year .. They denounced his statements in support of a peaceful solution to the Darfur problem and see that there is a contradiction with what was. It is practised from military action against the government in the east of the country. They also accuse him of receiving American and German support for installing "Karzai over Darfur." The rebels in Darfur consider that Dreij's political role has ended, the time has passed, and that the way of thinking in Darfur has become ahead of the old arguments which he himself adopted.

Shartay and Statistics
Professor Abd al-Rahman Bishara Dosa, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Ahfad, a former Minister of Agriculture in the Dreij government, says that Dreij entered political life out of his interest in social reforms in Sudanese society and this helped his association with the civil administration, especially that he belonged to a family of civil administration, and the mother of Shartay died when he was in High school, so he was chosen to be a buyer for his region, but he apologized under the pretext of continuing his studies and relinquished the position to his uncle.

Professor Dosa describes Dreij as a social activist and has developed his interest in the problems of his community from a social activist to a political one.

Adam Al-Zein, Director of the Federal Governance Studies Center of the University of Khartoum, added that Dreij benefited from his previous work in the Department of Statistics in using statistics to clarify what the relative backwardness of the Darfur region means in comparison to other regions when he was addressing the people of Darfur in the University of Khartoum Union House, which was crowded with the people of Darfur with their various tribes. He was dealing with the figures, the percentages due to Darfur in the fields of health, education and infrastructure services.

UstazAbdullah Adam Khater, a well-known journalist and writer, adds: Dreij is among the new leaders who emerged after the October Revolution 1964 with theses such as William Deng, who focused on the constitutional aspect that calls for federalism, while Philip Abbas Gabboosh called for the cultural specificity of the Nuba Mountains. The regions and their economic development, which invited him to adopt the idea of the Sudanese Democratic Alliance, and Ustaz Khater considers this a success for Dreij as a political intellectual.

Political Feuds
Professor Dosa believes that Dreij is distinguished by a commitment to honourable political ethics and does not like "political fawas" and considers him chaste in hand, in addition to his wise leadership as the leader of the opposition in Parliament, in addition to his struggle to save Darfur from famine in 1983 AD by confronting the Nimeiri government with facts while it tried to cover Situations there.

Engineer Abdullah Masar, Wali of the Nile River, considers Dreij as one of the people who had positions in the Sudanese political movement in addition to being a convinced man and polite in the conversation, and he continues Masar to say that Dreij was very popular in Darfur and entered politics without a family background, as he is a normal citizen.

Dr Al-Zeinsays Dreij suffered from two main problems, namely the emergence of ethno-ethnic politics in the region and what is known as the current of the Arab group and the Zaghawa group and the Islamic movement group led by Ali Hajj Muhammad and the conflict intensified in 1982 AD between these groups in the elections for the position of governor and the Zaghawa group gathered behind its candidate Mahmoud Bashir Jamaa and the Arab group aligned Behind its candidate, the late Ibrahim Omar, and another Arab group stood behind Youssef Suleiman Takana and Dr. Abdul Hamid Al-Tijani is independent and is considered Dr Al-Zein said his troubles increased after his victory.

And Dr.Al-Zein said that among the flaws of Dreij is that he lacks the ability to win the cooperation of the educated elite despite his strong personal connections with them outside of work. Al-Zein said that the man suffers from a problem in dealing with the elite who excels him in education, and this is evidenced by the candidacy of most of his government members in the 1982 elections against him.

Professor Dosa says that the disadvantages of Dreij are that he does not like to read reports and cannot stand sitting in long meetings and does not take notes during them, which makes him vulnerable to forgetting some of the decisions that need follow-up and believes that his failure to return to Sudan is a disgrace.

In addition to being non-violent, it tends to seek solutions through democracy.
Ustaz Khater believes in Direj that he is a friendly, fatherly man who loves the citizen and the simple life and believes that his genius is manifested when he reaches the simplest human being the most complex economic theories and has the ability to promote his ideas through public relations theories.

Dr Al-Zein said that Dreij has unique intelligence and what distinguishes him most is his sympathy with the simple affectionately, in addition to his ability to expressiveness with simple words that everyone understands, especially the uneducated, and believes that he is interesting to talk and can easily attract others.

His downsides
Engineer Masar believes that one of the man's disadvantages is the regional current's predominance over him and his entry into conflicts with Nimeiri and the members of the Socialist Union. He believes that his greatest flaws that affected his weight and his relationship with the people is the installation of Furchildren in most of his government during his tenure as governor in Darfur, which made the sons of some tribes work against him. This was shown in the elections for the governor which most of his cabinet ministers fought against, though Draig won after fierce competition with everyone.
Ustaz Khater believes that his immediate decision to leave Sudan and exile himself to Britain to engage in private business was unsuccessful.

His future
The engineer Masar excludes for a man to have any political role in the coming years. He believes that his age is close to seventy years, in addition to his long absence from the country, in addition to the changes that have occurred that do not work in his favour, and he expects him to play the role of "mentor". Massar believes that Dreij is not in control of his party now, yet he confirms that he is still popular among the Fur and is considered a main political leader for them. He says that Darfur should be respectful to Dreijbecause he is the first to feel the problems of Darfur.

Ustaz Khater says that Draig lived with the mentality of Shartay and kept seeing himself as the first and always willing to pay the cost of leadership. Institutional, however, he reiterated that the name Draig will remain controversial and will be a subject of interest in matters of national construction.

Dr Al-Zein says that he has a role he wants to play in the future of Sudanese politics, as he wants according to Dr Al-Zein is to contribute to solving the problem of Sudan and has proposals that he believes are a process to solve the problem of pastoralists and farmers, which has erupted in the form of war recently in Darfur.

His wealth
The man left Sudan in 1969 after the coup of Nimeiri, who was deposited for a short period of time and contracted to work as an economic advisor in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain in the United Arab Emirates, which enabled him to accumulate an estimated wealth and returned to Sudan to invest it, but after his disagreement with Nimeiri, most of his properties were confiscated.

Some reports indicate that Mr Dreij has many funds and huge investments in various parts of the African continent, with the exception of Sudan. In a company, they founded in Botswana.

Craig D. Lounsbrough the US-born and whose background includes over twenty-nine years' experience as a counsellor in a variety of treatment settings that include psychiatric hospitals, outpatient clinics facilities has been quoted as saying: “Our prayers are something akin to delivering a list, verses surrendering a life. The former will always leave me creating the next list, while the latter will leave me creating a new life.”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/supplication

Dr Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com/

September 28, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has called for more pressure on the Congress to pass a deal removing Sudan from the list of countries supporting terrorism saying it would be a big diplomatic victory for Trump administration.

Two Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez say they would not vote legislation restoring Sudan's sovereign immunities because the deal prevents the victims of 9/11 attacks from suing Sudan which is now accused of supporting al-Qaeda group in this horrible terrorist operation.

Initially, Menendez raised the issue of some African victims of Nairobi and Dar es Salam attacks saying they deserve to receive more money because they are now U.S. citizens. But recently he focused on the 9/11 victims.

"Sudan is pulling away from terror networks and toward the West, and the Trump Administration has to push Congress harder on the issue to ensure success," said the WSJ in its editorial on Monday.

"It would be an important diplomatic achievement in a part of the world where those don't come often," further stressed the editorial.

The daily pointed out that the 9/11 victims already have been compensated by Congress, adding that by pushing for more now they risk damaging the antiterror cause and harming U.S. interests in the region.

Trump administration has been under international pressure to remove Sudan from the terror list. European Union countries and Washington allies in the Middle East including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and UAE and others have backed the delisting.

Also, the visibly electoral logic of the two senators who are from New York and New Jersey, two constituencies affected hard by the 11/9 attacks, pushed American Sudanese to launch a campaign to press the two Democrats senators to endorse the legislation.

However, some of them regretted the silence of the Democrat Party leaders who did not intervene to dissuade the two senators from blocking a deal crucial to relieve the whole Sudan.

Also, the deal has bipartisan support in Congress. Senator Christopher Coons, a Democrat, has drafted the legislation to restore Sudan's sovereign immunities before US courts.

This is the second the WSJ dedicate its editorial to support Sudan's removal from the terror list. On 10 August it also exhorted the U.S. administration to speed un Sudan removal from the terror list.

(ST)

September 28, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Economic Conference Monday approved a recommendation to replace commodity subsidies with direct cash transfers to vulnerable families.

The three-day economic conference concluded its meetings on Monday. It was organized by the government to discuss needed economic reforms to restructure the budget, control inflation and lay down the needed bases for development.

"Commodity subsidies represent a burden on the budget and the trade balance, also, the rural population does not benefit from it, especially subsidies to electricity and cooking gas. (These reasons) require to convert to direct cash support," provide the recommendations of the conference read by an advisor to the prime minister for economic affairs.

The removal of subsidies would directly hit a population suffering for years from the economic crisis and high inflation. However, the measure is needed to curb the ramping inflation and reduce the budget deficit.

Since last year the transitional government vowed to cut subsidies and pledged to keep subsidies on bread and electricity.

But the Forces for Freedom and Change during the conference voiced their opposition to the removal of subsidies for basic commodities and said it is a continuation of the previous regime's approach in dealing with international financial institutions. They called for an economic plan that mobilizes the country's resources and control of all military companies.

The recommendation to remove commodity subsidies was met with strong opposition from the members of the Resistance Committees who were in the conference, as they chanted slogans rejecting the move and held banners reading "I do not agree".

Outside the meeting hall, the youth continued chanting, "No to subsidies removal" and called to hold sittings and protests".

The government said it would establish a safety net, funded by the international community, to support poor families and absorb the increase of prices.
The Sudan Partnership Conference held on 25 June pledged to fund a Family Support Programme (FSP) by the Sudanese government to vulnerable families to face the subsidies lift.

On 27 September European Union countries signed an agreement with the World Bank to allocate $110 million to a multi-donor trust fund administrated and managed by the international institution to fund the FSP.

At the occasion, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden also announced their support, summing up to $78.2 million USD, bringing the total European contribution to $186.6 million.

Also, the UN Secretary-General in a report to the UN Security Council urged the international community to support the Sudanese government to implement reforms.

"It is imperative that international support is delivered as the transitional Government strives to implement its difficult economic reform agenda," said Antonio Guterres.

(ST)

Reverend June Major has undertaken unorthodox protests to get the Anglican church of Southern Africa to investigate her case.

September 28, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese army on Monday said Darfur holdout rebels attacked one of its positions in Jebel Marra area of Central Darfur, but the group denied the accusation.

SLM-AW fighters on guard during a visit by UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari to Fanga Suk village, in East Jebel Marra, West Darfur, on 18 March 2011 (Photo: Reuters)

Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) attacked our forces in Baldong area of Jebel Marra, said a statement by the Military Media Centre in Khartoum.

"Our forces dealt with the assailants and repulsed them," said the statement without further details about the human causalities.

"The armed forces will continue to protect the homeland, complete peace, and confront everyone who targets the security and safety of the country and its citizens," further said the statement.

The statement pointed out that this attack came despite the commitment of the armed forces to a cease-cessation of hostilities and the peace processes that have become a reality in the country.

On October 16 2019, the head of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, declared a ceasefire in the whole country.

Denial of the attack

The SLM-AW Military Spokesman Walid Mohamed Abakar issued a statement dismissing that his group had launched the attack and pointed an accusing finger to the Sudanese army saying they were behind the assault.

"The Khartoum government forces launched a treacherous attack on the sites under our control in the western part of the Jebel Marra. Our forces were able to repel the cowardly aggression, defeated the assailing force and inflicted heavy losses on them," said Abakar

In a recent report to the Security Council covering the period from 1 June to 31 August, the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the SLM-AW attacked the Sudanese army checkpoint in Kutrum, Central Darfur, killing 27 soldiers while they lost 9 elements.

(ST)

September 27, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who is also the head of African Union Bureau would consult the heads of state and government of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt to decide on the next step in the stalled talks on the Ethiopian dam.

Talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) failed to make progress after the unilateral first phase of the filing of its reservoir and demand by Addis Ababa to adopt a new approach to negotiations, putting aside what had been agreed in the past years.

Last August Ethiopia proposed an immediate agreement on the first filling of the mega-dam to be followed negotiations "to finalize a comprehensive agreement in subsequent periods".

However, the Ethiopian proposal triggered a strong Sudanese rejection. Khartoum reiterated that its commitment to what had been agreed and called for a legally binding agreement over the mechanism for resolving future disputes, and how to manage the dam during drought periods.

In a letter to the irrigation and foreign ministers in three countries on 23 September, Naledi Pandor South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation said she would consult the African Union Chairperson on the current pause in negotiations.

"Given the lack of progress in the process, it is perhaps best that the AU Chair President Ramaphosa reverts to the Bureau and the Heads of state of the negotiating parties," Pandor said in her letter seen by Sudan Tribune.

"The African Union Commission will advise as to the date of the next meeting," she further stressed.

The parties had to meet on 14 September but Khartoum declined the meeting as it calls to reshape the process and that the African Union, the European Union and the United States should be more involved in the process than playing the observers.

Sudanese officials say the talks are in a vicious cycle as every party sticks to its position. A mediator can bring the parties to reconcile their positions, they say.
On Friday, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told the UN General Assembly that his country has no intention of harming Sudan and Egypt with a giant hydropower dam on the Blue Nile.

“I want to make it abundantly clear that we have no intention to harm these countries,” he said in a pre-recorded video statement.

"We are steadfast in our commitment to addressing the concerns of downstream countries and reaching a mutually beneficial outcome in the context of the ongoing AU-led process," further stressed Abiy said.

Earlier this month, The United States suspended $130 million in aid because of the unilateral first stage of the filling of the dam last July.

(ST)

September 27, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) and former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi said normalization with Israel a sort of surrender that has nothing to do with peace.

The leader of Sudan's opposition National Umma Party (NUP), Sadiq al-Mahdi (Reuters photo)

"Normalization is a soft name for surrender and has no connection with peace. Now, no Arab country is militarily confronting Israel. The current confrontation is with popular and non-governmental forces," he said.

"As Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer said in their book 'The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy', these forces give extremists a powerful recruitment tool, broaden the pool of potential terrorists and their sympathizers, and contribute to Islamic radicalism. This is what really happens," he further stressed.

Last week, the head of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Minister of Justice Nasr al-Din Abdel Bari discussed for three days in Abu Dhabi normalization with Israel but failed to strike a deal.

The Sudanese delegation requested approximatively $10 billion during the upcoming three years to deal with the economic crisis and debt relief. Also, they said that normalization should intervene once Sudan is removed from the terror list.

Al-Burhan who is more enthusiastic to the normalization than the Prime Minister Hamdok had already met with Israeli Prime Minister in Uganda last February.

Al-Mahdi who is opposed to the move further recalled that the mandate of the transitional government does not enable it to engage in any initiatives that push the country into controversial positions.

The former prime minister stressed that "the current normalization project has nothing to do with peace, but rather a prelude to an upcoming war with Iran, and improve chances of winning the election for the American president and the prime minister of Israel."

The Sudanese street is divided over the normalization with Israel before a peace agreement is signed with the Palestinians.

Sudanese youth who staged six-month protests that led to the collapse of the Islamist regime are generally favourable to the move.

However, the political components of the ruling Forces for Freedom and Change are divided over the normalization.

The DUP of Sadiq al-Mahdi, the Communist party and some small ban-Arab political forces are opposed to the process.

The remaining political forces including the armed groups that will join the government after the signing of 3 October peace agreement are supportive to the rapprochement.

However, Hamdok who seeks consensus among the political forces says Sudanese should hold more dialogue on the issue to ensure a smooth transition in the country towards a democratic rule.

Previously, he said he had no mandate to engage the process but he accepted to engage discussions on the normalization when he dispatched a delegation to discuss the matter with the American officials in Abu Dhabi.

(ST)

September 27, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The European Union and the World Bank Saturday signed a partnership agreement to manage $110 million to fund Sudan Family Support Programme (SFSP) provided by the European countries.

This European support is critical for the Sudanese government to implement tough economic reforms including the end of commodities subsidies which would affect poor families.

"The signed agreement allocates a total amount of EUR 92.9 million (USD 110 million) to the Sudan Transition and Recovery Support (STARS) Multi-Donor Trust Fund administered and managed by the World Bank," said a statement released by the EU office in Khartoum.

The trust fund is the primary financing mechanism for the government-led and implemented Sudan Family Support Program.

At the occasion, the ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden also announced their support, summing up to $78.2 million USD, bringing the total Team Europe contribution to the SFSP to $186.6 million.

The Sweden Ambassador said in a tweet after the signing ceremony that her country signed bilateral support to the programme of almost $25 million, through the World Bank.

The signing ceremony was held at the Prime Minister's Office in the presence of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, the Ministers of Labour and Social Development, Culture and Information, the Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, European Ambassadors and UN officials.

The agreement was signed by Ambassador of the European Union to Sudan, Robert van den Dool and Ousmane Dione, Country Director for Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan of the World Bank.

Hamdok commended the efforts made by the World Bank, the exemplary cooperation with the EU and its member states and the steps in following on the pledges made in the Berlin Conference.

Today's ceremony marks “an important step in enabling the civilian-led Transitional Government to provide the much-needed assistance to the most vulnerable Sudanese as the cabinet accelerates its urgent economic reforms,” he said.

For his part, EU Ambassador Robert van den Dool said that the European Union is making good on its pledge at the Berlin conference in June 2020, to support the transitional government in its efforts to launch economic reforms.

"Together with the contributions announced today by EU member states, we have also shown that this Team Europe Approach allows us to join forces very effectively with our partners to make an even bigger difference for Sudan and its people," den Dool added.

He also, disclosed that the European Union has also helped in triggering the World Bank to consider contributing substantially with resources which will be decided by its Board in the coming days.

The Sudan Family Support Programme is led and implemented by the Sudanese government. The Programme is being implemented by the Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Labour and Social Development, and Interior, along with other relevant agencies, and will be executed by the Digital Economy Agency.

The pilot phase is being launched in October 2020 and the program will be gradually scaled up over the next few months, starting with the states of Khartoum, Red Sea, South Darfur and Kassala.

The second phase will roll out to the other most affected states.

(ST)

September 27, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok renewed calls on the international community to support Sudan to overcome the economic crisis that badly hit his country, stressing on the need to remove his country from the blacklist of terrorism.

In a pre-recorded speech to a remote session of the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, Hamdok said that the transitional period faces huge challenges requiring the continued international support to address it.

The Sudanese premier added that exempting Sudan's foreign debts and obtaining soft loans as well as fulfilling the pledges made during the Sudan Partners Conference in Berlin last June are among the types of support his country is calling for.

"But before all, comes Sudan's removal from the list of states sponsors of terrorism. So that our country could complete its return to the international community after a forced interruption that lasted for three decades," he said.

"In this context, I would like to commend the recent steps taken by the U.S. administration and the U.S. Congress in support of the transitional government, including the determination to accelerate steps to rescind Sudan's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism," he stressed.

Hamdok was alluding to a group of U.S lawmakers including Christopher Coons who drafted legislation to restore Sudan's sovereign immunities before the courts. Also, It was reported the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now supporting the move.

Only remains opposed to this legislation, the Democrat Senator Robert Menendez who previously was very hostile to the regime of Omer al-Bashir.

In a recent letter to Congress, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that the administration would remove Sudan from the blacklist in October.

The rescission of Sudan designation as a terror state will allow the east African nation to negotiate debt relief and obtain financial support for its development programmes as well as zero-interest loans.

In his virtual intervention before the General Assembly, Hamdok said that the transitional government has inherited a “paralyzed economy” and a “weak, devastated service sector”, including a health system that had been neglected for decades.

Sudan has also been hit by recent torrential rain and floods which have caused severe loss of life and property. Tens of thousands of homes have either partially or completely collapsed, he told the General Assembly.

(ST)

When Gambian orphan Muhammed Sanneh arrived in Sicily aged 16, his life took an unexpected turn.

Political developments in Sudan continue to move along a positive trajectory, while planning for a UN mission to assist the transitional government is progressing, the UN Security Council heard on Friday. 

Dina Ekanga is a Congolese 'nail' artist who was inspired by the Nkisi Nkondi sculptures of the Kongo people.

Athletics legend Haile Gebrselassie explains how he was assisted by the ‘Leg of God’.