proud sudanese

Why are Sudanese living in Khartoum portrayed in this negative way?

2008-04-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

The title of Gettleman's article really irritated me. His article starts with a picture and this is written below it "As one of the world’s worst atrocities unfolds in Darfur, some 600 miles to the west, young women enjoy the good life at the Ozone Café in Khartoum, including ice cream and outdoor air-conditioning".
A couple of young girls are having a nice time at the Ozone cafe...so? Did you even ask them how they feel about Darfur?
Last time I checked, many Sudanese people wanted Darfur to stop and wanted the displaced people to go home. My neighbours back home rented their house to an organization aiming at helping Darfurians in Khartoum etc..
I really don't think people in Khartoum should stay home and be depressed. Speaking of depression, I really think we spent most of the 1990's being depressed.
I'm glad people in different parts of this world are concerned about Darfur (although I find it funny how many people always say we were silent when Rwanda happened ,let's stop Darfur..feeling guilty are we now?)

The Democracy of Hypocrisy is killing me!

2008-04-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

Why the sanctions are not cool

First of all, increasing the sanctions on Sudan are not going to make the Sudanese government "surrender" and stop killing innocent civilians. In the 1990's, when Sudan didn't export any oil, they still managed to fund the holy war on the "kuffar". There are many generous donors who supported our government for many years. Currently, things are different. We export oil. Our economy grows about 10% every year making it one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. Sudan is a popular investment destination. New hotels are being built every day( The manager of Rotana hotel said that another one is being built).
The development ,economic improvement and investments are benefiting the people more than the government because they are creating new employment opportunities( we desperately needed that!)
Isn't it a good thing?

Three years ago, we only had a couple of small boring channels and of course the disappointing Sudan tv. Now there are at least 3 new channels promoting investment in Sudan and creating a very attractive image of the " New Sudan" or at least this is what they call it.

Not to mention the availability of all kinds of goods in supermarkets, cafes and even international brands such as Espirit.

Some thoughts..

2008-04-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

Sadly, we should be the breadbasket of Africa and a regional powerhouse! bas war and a cruel dictatorship crippled the country.

I don't know if I should agree with you or not. I know that development is centered in a few areas, however, I think that the South needs time before we start talking about the level of development there. There are good development schemes, I've been told so at least , but it needs alot of money and man power to do so.
I think that now Sudan needs its citiens more than ever. We need to invest and develop the underdeveloped parts of Sudan.
I've lost hope in out government. Sudan might be a failed state but we are not a failed people!

Assassination Politics Should not be Entertained, let alone practiced in South Sudan

2008-04-16T04:18:00.001-07:00

"When a war breaks out in a county, it is not the earth that gets destroyed but people's morals." In the South Sudan's war against the North, they did.

In 1984, Benjamin Bol Akok, a South Sudanese veteran politician was invited by SPLM leadership for a briefing in Ethiopia. After he was bidden farewell by a number of colleagues at Adis airport, he was disembarked and later presented to his colleagues in a box as a coffin. He was murdered by Ethiopian security personnel on the behest of SPLM leadership. Why? No convincing answer was provided. Many concluded that it was a political assasination of a potential leader.

Later, many SPLM politicians were arrested on trumped up charges and many of them were murdered in cold blood. These included Martin Majeer Gai, Joseph Malaath, and pilot Thomas Krow Tong. In 1993, veteran Southern politician Jopseph Oduoh was captured after attending a SIM political conference in Kongor then executed. His killers are well known. Ever since life became cheap.

And as if that was not enough, the phenomenon of "sudden death" appeared and took many more lives amongst our political figures in early 2000s. People became increasingly suspecious of possible use of poison as a new tool for political assassination. This practice was completely alien to South Sudanese communities, but known to be prevalent in some neigbourly East African countries.

Now, how far would you expect our morals to sink. All that because of our lust for power and feeling of extreme insecurity once in power. And a manner akin to King David of old, many of our leaders commit the sin and then murder to cover it up. Assassination is a virus once it infects, it spread like a wild fire and. Once started, it is hard to be stopped. And nowhere is the practice of assassination devastating like that of tribal and sectarian communities like ours and those of Lebanan, Iraq, and Somalia.

At War

2008-04-15T04:58:00.001-07:00

Dear government of Sudan and SPLM,

If you are planning to start another bloody civil war, evacuate a few villages and kill each other there.
There is no need to kill innocent civilians, focus on the real "enemy".

I hate our President

2008-04-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. President.

I really can't tolerate your government any longer. It's a criminal regime in every single way.
For the last 19 years, you've tortured, killed, looted, traumatized and you've failed to stabilize the country.

Two decades ago, Sudanese marched in every single city and they've succeeded in overthrowing the Nimeri dictatorial regime.

We are going to do it again.

All you care about nowadays is peace talks to solve the Darfur conflict. you know something, you are our biggest problem.

You can't solve the Darfur problem. You don't belong in the presidential palace, you should be in Kobar ( a jail in Khartoum North).

If we want to solve the Darfur problem, we need a comprehensive peace agreement. We need justice, we need equality, we need peace-makers, we need democracy.

We need another president.

We don't trust you Mr. President. You've failed us too many times. You've dishonored too many "peace" agreements.

I don't feel safe in my own country anymore.

Millions are living like refugees in their own country.

If we complain, you prosecute us.

We've been silent for 19 years.

Now, it is time to speak. It's time for you and the world to hear our voices.

We need a revolution.

We need to fix our crippled civil society and fight back.

But we are not going to be like you, we are going to protest peacefully.

We don't like your violent ways. Remember what you did in Nuba mountains, remember the Jihad in the South, remember Darfur, remember the ghost houses in Khartoum, remember the soldiers buried alive in 1990- no, they were not planning a coup, remember the mothers complaining about their 15 year old sons being forced to fight a war they don't believe in.

A war we never understood.

You've had your cake, you've licked the plate and you've broke the plate...now keep your shattered plate, we are buying a new one.

Wow not Again!

2008-04-09T03:31:00.000-07:00

Last month, i was surprized here the government has increased the VAT 3%. Which affect on the prices in Sudan.
The main food of the Sudanese col is the bread which increased 60% !! without any increment in salaries.
Now it's difficult to buy bread and difficult to have 3 meals per the day. The government doesn't supervise on the prices and doesn't care about cols needs. It just care about its members and its self. As result of this increment millions of people will suffer to have a meal per the day; because every thing here is sold for money and nobody has enough money to get his primary needs.
The medical services need money, Your squalors need money to clean, every thing ...
So I found my self asking the youths to migrate from Sudan again.
By the way, yesterday I read advertising about jobs requesting needs experience for 24 years in accounting, and the less experience needs 4 years. Could you believe?

Rural poverty in the Sudan

2008-04-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

Poverty in the Sudan is deeply entrenched and is largely rural. In 2002 some 20 million people were living below the poverty line of less than US$1 a day. About 19 million people — 85 per cent of the rural population — are estimated to be living in extreme poverty. Most of them struggle to feed themselves and their families and have little or no access to safe drinking water and health services. The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index ranks Sudan 61st among the 77 least developed nations in the world.

The incidence of poverty varies considerably according to region. In part because economic growth has been unevenly distributed, but also because of the economic and social devastation caused by the conflict in certain parts of the country. Severe inequalities in terms of access to education, sanitation and clean water, to infrastructure and natural resources, income opportunities, justice and political protection exist between regions. For example, health services in southern Sudan only reach about 25 per cent of the population. People living in areas that have been or continue to be affected by drought and conflict – particularly the south and Darfur - are the most vulnerable to poverty.

A rapidly growing population is putting significant pressure on already fragile ecosystems, a situation which has been exacerbated by the displacement of peoples, either by drought or conflict. More than two million have been displaced by the Darfur conflict alone. In addition, erosion, loss of soil fertility and damage to watersheds are affecting resources. Agricultural productivity is decreasing as a result of a lack of technological breakthroughs in rainfed agriculture, and food security and livelihoods are threatened as a result. Malnutrition, tuberculosis and malaria have become rampant. The World Health Organization estimates that 22 per cent of children in the South and Darfur are suffering from acute malnutrition, and the incidence of diarrhoea in children may be as high as 45 per cent in southern Sudan.

Who and where are the Sudan’s rural poor people?

In general, small-scale farmers and herders in the traditional rainfed farming and livestock sectors are more prone to poverty than those in irrigated areas. Those without land are dependent on cash earnings from casual labour, such as collecting firewood and making charcoal. Many depend on humanitarian aid. In 2006 about 2.5 million people in Darfur, and nearly 3 million in the south, east and transitional areas required food assistance.

Isolation is one of the key factors affecting poverty. Settlements located away from main thoroughfares have little or no access to social services and markets. Within rural communities, households without assets and labour power are the poorest – consisting of elderly or disabled people, or households headed by women with young dependants. Women and girls are the most disadvantaged members — less than one third of them have access to education.

Why are the Sudan’s rural people poor?

Inadequate development strategies, slow adaptation to climatic volatility, and erosion of natural resources are the root causes of poverty. These causes have also fuelled the prolonged civil conflicts that have had a devastating effect on the rural population.

Poverty levels in the country are closely linked to the strengths and weaknesses of agricultural productivity. In the 1970s the Sudan, along with many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, began to introduce large-scale mechanized farms and to expand the irrigation sector in a bid to increase crop production, especially cash crops. The new farming systems and land allocation policies displaced subsistence farmers and nomads from their land, and dismantled traditional systems of communal ownership and management that had previously discouraged local conflict. They proved inappropriate for ecologically fragile areas that are much better suited to traditional agricultural methods characterized by livestock herding and the mobility of farmers.

Smallholder farmers are hindered by the limited size of their land holdings, low rates of productivity and an inability to improve their incomes. Because of the lack of rainfall and domestic water supplies, for most farmers the growing season is brief and crop failures are frequent. Pests and disease are problems they are ill-equipped to combat. Existing systems for research and agricultural support are unable to produce and disseminate new technical packages capable of overcoming these problems.

Because they have limited access to credit, distribution and marketing channels, and because of their inadequate technical knowledge and poor skills in production and marketing, farmers find it difficult to break out of the cycle of low productivity and income. Seasonal migration in pursuit of wage labour opportunities on mechanized and irrigated farms and in urban areas has become widespread.

Conflict leads to greater poverty

More than two decades of civil unrest in the Sudan have cost the lives of about 1.5 million people and had a devastating effect on the well-being of the population. Protracted civil conflict in the Sudan generally has its origin in socio-economic inequities caused by neglect of the agricultural sector, misguided land reforms, unfair distribution of resources for development between urban and rural areas and for irrigated and traditional farming, and exclusion of local communities from decision-making. These policies have led to the development of an economy based mainly on export and lease of natural resources, to competition over access to scarce land and water, and to inadequate nation-building.

After decades of internal conflict the Sudan signed a peace agreement in January 2005 and the new Government of National Unity and Government of Southern Sudan have now launched a six-year recovery, peace-building and development plan. International donors have pledged to contribute to the massive costs entailed in reconstructing the country.