Don’t lose the Arab breadbasket Sudan

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IS Sudan heading towards the unknown? This question comes to the mind of any observer concerned with the political crisis sparked by parties which lack agendas apart from striving to take over power, and then the storm follows. This appears to be the case during the month of protests, disorder and confrontation that are usually bloody.

No one among the loyalists or opposition has presented a plan to solve the crisis and there is only one slogan being traded: “Bashir must go.” Based on economic calculations, Sudan is considered one of the richest Arab and African countries. It is the breadbasket for the Arab world. It possesses huge livestock wealth that could be a significant source of national income, in addition to oil, minerals and water.

Therefore, the talk on hunger in a country like this cannot be an issue unless it is ascribed to mismanagement as a result of constant confl icts over power which made Sudan restless in the last six decades. Today, the Sudanese have several Arab and non-Arab experiences which they can use to prevent the collapse of their country.

Considering the coups and revolutions that left the Arab world with ruined countries, it is necessary to learn from the experiences of others. The Arab world has entered the furnace of civil wars since Egypt’s Jamal Abdul-Nasser coup d’état in 1952 – whether in Iraq’s July 17 Revolution or in playing the tunes that Abdul-Nasser strived for. This made Iraq fall into the claws of internal confl icts which continue up to this day.

In fact, this country is heading towards division. In Lebanon, Abdul-Nasser’s sentiments clashed with the rule of Shamoun, leading to the minor civil war in 1952. This made the country lose its political balance at a time it was supposed to fortify its economy and internal situation. At the time, the political doctrine of Abdul-Nasser was based on the desire to encourage nations to revolt against their regimes in a bid to establish himself as the leader of the entire Arab world.

This prompted him to engage in war in Yemen which resulted in the latter’s division. All these countries were trapped in internal confl icts ,thereby losing the trust of the international community on one hand, and on the other hand, the lack of investments in countries constantly experiencing political crises, especially when military officers started believing that “the early bird catches the rule.” All these countries endured lack of economic management.

Their factions got preoccupied with political and military confl icts. Sudan was not exempted considering it experienced several military coups. There are lingering questions: Who will take over the rule in Sudan if Bashir’s regime falls? Will the parties in conflict settle for the one who will take over or will they engage in wars among themselves before a party takes over, especially when every party has foreign hands which are not for charity? It is possible to transform this economic and financial crisis into an opportunity for the Sudanese to review the administration and reutilization of the country’s wealth in order to protect the well-being of its people and to engage in competition in constitutional institutions for the future of the country.

This crisis is not supposed to be the path towards transforming Sudan into another Somalia or Iraq that is tempted by regional sectarian factions whose objectives are known, Lebanon which is the hostage of Tehran’s Mullah impulses, or Yemen where the Houthis want to change its social culture according to the Persian supreme leader who is wobbling internally under the wrath of the people. The solution in Sudan is not the expulsion of Bashir. The solution is group effort to develop the country and look into its natural wealth to become the real breadbasket of the Arab world and Africa, not the refuge of terrorist groups once the current regime falls and the Sudanese blood is divided between conflicting parties.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
[email protected]

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