♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦  ‘Sudan govt.’s admission of failure first of its kind’: Economist

October 25 – 2017 KHARTOUM Economic expert Dr Sidgi Kabello has expressed his surprise at the First Vice-President and Prime-Minister, Bakri Hassan Saleh’s recognition of the failure of government policies in dealing with the economic situation.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Dr Kabello stressed the close link between the economic crisis, the failure of the state's public policies, and the difficulty of dealing with the situation under the current government.

The economist pointed out that Sudan has no regional enemies, and accused the government of leading a war against its own people. A radical change in the structure of the state is required to reduce the expenditure on defence and security, he said.
The economist also called for supporting agricultural and industrial production, balanced development and equitable distribution of power and wealth. 

In his second speech to the Parliament since his appointment as prime-minister on 1 March this year, Saleh acknowledged the failure of the government's efforts to halt the steady decrease of the Pound against the Dollar or improve the balance of payments. 

He reported the fall of the country's oil production by 12 percent in the current year compared to the same period last year, along with a decline in the performance of the industrial sector. Mineral exports have fallen with the reduction of gold exports, while the expenses of imports have risen because of the increase in the prices of wheat, manufactured goods, petroleum products, machinery and equipment.

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♦  ‘‘EU committed to sustainable development in Darfur’: Ambassador

October 30 – 2017 KHARTOUM Sudan has become a pilot country for the European Union (EU) regarding the operationalisation of the humanitarian-development nexus. Darfur is one of EU’s target regions for this, EU Ambassador Jean-Michel Dumond said in his speech at the review conference of the Darfur Internal Dialogue and Consultation (DIDC) in Khartoum today.

The results of the second stage of the DIDC were made public in the presence of Sudan’s Second vice-President Hasabo Abdelrahman, key national partners, and representatives of the international community.

As the EU is a strong partner for the Darfur Development Strategy (DDS) and the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD). Dumond reflected on the achievements of the DIDC process, that has been supported by the EU with a contribution of EUR 800,000.

“The EU is eager to see a change in our involvement in the region from one focusing primarily on vital humanitarian assistance to longer term sustainable development,” Dumond stated in his adress published by the EU today.

“There are some tough and hard nuts still to crack in Darfur – this is beyond doubt,” he said. “The EU believes that these issues can and must be tackled – through dialogue, consultation, outreach and compromise.”

More news from Radio Dabanga:

Sudan, South Sudan to open border crossings

October 31 – 2017 KHARTOUM Khartoum and Juba have agreed to open four of the ten border crossings between the two countries and to activate the joint security arrangements. On Monday, the Defence Ministers of Sudan and South Sudan held …
 

Number of ‘watery diarrhoea’ cases in Sudan dropped: OCHA

October 30 – 2017 KHARTOUM Following more than a year of intensive efforts by the Sudanese Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Agency (Unicef), and other health partners managed to mitigate the … 
 

North Darfur’s Jebel Amer gold mine to be ‘reorganised’

October 30 – 2017 EL SAREIF The authorities of El Sareif locality are reorganising the management of the gold mine of Jebel Amer. Locality Commissioner Mohamed Ismail Adam is leading “the reorganisation campaign” after “security forces …
 

Villagers robbed a month after voluntary return to Darfur’s East Jebel Marra

October 28 – 2017 EAST JEBEL MARRA At least five people, including a young woman, were wounded and many others are missing after an attack and robbery by militiamen on the area of Leiba in South Darfur’s East Jebel Marra on Friday.  … 
 

Vigil at US Embassy in Sudan capital for Darfur detainees

October 27 – 2017 KHARTOUM On Thursday activists of the families of detained Darfuri students held a vigil outside the US embassy in Khartoum, where they handed over a memorandum … 
 

Sudanese farmers lament high cost of sesame harvest

October 27 – 2017 EL GEDAREF Farmers in Sudan’s largely agricultural El Gedaref state have complained about the high cost of this year’s sesame harvest. They cite a lack of manpower …
 

Saudi King promises Al Bashir he'll ‘stand with Sudan in good and bad’

October 26 – 2017 RIYADH Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir has concluded an official two-day tour of the Gulf states, which began in Kuwait on Sunday, included Doha in Qatar, and ended … 
 

Sudan’s Red Sea state govt. slated for cancelling education-for-food project

October 26 – 2017 PORT SUDAN Leaders from Eastern Sudan have sharply criticised the Red Sea state government for announcing the cancellation of food-for-education programme, … 
 

‘Raids and siege tactics’ to be used in North Darfur arms and vehicle collection

October 25 – 2017 KHARTOUM / KUTUM / KABKABIYA The Chairman of the High Committee for the collection of weapons and unlicensed vehicles said in Khartoum that “the forced collection …