Musings From Abroad

US wants UAE, others to cease support for Sudan’s warring parties

Published

6 months ago

May 1, 2024

The United States wants all countries, including the United Arab Emirates, to stop helping the warring sides in Sudan, the U.S. ambassador to the UN said on Monday, warning that a “crisis of epic proportions is brewing.”

A year ago, there was a war in Sudan between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This caused the biggest refugee crisis in the history of the world. In the past few days, the U.N. has been worried that the RSF might soon attack al-Fashir in Sudan’s North Darfur area.

The US continued to put sanctions on people who are linked to the Sudan issue. In September, the US also put sanctions on two companies, one of which was based in Russia. Washington has always said that the groups are making things less stable in Sudan, even though the war has killed thousands of civilians and forced millions to leave their homes.

In the same way, the UK has punished at least six businesses related to the fight between the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the head of Sudan’s transitional government’s Sovereign Council, and army troops loyal to General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is the deputy leader of the council and is in charge of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Experts, residents, and aid groups say the fight for al-Fashir, which has a long history as a power centre, could go on longer, make race tensions worse in the area that began 20 years ago, and spread to the border between Sudan and Chad.

“As I’ve said before, history is repeating itself in Darfur in the worst possible way,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Monday, adding that al-Fashir was “on the precipice of a large-scale massacre.”

The U.N. says that around 300,000 people were killed in Darfur in the early 2000s when “Janjaweed” militias, from which the RSF grew, helped the army put down a revolt by mostly non-Arab groups. The International Criminal Court wants to bring charges against Sudanese leaders for crimes against humanity and murder.

This month, top U.N. officials told the Security Council that the lives of about 800,000 people in al-Fashir are in “extreme and immediate danger” because violence is getting worse and could “unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur.”

In the huge western part of Darfur, Al-Fashir is the only big city that is not controlled by the RSF. Last year, the RSF and its partners took over four more Darfur state capitals. They were blamed for killing non-Arab groups based on their race and other wrongdoings in West Darfur.

“We do know that both sides are receiving support – both with weapons and other support – to fuel their efforts to continue to destroy Sudan and yes, we have engaged with the parties on that including with our colleagues from the UAE,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

It is said that the conflict has forced more than 3 million people to leave their homes and that thousands have died.

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Musings From Abroad

Saudi Arabia, Egypt strengthen investment ties, call for Gaza truce

Published

2 days ago

October 16, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

During discussions in Cairo on Tuesday, Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, called for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

The meeting also marked the beginning of a strengthen economic and investment cooperation.

According to Egypt’s presidency, the leaders observed the formation of a supreme coordination committee between Riyadh and Cairo to further collaboration, as well as the signing of an agreement to promote and safeguard mutual investments between the two nations.

The visit is taking place amid rumours regarding possible Saudi investments in Egypt, which this year has seen a significant inflow of outside funding, including a $35 billion transaction with the UAE sovereign fund ADQ.

In 2022, the crown prince, also referred to as MbS paid his final official visit to Egypt. Saudi Arabia, which had previously given Sisi’s Egypt financial help, later said it was going to start investing instead of giving allies direct assistance.

According to a statement released by the president on Tuesday, the two leaders discussed efforts to strengthen economic ties between Cairo and Riyadh, with a focus on trade, investment, and economic integration in the transportation, energy, and tourist sectors.

According to the presidency, the leaders also spoke about regional events, specifically the circumstances in Gaza and Lebanon, and “they demanded to start taking steps to reach calm that include a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.”

By Tuesday afternoon, Egypt’s government dollar bonds had gained the most, with longer-dated maturities seeing the biggest gains. By 11:28 GMT, the 2059 maturity gained 1.73 cents, bidding at 77.80 cents on the dollar.

Last month, the prime minister of Egypt declared that Saudi Arabia intended to spend $5 billion in Egypt, separate and apart from the money the Gulf state had already placed in the Egyptian central bank.

Two tourist development locations on Egypt’s Red Sea coast and in the country’s southern Sinai peninsula—both of which are across Saudi Arabia—are potential investment destinations.

In order to address a protracted economic crisis that has resulted in record inflation, a mounting debt load, and significant currency devaluations over the last two years, Egypt has been actively pursuing substantial investments.

Musings From Abroad

Uganda, Turkey announce $3 billion electric train agreement

Published

2 days ago

October 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Uganda announced on Tuesday that it had reached a $3 billion agreement with a Turkish business to construct an electric railway line that would connect the landlocked nation to Kenya, its neighbour.

According to Transport Minister, Katumba Wamala, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) track will connect Malaba on the Kenyan border with Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

“We signed a contract with Yapi Merkezi from Turkey for construction of a 272-kilometre (170-mile) line at euros 2.7 billion,” or $3 billion, Wamala told AFP.

He claimed that work on the line, which is a 1,700-kilometer regional rail project, is scheduled to start in November and that Yapi Merkezi had stated that the project would be finished in four years.

“With the railway network in place, Uganda hopes to overcome the long delays of transporting goods from Mombasa,” Wamala said, referring to Kenya’s Indian Ocean port city which is a major gateway for Ugandan trade.

According to Yapi Merkezi, the agreement includes both the delivery of train cars and the building of the railway. The trains can travel at speeds of up to 120 km/h and can carry 25 million tonnes of cargo annually.

“This should enable us to cut cargo transport costs by half,” Ramathan Ggoobi, permanent secretary at the Ugandan finance ministry, said in a government video shared online.

“I am telling you we are the second most expensive route in the world… now we should be amongst the most competitive.”

The Turkish company and Tanzania reached a separate agreement to build an electric railway connecting the nation’s major hubs, which was followed by the Ugandan accord.

In July of this year, services on the SGR line that links the capital Dodoma with Tanzania’s biggest metropolis Dar es Salaam commenced.

In 2022, Tanzania also came to an agreement worth $2.2 billion with a Chinese company to construct the last segment of the SGR line, which will connect Tanzania’s main port to its neighbours.