PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Before the Sudanese army and paramilitary fighters turned their guns on each other last year, Ahmed used to sell one of Sudan’s main exports: gum arabic, a vital ingredient for global industry.
Now he’s out of business, and his story encapsulates the broader economic collapse of Sudan during 10 months of war.
Since combat between two rival generals began on April 15, Ahmed has been at the fighters’ mercy.
“When the war began, I had a stock of gum arabic in a warehouse south of Khartoum that was intended for export,” Ahmed told AFP, asking to use only his first name for fear of retaliation.
“To get it out I had to pay huge sums to the Rapid Support Forces,” the paramilitaries commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo who are at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
“I had to pay multiple times in areas under their control, before my cargo got to areas controlled by the government,” Ahmed said.
But the government — loyal to the army — “then demanded I pay taxes” on the product, an emulsifying agent used in everything from soft drinks to chewing gum.
When the trucks finally made it to Port Sudan for export on the Red Sea, “authorities again asked for new taxes, and I had to pay storage fees six times more than before the war,” Ahmed said.
His gum arabic — like many other Sudanese products — never made it onto a ship. According to Sudan’s port authorities, international trade fell 23 percent last year.
The finance ministry, which didn’t set a national budget for 2023 or 2024 and has foregone quarterly reports, recently raised the exchange rate for imports and exports from 650 Sudanese pounds to 950.
But that is still far below the currency’s real value.
With most banks out of service, the only exchange rate that matters to ordinary Sudanese is on the black market, where the dollar currently goes for around 1,200 Sudanese pounds.
“It’s a sign of the destruction of the Sudanese economy,” former Sudanese Chamber of Commerce head Al-Sadiq Jalal told AFP.
To make matters worse, a communications blackout since early February has hampered online transactions — which Sudanese relied on to survive.
The war has led industries to cease production. Others were destroyed. Businesses and food stocks have been looted.
The World Bank in September said “widespread destruction of Sudan’s economic foundations has set the country’s development back by several decades.”
The International Monetary Fund has predicted that even after the fighting ends, “years of reconstruction” await the northeast African country.
Sudan suffered under a crippled economy for decades and was already one of the world’s poorest countries before the war.
Under the Islamist-backed regime of strongman Omar Al-Bashir, international sanctions throttled development, corruption was rampant, and South Sudan split in 2011 with most of the country’s oil production.
Bashir’s ouster by the military in 2019 following mass protests led to a fragile transition to civilian rule accompanied by signs of economic renewal and international acceptance.
A 2021 coup by Burhan and Dagalo, before they turned on each other, began a new economic collapse when the World Bank and the United States suspended vital international aid.
More than six million of Sudan’s 48 million people have been internally displaced by the war, and more than half the population needs humanitarian aid to survive, according to the United Nations.
Thousands of people have been killed, including between 10,000 and 15,000 in a single city in the western Darfur region, according to UN experts.
Now the indirect death toll is also rising.
Aid agencies have long warned of impending famine, and the UN’s World Food Programme is “already receiving reports of people dying of starvation,” the agency’s Sudan director Eddie Rowe said in early February.
The Sudanese state “is completely absent from the scene” in all sectors, economist Haitham Fathy told AFP.
Chief among those is agriculture, which could have helped stave off hunger.
Before the war, agriculture generated 35-40 percent of Sudan’s gross domestic product, according to the World Bank, and employed 70-80 percent of the workforce in rural areas, the International Fund for Agricultural Development said.
But the war has left more than 60 percent of the nation’s agricultural land out of commission, according to Sudanese research organization Fikra for Studies and Development.
In the wheat-growing state of Al-Jazira, where RSF fighters took over swathes of farmland south of Khartoum, farmers have been unable to tend their crops. They saw their livelihoods wither away.
From the wheat fields to Ahmed’s gum arabic warehouse, the story is the same.
His savings spent, his stock gone and his future bleak, Ahmed — like much of Sudan’s business class — has closed up shop.
Economy another victim of war in impoverished Sudan
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Economy another victim of war in impoverished Sudan
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- With most banks out of service, the only exchange rate that matters to ordinary Sudanese is on the black market, where the dollar currently goes for around 1,200 Sudanese pounds
Body of Israeli-American hostage among 6 recovered in Gaza
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- He was among the six bodies recovered in Gaza tunnel
- Goldberg-Polin’s parents became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage
JERUSALEM: US President Joe Biden said Saturday that the body of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among six recovered in Gaza by Israeli forces.
“Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas,” Biden said in a statement.
“We have now confirmed that one of the hostages... was an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin,” the president added.
The family issued a statement early Sunday, hours after the Israeli army said it had located bodies in Gaza.
“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” it said. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”
The 23-year-old was among 251 hostages seized during the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militants.
Around 100 hostages remain in captivity, dozens of whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Goldberg-Polin’s parents became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage. They met with President Joe Biden, Pope Francis and others and addressed the United Nations. On Aug. 21, they addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic National Convention, where the crowd chanted: “Bring them home.”
On Thursday, the couple joined other relatives of hostages rallying near the Gaza border.
“Hersh! It's Mom... I love you, stay strong, survive,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin shouted into a microphone.
Her son had hidden in a bomb shelter with other people on October 7 but it was surrounded by gunmen, who attacked it with grenades.
A Hamas video from the day showed him being loaded onto a pick-up truck with part of his left arm, which was blown off in the attack, missing.
He appeared in a proof-of-life video released by Hamas on April 24 in which he said the captives were living “in hell”. His left arm had been amputated below the elbow.
The announcement is certain to put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring home remaining hostages. The Israeli leader has said military pressure is needed to win their release as ceasefire efforts falter.
Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,691 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
Iraq seeks US investment in gas as new projects target energy independence
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- Abdel-Ghani also said Iraq will launch a new gas investment project by the end of the year at the Al-Faihaa oil field in southern Iraq
BAGHDAD: Iraq plans to offer 10 gas exploration blocks to US companies during an upcoming visit by Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani to the United States, he announced on Saturday.
The move is part of Baghdad’s efforts to attract US investment into its energy sector, following previous licensing rounds where Chinese firms secured the majority of available fields.
The 10 gas blocks, left unclaimed following six licensing, rounds, will be presented in a new bidding process, Iraqi state media said, and comes as Iraq seeks to bolster its domestic gas production.
Abdel-Ghani also said Iraq will launch a new gas investment project by the end of the year at the Al-Faihaa oil field in southern Iraq. The project, with a capacity of 125 million standard cubic feet (mscf), is a key component of Iraq’s strategy to enhance its energy infrastructure.
The latest initiative follows recent agreements to develop 13 oil and gas blocks, aimed at increasing Iraq’s crude and gas output to supply power plants, which currently rely heavily on Iranian gas imports.
Israeli army announces death of soldier during West Bank operation
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- The United Nations said on Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began
JENIN, Palestinian Territories: Israel’s army on Saturday announced the first death of a soldier during its ongoing raid in the occupied West Bank that began four days ago.
An army statement said 20-year-old Elkana Navon “fell during operational activity” on Saturday and that another soldier was “severely injured” in the same incident, without providing details.
Since Wednesday at least 22 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army, most of them militants, in simultaneous raids in several cities in the northern West Bank.
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Since Friday, soldiers have concentrated their operations on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp, long a bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began.
Twenty Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during army operations over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
During a visit to Jenin on Saturday, Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi said Israeli forces “have no intention of letting terrorism (in the West Bank) raise its head” to threaten Israel.
“Therefore the initiative is to go from city to city, refugee camp to refugee camp, with excellent intelligence, with very good operational capabilities, with a very strong air intelligence envelope... We will protect the citizens of Israel just like that.”
Of the 22 Palestinians reported dead since Wednesday, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have said at least 14 were members of their armed wings.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas issued a statement saying one of its fighters carried out an “ambush” using “a highly explosive device” in the Jenin refugee camp “which led to the deaths and injuries of members of the advancing (Israeli) force.”
Iran’s president says his country needs more than $100 billion in foreign investment
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- Pezeshkian said Iran needs up to $250 billion to reach its goal but more than half is available from domestic resources
TEHRAN, Iran: Iran’s president said Saturday his country needs some $100 billion in foreign investment to achieve an annual target of 8 percent economic growth up from the current rate of 4 percent.
The remarks by Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected in July, came in his first live televised interview by state TV.
Pezeshkian said Iran needs up to $250 billion to reach its goal but more than half is available from domestic resources. Experts say growth in GDP of 8 percent would reduce double-digit inflation and unemployment rates.
Hundreds of entities and people in Iran — from the central bank and government officials to drone producers and money exchangers — are already under international sanctions, many of them accused of materially supporting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and foreign militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Pezeshkian in his interview complained about the sanctions and said his administration plans to reduce inflation, which is running at more than 40 percent annually, “if we solve our problems with neighbors and the world.” He did not elaborate.
Pezeshkian confirmed that his first visit abroad will be to neighboring Iraq and he would then fly to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Sept. 22-23. He said while he was in New York he would meet with Iranian expatriates to invite them to invest in Iran. Out of more than 8 million Iranian expatriates, some 1.5 million Iranian live in the United States.
Pezeshkian, who is viewed as a reformist, was sworn in last month and parliament approved his cabinet earlier in August, promising a softer tone both inside and outside the country. His predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line protege of Iran’s supreme leader who led the country as it enriched uranium near weapons-grade levels, died in a helicopter crash in May, along with seven other people.
Iran’s economy has struggled since 2018 after then-President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal to constrain Tehran’s nuclear program and imposed more sanctions. Pezeshkian said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal.
Decades after independence, France-Algeria ties still tense
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- Several historians believe that recognizing French colonization as a “crime against humanity” would be more appropriate
- During the historians’ debate, Algeria asked France to return the skulls of resistance fighters and historical and symbolic artifacts from 19th-century Algeria, including items that belonged to Algerian anti-colonial figure Emir Abdelkader
ALGIERS: The fraught relations between France and its former colony Algeria had eased a little in recent years, but a new rift over Paris backing Morocco’s autonomy plan for disputed Western Sahara has sent rapprochement efforts into a tailspin.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is seeking a second term in presidential elections on September 7, was set to travel to France for a state visit, but this has been rescheduled twice and it is now doubtful in will happen at all.
Last month, Algiers withdrew its ambassador to Paris after French President Emmanuel Macron said Morocco’s autonomy plan was the only solution for the territory.
Algeria, which backs the territory’s pro-independence Polisario Front, denounced this as a “step that no other French government had taken before.”
France colonized Algeria in 1830 and the North African country only gained independence in 1962, after a war that authorities say killed more than 1.5 million Algerians.
French historians say half a million civilians and combatants died during the war for independence, 400,000 of them Algerian.
While France has made several attempts over the years to heal the wounds, it refuses to “apologize or repent” for the 132 years of often brutal rule that ended in the devastating eight-year war.
Experts now accuse both countries of exploiting the war for present-day political ends.
“The national narrative about the Algerian war is still dominant and during a campaign like the presidential election, Algerians are sensitive to these issues in their internal policy choices,” Hasni Abidi of the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center told AFP.
Abidi said Tebboune now needed to “readjust his electoral speeches to protect himself from criticism on foreign policy” after the “complete fiasco” of failed attempts to restore relations with Macron.
Last week, Algeria marked its Moudjahid National Day commemorating war combattants with a speech by Tebboune, in which he said France wrongly “believed it could stifle the people’s revolution with iron and fire.”
In 2022, the two countries set up a joint commission of historians in an attempt to mend historical differences and appease tensions.
But, according to Abidi, the commission didn’t work fast enough and “did not succeed in freeing itself from political supervision.”
The expert said France’s latest move backing Morocco’s plan in Western Sahara “will deal another blow to the issue of memory” at the risk of “reopening old wounds and stigma from the colonial past.”
What followed France’s conquest of then Ottoman ruled Algiers was the destruction of its socio-economic structures, mass displacement, and the bloody repression of numerous revolts before the war erupted in 1954.
This chapter in the two countries’ history has been “exploited according to their issues and interests of the moment,” historian Hosni Kitouni told AFP.
During the historians’ debate, Algeria asked France to return the skulls of resistance fighters and historical and symbolic artifacts from 19th-century Algeria, including items that belonged to Algerian anti-colonial figure Emir Abdelkader.
“These items are in museums in France, where, from a legal standpoint, their presence is illegal,” Amira Zatir, an adviser at the Emir Abdelkader Foundation, told AFP.
She said many of these items were stolen when French forces looted the emir’s library during the Battle of Smala in 1843.
Algeria has also demanded the return of original archives from the Ottoman and colonial eras that were transferred to France before and after Algeria’s independence.
Algeria seeks reparations for actions committed by the former occupying power, such as the 17 nuclear tests conducted in its Sahara desert between 1960 and 1966.
Mustapha Boudina, a 92-year-old former war combattant who now heads the National Association of Former Death Row Inmates, said Algeria should require even more reparations.
“We need to put pressure on our enemies of the time so that they repent and apologize” for their “numerous crimes,” he said.
Several historians believe that recognizing French colonization as a “crime against humanity” would be more appropriate.
That was exactly how Macron described it during a visit to Algiers amid his presidential campaign in 2017, sparking an outcry from the French right.