Weekly Press Columns Digest
13 October, 2019
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) —The negotiations which wound up on Saturday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum between the Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt on the operation and filling of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have apparently failed, although the Sudanese and Ethiopian sides seemed more diplomatic announcing some progress while the Egyptians declared otherwise, noted Lina Yagoub in a column published by Al-Sudani daily newspaper of Sunday.
She observed that the Sudan is still closer to Ethiopia, considering its benefits from the Dam but, however, tries to solve the Egyptian fears in the technical, political and security spheres.
The columnist quoted Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yassir Abbas as saying the technical committee would continue with its task as the three countries, according to him, are capable of acting together, especially as a number of points of agreement were reached during the latest negotiations.
In contrast, the Egyptian side issued a statement declaring that the talks have reached an impasse as Ethiopia has rejected all proposals of interest to Egypt, Lina reported, adding that in an immediate press conference in the Ethiopian Embassy here, the Ethiopian Minister denied the statement by his Egyptian opposite number on the failure of the talks, adding that the experts of the three countries have presented other proposals, implying that the negotiations have not been concluded.
The Sudan and Ethiopia have rejected a proposal by Egypt for an international mediator as a condition for resumption of the negotiations, said Lina, warning against imminent options of internationalization and war threat.
She said the United States of America has issued an impartial statement calling for reaching agreement, implying that the USA would likely be an acceptable mediator in the dispute as it is on good terms with Egypt and Ethiopia, while its relationship with the Sudan is yet to be decided.
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Columnist Haider Ahmed Khairallah has severely slammed Islamist Abdul Hay Yusuf for criticizing the football women's league, Youth and Sports Minister Wala'a al-Boushy and the transitional government.
Writing in Aljareedah daily newspaper of Monday, the columnist said Yusuf is "maniac" and "a pretentious" Muslim cleric with whom he (Khairallah) has been fighting battles on newspapers over more than a quarter of a century.
The columnist quoted the cleric as saying that it was not strange that the launch of the women's football league was celebrated by foreign embassies headed by the American embassy as the Youth and Sports Minister, according to Yusuf, was brought by the American Programme of Exchange, forgetting that he (Yusuf) was brought up by the Saudi Wahabist movement that tarnished the Islamic image and contradicted the Sudanese ethics.
Khairallah attributed the criticism by Yusuf of the transitional authority to loyalty to his patron, the deposed Omar al-Beshir, who generously paid the cleric for issuing Islamic fatwa to serve the interests of the ousted dictator.
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Columnist Adel al-Baz has devoted his column that was published by Alyoum Altali daily newspaper of Tuesday to the tremendous possibilities of integration between the Sudan and Ethiopia, noting that the amazingly complementary natural resources and the diverse climates widen the opportunities for agricultural and industrial integration.
He remarked for instance that the Sudan has of late intensely started exportation of cotton to the Ethiopian spinning and weaving plants as Ethiopia excels in the textile industry in view of the inexpensive energy that is generated by the numerous dams and therefore Ethiopia is in a good position of competing the Chinese textile exports to the East African markets.
Baz added that the Sudan, with its prolific production of oils, can provide Ethiopia with its needs in this respect as, according to Baz, it imports an annual 18 billion dollars of this commodity, including oils worth 11 billion dollars from Egypt alone.
The Sudanese harbor of Port Sudan which is only 350 km from Addis Ababa, can provide a fast sea transport for Ethiopia, said the columnist, indicating the great possibility of the bilateral integration in view of the prevailing will-power, and noting that what is missing between the two countries is the banking system the existence of which he said would simplify the trade exchange and the flow of the capital required for investment.
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Columnist Raga'a Nimir has described as good news a request by the Sovereignty Council to the Prisons Department for supplying it with the criminal law article 57 that deals with pardons for inmates.
Writing in Altayyar daily newspaper of Wednesday, Raga'a noted that the defunct regime of Ingas applied this article on a limited scale, pardoning a few prisoners only on occasions, leaving many hopefuls disappointed and unwilling for participation in awareness and good conduct programmes.
She said, as a result of the Ingas policies, thousands of good conduct inmates of the crowded prisons remained behind bars, wishing that pardon would be accorded to those prisoners, many of whom, according to the columnist, were imprisoned for fabricated charges, including a prominent Sudanese scientist who served with NASA and is now serving years of imprisonment in Al-Huda prison, along with many other doctors, professors, peasants, artists and preachers.
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The transitional government is an offshoot of the revolution that was staged by the Sudanese people whose duty is to protect this government of qualifications that is designed to discharge specific goals of peace and establishment of a civilian government that secures the political, constitutional, religious and civil rights besides building a state of law and national dignity.
This was stated by Ahmed Yusuf al-Tai in a column published by Alintibaha daily newspaper of Friday in which he said, however, that Dr. Hamdok government is faced with highly complicated economic, security and political challenges that call for exceptional skills, willpower, and considerable experience to operate in the face of enemies who conspire to abort the revolution that threatens the gains they made through fraud, deception and corruption.
Nonetheless, Tai said the present government should not use this conspiracy ploy as a cover-up and a peg for hanging its overt defects and shortcomings.
He remarked that this conspiracy ploy was used by the extinct regime of Ingas to cover up its failures but the revolutionary transitional government must not consider any criticism as part of plotting against it by the existing counter-revolutionary elements and by the "parallel" state, a phrase which Tai prefers to the deep state.
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Columnist Mustafa Nasr has criticized a practice of trade investment by Turkish and other foreign companies, according to the Minister of Finance and Economy in Sennar State, purchasing crops in Sennar stock market in the local currency and exporting those crops for earning several times of their price in dollars.
Nasr said those foreign companies, for instance, buy a metric ton of sesame in Sennar Bourse for 30,000 Sudanese pounds (an equivalent of 422 US dollars, and sell it for 1,650 dollars in the world market, a metric ton of sorghum for 13,000 Sudanese pounds (180 dollars) to sell it for 700 dollars abroad and groundnuts for a Sudanese currency equivalent of 900 dollars while it is 2,175 dollars in the internationals stock market.
This practice should, instead, be carried out by national companies so as to bring in foreign currencies badly needed by the Sudan, said Nasr, adding that foreign companies should invest in production and infrastructure projects for the benefit of the country, bearing in mind the tremendous privileges granted for investors.
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