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FCF Coalition Says that Strike Is the Next Step if the TMC Delays Its Response on the Constitutional Declaration

By: Al-Sammani Awadallah

Khartoum – Freedom and Change Forces (FCF) Coalition leading figure Siddiq Farouq Al-Sheikh expressed pessimism in making a breakthrough in the talks with the Transitional Military Council (TMC), affirming that they handed over the con-stitutional declaration but they did not receive an answer.He accused the TMC of sticking to power, adding that their weapon in case of delay is the general strike, pointing out that the FCF asked the TMC to respond to the constitutional declaration with 72 hours but they did not receive the answer.Al-Sheikh stated to (Sudan Vision) that the regime was toppled but there still some institutions which did not aligned to the revolution, adding that the youth are well aware.He pointed out that there are some complications from the TMC including some decisions are mere administrative without dealing with the crucial is-sues.On the multiplicity of the FCF speakers, Al-Sheikh said that this indicates that they include enormous political entities and civil society organizations, considering the issue as natural.It is worth noting the FCF coalition handed the TMC last Thursday the constitutional declaration whereas the TMC welcomed the declaration and affirmed that it will be discussed and responded to.

NUP Announces Initiative to Contact All Armed Groups to Achieve Comprehensive Peace

By: Najat Ahmed

Deputy Chairperson of National Umma Party (NUP) Mariam Al Sadiq Al Mahdi has said there is an initiative of making contacts with all armed movements who are outside the Sudan Call for enhancing realization of comprehensive peace, welcoming opening by SPLM- led by Abdel-Aziz Al Hilo to their office in Khartoum, which would boost the opportunities of comprehensive peace.She affirmed in a statement to (Sudan Vision) their commitment to the unity of the Forces of Freedom and Change and enhancing it further by completion of its institutions top of them the Leadership Council and openness to the strug-gle committees and the forces of the revolution of youth and women throughout the transitional period as a guarantor for realization of the ob-jectives of the Freedom and Change Declaration and the just demands of the Sudanese people for freedom, peace and justice.The Sudan Call supports realization of compre-hensive and just peace that would end the war and enhancing the role of the Forces of Freedom and Change, she said.She added that the sit-in would continue till the people feel that their demands are realized.

She disclosed that the Freedom and Change Forces issued a statement earlier expressing commitment to coordinate with Sudan Railways on opening the tracks for the locomotives, add-ing that the FCF is still committed to that.

EU Affirms Support to Agreement Political Forces ReachBy: Al-Sammani Awadallah

Khartoum- Member of the Po-litical Committee of the Transi-tional Military Council (TMC) Lt. Gen. (PSC) Shams-Eddin Kabashi, the spokesman of the council, met at the Republican Palace yesterday the Assistant Secretary General of the Euro-pean Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and the EU Special En-voy to Sudan, in the presence of TMC Member Lt. Gen. (PSC) Yasir Abdel-Rahman Al Atta.The European envoy got ac-quainted during the meeting on the developments of the politi-cal situations in Sudan, affirm-ing readiness of the EU to sup-port Sudan and the agreement the Sudanese political forces reach.Lt. Gen. Kabashi commended the role of the European Union, affirming openness of the TMC to dialogue with all the Suda-nese political parties for transi-tion to a sustainable democratic system.

US$100 Million from the Government of Juba to Implement Pre-Transition ArrangementsHOME2

Sunday, May 5, 2019

The Brokerage Firms Refrain from Exchanging in Khartoum Stock Exchange

Reform, Justice and Confidence-Buildings on Top of the AgendasBy: Mohammed Ahmed Al-Feelabi

It goes without saying that the role of the civil society organizations remains a pioneering fac-tor in boosting the pillars of the modern civil state through its brain storm activities on the requirements of the upcoming stage in our his-tory.Accordingly, several civil society organizations were struggling against the harassment of the ousted regime authorities. That struggle was through spreading the knowledge and accom-modating the visions of all the groups over how to run the Sudanese state in order to achieve the basic rights towards the welfare of the citizens and strengthening the pillars of the rule of law and institutions state.The Regional Centre for Civil Society Training and Development is one of the institutions that is concentrated on the issues of constitution-making, good governance for years.Within the framework of boosting the civil partnership through the good governance pro-gramme funded by the USAID supported by the people of America, last week the Centre organ-ized three seminars on 27, 29 April and 2 May 2019.The first seminar talked the issues of institu-tional and legislature reform to strengthen the democratic transformation. Two papers were presented, the first of which was titled (the polit-ical participation for the Sudanese women) pre-sented by Tayseer Al-Nourani. This paper was discussed by lawyer Ismail Al-Taj. The second was under the title (New Mechanisms for Peace-building through the Effective Popular Participa-tion) presented by Dr. Suleiman Al-Dableyo.(Justice and Its Role in Achieving Peace and

Freedoms in Sudan in the Post-war Era) was the subject of the second seminar which talked two papers. The first was presented lawyer Is-mail Al-Taj and discussed by Ms. Lubna Musa and Al-Aqib Jabak Allah under the title (Tran-sitional Justice as a Mechanism to Boost Peace and general Freedoms). The second paper came under the title (The Requirements’ of Reform-ing the Justice System in Sudan According to the Democratic and Human Rights Measures) pre-sented by lawyer Nabil Adib and discussed by layer Satie Al-Haj.The third seminar addressed the issue of (Con-fidence-buildings between the actors towards Peace Democratic Transformation) and was

presented by Abdallah Adam Khatir through his discuss-ing the issue of confidence-buildings in the era of politi-cal transition and the expected scenarios.The discussion was launched by Ms. Safaa Al-Aqib.In the second session Dr. Sid-diq Tawur presented a paper under the title (the Motives of Conflict between the Govern-ment and the Local Commu-nities over the Developmental Projects), a case study on min-ing companies in South Kordo-fan. The paper was discussed by Dr. Abdul Rahim Bilal and Ms. Zainab Badr Addeen.Several experts contributed in the six sessions and discussed the subjects presented a matter that makes it a rich issue that

can assist the upcoming government in setting a roadmap for the transitional and the post-transi-tional stage.The seminars emphasized the importance of de-veloping the presented paper and including the discussions and additions to it. The representa-tion and interaction of the Sudanese Professional Association enriched the discussions and af-firmed the importance of its participation in the upcoming activities.This simply means that the civil society is still on the lead to pave the way for setting the roadmap of the upcoming stage of post-salvation Sudan through the active contribution in the Centre and other similar civil society organizations.

By: Najat Ahmed

Khartoum- The National Ummah Party (NUP) has stressed the im-portance of continued press advo-cacy for supporting the processes of building the structures of good transitional governance and tran-sitional justice that would lead to free and fair elections, culmi-nating in the birth of a national constitution that embodies aspi-rations of all sectors of the Suda-nese people without any discrimi-nation or bias.The NUP affirmed in a statement it issued on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day that ending the era of curbing the freedoms of press and expression starts with building awareness and enlightenment system which is spearheaded by the press, whose role is to preserve the val-ues of freedom, democracy and justice.The statement added that the Sudanese journalists had made a huge contribution to the erup-tion of the Sudanese Revolution as they made enormous sacrifices

- individuals and institutions- by giving a message that incited the people for the revolution as it dis-closed the crimes of the deposed regime.The NUP stressed in its state-ment that the duty of the Suda-nese press, during the period of preserving the gains of the revo-lution, and completing its stages, is to help secure the transition to democracy by uncovering the corruption of the deposed regime and spreading hope in a promis-ing future by adopting authentic national positions and relying on credible information with maxi-mum professional responsibility.The statement of the National Ummah Party said this year, we celebrate the World Press Free-dom Day coinciding with the freedom resulting from the trium-phant revolution of our people, which has removed the regime of injustice and tyranny, to put our country in the path of democratic transition with its main axes of just peace, public freedoms, dem-ocratic governance and free and credible press institutions.

By / Shadia Basheri

Khartoum - For the first time in the his-tory of the Khartoum Stock Exchange brokerage companies declined to ex-change security bonds, in solidarity

with the demands of the revolutionaries that calling for civil government, where the stock market closed without any exchanging throughout the trading ses-sions, where it closed on Thursday with zero activity. The said companies said, in a press

statement on Thursday, that it had re-frained from exchanging security bonds on Thursday in solidarity with the rev-olutionaries in their demands for a ci-vilian government and did not rule out repeating it if the demands of the revo-lution do not achieved.

Time to Build New Sudan that Is Based on Unity and Equality: Dr. Ali

By: Ahmed Ibrahim

Khartoum - Now, the transitional pe-riod that is proposed by the transitional military council-TMC-as two years and the other one by the Freedom and Change Forces –FCF-four years has become a controversial issue. Many experts talk about the matter, conspicu-ous among them are Lt. Gen. Siddiq Ismail, deputy chairperson of National Umma Party (NUP), who says that the transitional period that is determined by TMC as two years is quite sufficient to restore things in Sudan to normality, indicating that those who keep talking about the former deep rooted state are not without purpose; scary of the Suda-nese public.In contrast, Media and academic ex-pert, Dr. Abu Bakr Adam, says that the process to change any former sys-tem will take time that is even much longer than that one that is suggested by TMC, going further as to praise and support the four year period to combat the former deep rooted state. Dr. Al Sir Mohamed Ali, political and academic expert, says that during the transitional period, be it longer or shorter, there should not be exclusion to any political entity, pointing out that such a pattern is the one that leads to the uproot of the former government, stressing that the present stage should be entirely devoted to construction not dismantlement. ‘It is a new chapter to build a new Sudan that is wholly based on equality and unity and void of any kind of exclusion’. Professor Mohamed Abu Salih, uni-versity lecturer, says that although the governance crisis has started since the independence and continued up to for-mer the Ingaz government, but, still there is failure to produce the aspired for national idea, calling for a model leadership that is to fulfil the dreams of the Sudanese, especially the youth.And deputy of the Reform Now Party, Hassan Riziq, who says that the four years period that FCF calls for is some-thing that is much exaggerated because of lack of mandate on part of the peo-ple, seeing that the dismantlement of the former deep rooted government and the combat of corruption, is the job of the judiciary which is much competent to judge persons and leaderships who belong to the former regime.

NUP Stresses Importance of Press Advocacy for Supporting Good Transitional Governance

Civil Society Kicks-off Upcoming State Roadmap

Sudan Vision

Juba- Deputy spokesman for the SSOA Coalition, Stephen Loal Naqour, said that the im-plementation of the pre-interim work will be carried out on schedule as agreed at the Addis meeting.He said there were serious steps and pledges from the govern-ment to pay $ 100 million to implement pre-transitional ar-rangements.Stressing that these pledges are in line with their vision in the SSOA alliance, “which submit-ted to the five parties signed an agreement for activator on the extension of the proposed pre-transitional period,” 3 months if the parties failed to reach the

agreement on the formation of the government on time, not-ing that the alliance SSOA “It is proposed to extend three months to assist in the imple-mentation of pre-transitional issues and to provide necessary financial support in the NTPC account before signing the ex-tension agreement.He stressed that the five parties agreed to agree on all issues that can be implemented in the pre-transitional period before the signing.He explained that the coalition believes that the parties should propose a timetable for the completion of pre-transitional activities and agreement on the extension. He said that the presence of IGAD and the in-

ternational regional community as witnesses to the extension period agreement is very im-portant and that the extension cannot be extended for another period.He stressed that the border commission IBC, with all its ef-forts to resolve the file of man-dates, and said that if it fails to find the appropriate solution in a timely manner, the signatories to propose the necessary politi-cal solutions in resolving the file of mandates and the limits and number of mandates. He called on the committee to ac-celerate the work of reviewing the constitution in the proposed three months or new to help in the formation of state govern-ments.

US$100 Million from the Government of Juba to Implement Pre-Transition Arrangements

Sudanese Journalist Net on World Press Freedom DayBy / Sudan Vision

Khartoum - The Sudanese Journalists Net (S.J.Net) has is-sued a statement on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, where the statement addressed the glorious December Revolution in Sudan, which uprooted the corrupted dictator regime, seeking to plant the “Tree of Liberty”.. The state-ment said that the December Revolution was not a passing event in the modern history of Sudan, as it was still domi-nated by events that destroyed the usual, through morning and evening demonstrations and sit-ins in the capital and the rest of the states, as well as strikes by private and public sectors, until culminated by the sit-in in the General Com-mand, where everyone has been guarding the revolution un-der the burning sun for 27 days so far to realize the dream of revolution “Freedom, Peace and Justice”.S J Net congratulated journalists and the Sudanese people on World Press Freedom Day, which falls on May 3 of each year, noting that the wounded Sudanese press regained its honor after suffering from the confiscation of freedom of expression and arrests during the former era, and that more than 100 journalists were arrested, besides preventing some reporters from writing.

South Sudan Transitional Period Delayed for 6 MonthsSudan Tribune

JUBA - The South Sudanese peace partners Friday have agreed to postpone the launch of the transitional period for six months to complete the implementation of the pre-tran-sitional tasks.Also, Juba pledged to provide one hundred million dollars for the implementation of the pending tasks.Delegations representing the five signatories of the revitalized peace agreement met on 2-3 May in Addis Ababa to discuss the status of the implementation of the pre-transitional tasks and challenges obstructing the process.“The Parties observed that key Pre-Transi-tional tasks that are critical for the formation of the Revitalized Government of National Unity such as the cantonment, screening, training, unification and deployment of forc-es and the determination of the number and boundaries of state are pending,” said the

IGAD in a statement released after the end of the meeting.Therefore, the parties decided to extend the pre-transitional period for six months from 12th of May 2019.Also, the meeting recommended that the IGAD special envoy and RJMEC “convene a workshop for all the security mechanisms to develop a clear roadmap and implementation schedules for the pending tasks and pending tasks and commits to abide by the roadmap”.Due to the flagrant delay in the implementa-tion process, there was an agreement by the parties on the need to extend the pre-transi-tional period. However, there was a differ-ence over the time needed for the extension.The SSOA spokesperson Stephen Lual Ngor told Sudan Tribune from Addis that the filed a proposal to limit the extension for three months saying it would be enough if the needed money is available.However, the IGAD officials worked to con-vince the parties that a six-month extension

is reasonable to achieve the key tasks of the pre-transitional period.The agreement document signed by the Parties will now be submitted to the IGAD Council of Ministers in a meeting that will be held in Juba on 7-8 May.$ 100M FOR KEY TASKSDuring the meeting, the South Sudanese gov-ernment has pledged to provide 100 million US dollar to ensure the costly implementa-tion of the security arrangements particularly the armies reunification process.Also, it was disclosed that the government al-ready disbursed ten million dollars during the past six months.The parties called on the international com-munity to support the implementation of the R-ARCSS, including by mobilizing the req-uisite resources.The meeting also addressed a special mes-sage to the IGAD countries which showed less interest in the follow-up of the South Su-dan peace implementation process.

3SCIENCE

Sunday, May 5, 2019

E-mail: alulakidani@yahoo.comAlula Berhe

Beyond the Horizon

Must pay spe-cial attention to the

formation, strengthen-ing and the capac-ity building of the

CBO

We must respect the Rule of Law under all circumstances

General Ha-midti sends very con-solatory messages to the

youth protesters.

Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie and accomplic-

es should be tried for the torture to death of

Dr. Ali Fadul

CURRENT

The FCF (Freedom and Change Forces) have last Thursday 3 May; put the TMC (Transitional Military Council) in a critical test to prove its sincere commitment to hand over power to a civilian govern-ance by presenting to the council the ICD (Interim Constitutional Declaration).This moves the discussions from the fruitless contentions on repre-sentation percentages to more im-portant and critical arena of the di-vision of power between the three levels of governance; presidency, council of ministers and the inter-im legislative assembly.The delivery of the ICD document to the TMC was accompanied on the same day and as well on Fri-day 3 May by mass demonstrations called for by the FCF to put more pressure on the TMC to hand real power to a civilian governance. The numbers on the streets on these days have sent a very clear message to the TMC that nobody is going home regardless of any threats until power is handed over to the civilian rule. The people will not accept at any cost any more military rulers and 52 years of three military dictatorships is more than enough. The army has to return to its basic role of protecting the bor-ders and not ruling the country, the time for this has come to an end and this was the message that the protestors went to the streets on 19 Dec.2018 to deliver to ousted Al Bashir catastrophic corrupt dicta-torship.Now the ball is in the yard of the TMC either to respond positively to the ICD and hand over power or

expect more demonstrations in vol-ume and numbers and in particular that now the regions are coming to Khartoum by the hour to partici-pate in this demand.This is the mandate that the peo-ple have given the FCF if the TMC wants a mandate.

Mediation Initiative

The FCF move has been accompa-nied by an initiative from promi-

nent acceptable national figures acceptable to the two parties to mediate to end the dispute between the two sides, the TMC and the FCF. And there is optimism that if wisdom prevail a solution that will not undermine the basic objectives of the De-cember, 2018 Revolution can be reached. This needs the full understanding by the TMC that there can never be another repetition for the 1964 and 1985 scenarios, the people have learned the lessons well and will not be cheated again.

Corruption Cases

Justice demand that we say that the Acting Attorney General is moving fast on the most important case that are of most public concern.

They are the cases of massive cor-ruption and violations of human rights and the law by the security organs. Same time it expected that his subordinates will move with the same speed in the investiga-tions and referring to the courts all these cases if even there is a need to establish special courts circles headed by competent judges with the highest degree of integrity. This naturally led us to the next point.

Judicial Reforms

The public to be very frank has no confidence at all in the present ju-dicial system. So, there is a need for radical reforms of the judicial system. The allegations made in the Memo presented by a number of judges cannot be discarded but must be thoroughly investigated by an independent body. Let us be very open and say that the top ju-dicial system was part and parcel of the ousted Al Bashir regime and cannot remain in their posts under the banners of the Judiciary inde-pendence because they were the first who allowed the dictator to violate this independence and have never complained or at the least re-signed their lucrative posts. In our view it is more honorable for them to resign and not wait be ousted which will happen sooner or later. At the same time we stress on that the public not have any confidence in any trials headed by the judges whose name came in the protesting judges’ memo. It is important that the TMC finds a solution for this issue after consultation with inde-

cent reputable legal experts.

End of Immunity

The decision to wave immu-nity from those personal of the NSIS (National Security and Intelligence Services) involved in the barbaric torture and death of the Kashim Al-Girba teacher Ahmed Al-Kheir is a good first step. But this is not the only case and there are more that needs to go to the courts.There is a case against the now under arrest Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie

and other accused in the torture to death of the martyr Dr. Ali Fadul, we demand from the FCF lawyers to bring back this case to the front line. The case of grave violations of human rights and in particular the “Right to Life” has no time limitation in the law. So, Dr. Ali Fadul must receive justice to rest in peace in his grave. In this context the memo circulat-ed in the Social Media from some of the officers of the NISS and in

which they rejected the waving of immunity from the charges of tor-ture to death committed by some of their colleagues, this really is very regrettable. The pretext that they can be tried inside the NISS courts is an invalid argument because this is a case of grave violation of hu-man rights and as we said before the “the Right to Life”. In such a case and similar ones there will be no special immu-nity from prosecu-tion in the common courts of law for anyone.Same time this bring to the sur-face that in the new transitional civil-ian governance pe-riod there must be an end to power of the NISS of arrest and interrogation this is not their job but of the other law enforcement insti-tutions. The NISS job is the collec-tion and analyses of information and forwarding it to the proper authori-ties for action. The time has come for all official institutions to work within the universally recognized boundaries and no more violations of the norms in theory or practice will be acceptable under any pre-text. At the same time must affirm our strongest condemnation of any at-tacks in any place that target the

NISS personal or premises be-cause if we are calling for the rule of law we must start by respecting the rule in the first place or we will open the gates towards world ruled by the law of the jungle. Consolatory Messages

The TMC Deputy Head and Com-mander of the RDF (Rapid Sup-port Forces) General Hamidti sent very strong consolatory messages to the young protestors. This came in an interview last Thursday in an interview with SkyNews Arabia. This came after the wide rejection by the protestors of his statement in the TMC press conference and in which he threatened to end the ques resulting from the protests. In this new statement he affirmed that he and the armed forces are hun-dred percent hand in hand with the young protesters and are not cling-

ing to power. He added that he is optimistic that the national media-tors group and the dialogue with the FCF will result in a solution acceptable by all. We think this is a positive signal and should be wel-comed and pushed forward, at the same time we want to see General Hamidti accompany his words by deeds and support the ICD inside the TMC to expedite the transfer of

power to real and not puppet civil-ian governance.

Failure Addicts

There is no dispute that difference inside any society are not negative but positive signs and as well as the norm of life but this differenc-es have to be settled by a rational democratic dialogue that is guided by the basic principles that public interest comes first. If we go the other way round, this will lead to sabotage of the tran-sition to civil democratic govern-ance. So, it is important that we always bear in mind the three experiences of 1964 and 1985 and not repeat the same mistakes again because this times the results will be more catastrophic in all aspects.The lesson learned is very simple that if you put at this stage your personal interest before the general public interest then just wait for the fourth military coup. At the same time a new military coup will be more brutal than any we have witnessed so far and if any-one wants a sample just look at the present situation of human and civil rights in Egypt. This should be a clear warning to all and in particu-lar the elite. That is if they want to prove what Dr. Manosur Khalid said that the Sudanese elite are addicted to failure.

Civil Society

The imminent success of the De-cember, 2018 Revolution with the expected radical reform of the re-pressive Humanitarian Work Act and the end of the security and the nepotism of HAC (Humanitarian Action Commission) over civil so-ciety organizations of all kinds and forms will open the gate wide for the revival of genuine civil soci-ety work. In this context we would like only to remind that this kind is very vital for the country at the present situation. At the same time we must pay special attention to the formation, strengthening and the capacity building of the CBO (Community Based Organization). We hope to revert again to this im-portant issue in the future in more details.

Major Development towards Civilian Governance and Critical Test for the TMC

4

AFRICA IN FOCUS Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Cameroon Journalists Decry Intimidation, Detention by Both Government, Separatist FightersMoki Edwin Kindzeka

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, journalists in Cam-eroon are protesting what they said are abuses by both the govern-ment and separatists fighting for the independence of the English-speaking areas from the majority French-speaking state. More than two dozen journalists said they have been arrested or threatened since the separatist conflict began. Hundreds of English-speaking journalists in Cameroon took part in conferences and peaceful pro-tests Friday, to talk about their ex-periences covering the separatist conflict in the English-speaking areas. Journalist Geraldine Fobang, pres-ident of the Cameroon Community Media network, says police de-tained her on March 14 for leading journalists in a peaceful march de-manding their rights be respected.“I stayed under incarceration for over three hours. I was molested

and intimidated. The atmosphere is not free and fair for us to practice journalism. We are just afraid,” Fobang said. “It is my wish that stake holders give peace a chance and provide us an enabling en-vironment to practice as journal-ists.”Cameramen wait to do their jobs in Yaounde, Cameroon, May 2, 2019 (M.Kindzeka/VOA) Journalist Macmillan Ambe said he was abducted by separatist fighters

in the city of Bamenda last Febru-ary after he criticized their call for families to keep their children out of school.“They followed my TV produc-tions over Waka Africa TV and they said I was canvassing for school resumption,” Ambe said. “When you do an article, separa-tists or the military would want to get facts to show that you are sup-porting A in this article or that you are supporting B in this article, and

at the end of the day it becomes very worrying.”The Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists said many reporters in the northwest and southwest English-speaking regions have either abandoned their profession or fled to safer lo-calities.Amos Fofung, former reporter with the Guardian Post newspaper, fled to the United States after he was arrested with three other jour-

nalists and detained in a prison in Yaounde for six months.He said he was released after au-thorities investigated all his arti-cles and social media accounts. “The day I was actually released I was told that I should refrain from reporting the anglophone crisis and that is why after my release, I de-cided to stay mute,” Fofung said.Since the separatist crisis began in 2017, at least 15 journalists report they have been threatened by sepa-

ratists.Authorities meanwhile have arrest-ed at least 12 reporters and charged them with terrorism or propagating false information. All but one have been released.Cameroon ministry of communica-tion located in Yaounde, Cameroon. May 2, 2019 (M.Kindzeka/VOA) Didier Kaba, director in charge of media affairs at Cameroon’s min-istry of communication, rejects the idea journalists are persecuted by the government. Kaba said the fact that Cameroon has more than than 500 newspa-pers, 150 radio stations and 20 tel-evision channels, indicates the me-dia is thriving and that journalists practice their profession without any intimidation.However, in its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Cameroon 131st in the world, down two places from 2018. It said arbitrary detention and prosecution of journalists continue to be frequent.

By PSC Report

The African Union (AU) has been quick to react following threats to the February peace deal in the Central African Republic (CAR). It convened a meeting from 18–20 March 2019 in Addis Ababa, bringing together the government of the CAR and the country’s 14 recognised armed groups. The aim of the meeting was to bridge dif-ferences around the appointment of ministers by President Faustin-Archange Touadera. Some rebels felt the new cabinet was not inclu-sive enough.As part of the compromise found in Addis Ababa, three rebel leaders were appointed as advisors to the prime minister. They were put in charge of the new mixed security units in areas they already control. Questions remain, however, about the sustainability of this move.Meanwhile, the AU and the United Nations (UN) recently appointed new special representatives to the CAR, which could give a boost to the peace process.The AU is the guarantor of the 6 February CAR agreement, signed in Khartoum, Sudan following months of negotiations. Armed groups still control about 80% of the country’s territory.The AU is the guarantor of the 6 February CAR agreement signed in Khartoum, Sudan following months of negotiations

Foundation for durable peace?

The Khartoum agreement laid the foundation for the restoration of durable peace in the country. The first step for the implementation of the deal was to be the appointment of an inclusive government as a power-sharing dispensation. The appointment of Firmin Ngrebada, the government’s lead negotia-tor in Khartoum, as prime minis-ter was initially welcomed by the

various armed groups.However, the subsequent appoint-ments of cabinet members by Ngre-bada and Touadera in early March put the peace agreement in jeop-ardy. Some armed groups felt the appointments were not in line with the inclusive spirit of the peace deal. This was because prominent leaders such as Ali Darassa were not given ministerial positions, al-though 10 of the 14 armed groups represented at the talks were in the new government (up from only six previously).The other contention became the distribution of key ministerial port-folios. Initially and historically, armed groups eyed the position of prime minister as the cornerstone of any power-sharing arrangement. However, the Khartoum agree-ment was silent on the actual dis-tribution of government positions. Not only did the armed groups not get the prime ministerial seat, but the ministers of economy, finance and budget, defence, foreign af-fairs, justice, and interior, consid-ered key ministries, were also all retained by the government.Armed groups eyed the position of prime minister as the cornerstone of any power-sharing arrangementThis led to the repudiation of the peace agreement by some armed groups, particularly the Front Dé-mocratique du Peuple Centrafri-cain (FDPC) and the Front Popu-laire pour la Renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC), two of the country’s main armed groups.

Fragile compromise found in Addis Ababa?

At the Addis Ababa meeting the AU managed to save the Khartoum agreement. However, this came at a price and only time will tell whether the compromise is sustain-able. As a direct result of the Addis Ababa gathering, three major rebel leaders – Darassa, Mahamat Al

Katim and Bi Sidi Souleymane – joined the office of the prime min-ister as advisers in charge of the mixed special security units for the regions they already control.Importantly, the Khartoum agree-ment did not deal explicitly – qual-itatively or quantitatively – with the distribution of ministerial po-sitions. Although it is the preroga-tive of an incumbent government to appoint its members, the AU could have stayed involved as this approach placed the agreement at risk of failing from the onset.

Rebel leaders now managing ar-eas they already control

The Addis Ababa process to con-sider the question of inclusive gov-ernment was thus to be expected, as the next step to resolve discord over the implementation of the agreement. At the same time, the appointment of rebel leaders to manage the mixed special security units in regions they already con-trol, raises many questions. The armed groups now maintain secu-rity in their areas with the legiti-macy and means of the state.It remains to be seen how the mixed security units will be estab-lished and operationalisedIt remains to be seen how these mixed security units will be es-tablished and operationalised. The main aim is to restore and sustain civil peace. This peace will only be guaranteed by the return of the rule of law, whether through a cen-tralised or decentralised form of government, or with a unitary or federal state (the current arrange-ment is a unitary state with a plan for effective decentralisation).The Addis Ababa compromise saved both the agreement and Ngrebada, whose resignation had been requested by armed groups. Current reports also indicate weariness on the part of warring parties with continued fighting,

which, if true, is encouraging for the prospect of lasting peace. The next steps by the guarantors of the agreement will be crucial.

The role of the AU and partners

The AU’s role is clearly spelled out in the February 6 agreement as being one of its guarantors and tasked with monitoring and evalu-ating its implementation. The or-ganisation played this role in con-vening the Addis Ababa meeting in late March.In line with article 29 of the Khar-toum agreement, an implementa-tion and monitoring mechanism was to be established. The AU would co-preside over the execu-tive committee for monitoring and implementing the deal, along with the CAR government, and include parties to the agreement as well as other stakeholders.

In line with the Khartoum agree-ment, an implementation and monitoring mechanism was to be established

This executive committee is cur-rently being established. Its com-position and dynamics will be decisive. In addition, the effective and timely establishment of the other implementation and moni-toring organs – the national com-mittee for implementation and the implementation committees at prefecture level – will be crucial in ensuring the agreement holds.In this endeavour, individuals are just as important as the framework. The AU recently appointed Matias Bertino Matondo, an experienced diplomat, as its new special repre-sentative and head of the AU office in the CAR (replacing Bedializoun Nebié Moussa). Matondo will have to quickly transition into this new role and lead the executive com-mittee from Bangui. He will also have to work closely with newly appointed Mankeur Ndiaye, spe-cial representative and head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MI-NUSCA).Another important element in this equation will be the very experi-enced Adolphe Nahayo, special representative of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) Secretary General and head of office in Bangui. He has been in this position since 2014 and his experience on the ground will benefit his two newly arrived counterparts.Urgently establishing monitor-ing and evaluation mechanisms and bodies, building trust among the different parties, and placing a prohibitive price on the violation of the agreement are essential to its implementation and viability.

By PSC Report

Africa is again witnessing an increased number of consti-tutional amendments that allow incumbents to extend their terms and centralise political power.The latest of these is in the Comoros, where President Azali Assoumani was elected for another term last month after controversial changes to the constitution in July last year. As-soumani could now potentially stay in power until 2029.In Egypt, Parliament has also recently approved amendments that could see President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi remain in office until 2030.These cases follow an earlier wave of changes to presidential mandates in Rwanda, Burundi, the Republic of Congo and Chad. The changes were made through controversial refer-endums in which ruling parties and incumbents were accused of manipulating outcomes.The changes were made through controversial referendums in which incumbents were accused of manipulating outcomesSince 2015 Algeria, Burundi, the Comoros, Chad, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Togo, and Uganda have amended their constitutions in favour of incumbents, either to centralise power or to extend term limits.This has happened despite the existence of the African Char-ter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which states that ‘illegal means of accessing or maintaining power con-stitute an unconstitutional change of government and shall draw appropriate sanctions by the Union’. The illegal means include ‘the use of any amendment or revision of the consti-tution or legal instruments, which is an infringement on the principles of democratic change of government’.The charter has been signed by the majority of African states, including Burundi, the Comoros, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Togo and Uganda. The unconstitutionality of such changes was re-emphasised by the 2009 PSC Retreat decisions.The issue has been debated at many levels, but there is still no consensus in the African Union (AU) on when amend-ments constitute ‘unconstitutional changes of government’ as defined by the charter, and whether such actions should be sanctioned.Currently, only military coups are sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of the charter and the Lomé Declaration.The Peace and Security Council (PSC) has also discussed this at length over the years and has tasked the AU Com-mission with developing a comprehensive framework of the various legal provisions established to deter unconstitutional changes of government.Yet, in many AU member states, such amendments continue and ultimately infringe on democratic principles, leading to instability and authoritarianism. In order to prevent this, the PSC should ensure member states adopt and domesticate its legal frameworks, and adhere to democratic standards when amending their constitutions.

Approving authoritarianism

Most constitutional amendments take place before elections and usually seek to effectively weaken established, albeit im-perfect, democratic principles, political participation, sepa-ration of powers and power alternation. This is particularly true of amendments that serve to disqualify political oppo-nents and extend the tenure of incumbents while undermin-ing the separation of powers or expanding executive control of power.In the context of the charter, the lack of robust response to such practices is tantamount to condoning authoritarianism.

Tampering with National Constitutions is a Threat to Stability in Africa

A new wave of constitutional amend-ments by incumbents underlines the urgent need for action by the AU

The AU Saves the CAR Deal in Extremis, but It Needs to Do More The AU has stepped in to save the February peace deal in the Central African Republic, but it remains fragile.

5 Sunday, May 5, 2019BUSINESS ECONOMY

Mohamed Abdalla

Economic Vision

Email: moabd31@yahoo.com

The political scene in Sudan makes international and regional communities surprised, they don’t under-stand what is going on, the revolutionists ousted the Al Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years. The only demand is “civilian” government to run the transi-tional period, this is the voice of the revolutionists, while the military leaders, believe in gradual move towards democracy.Due to security reasons I disagree with African Un-ion, US and others, who call on full civilian gov-ernance during the transitional period. The political structure is so weak, politicians don’t concept de-mocracy, they think that democracy is unlimited freedom; Sudan needs gradual transformation, it is impossible within days and nights to make Sudan “a democratic country” similar to European or Western ones.I support the idea that encourages the Transitional Military Council (MTC) to rule the transitional pe-riod, to give political parties an opportunity to organ-ize themselves for the “Elections” which is sched-uled to be conducted after 2 years.The behavior of revolutionists’ leaders shows con-tradictions and revealed that the Declaration of Free-dom and Change Force (DFCF) is chasing power, so why DFCF demand for 4 years to be the term of the transitional period. Sudan political powers divided into Right and Left, the left worry about elections. They don’t have large audience, throughout the po-litical history of Sudan, they failed in all the demo-cratic periods to realize majority, in 1965 and 1986 the left occupied even less than 1% of the seats in the parliament, they are afraid of history repeating itself.DFCF asks the Transitional Military Council to hand them power, to start civilian era, even before the end of the transitional period that fixed by the military leaders. If things are going smoothly as DFCF sees, I suggest elections as soon as possible, I also sug-gest to cancel what so-called “Transitional Period” to settle the disputes, the normal thing that civilians always demand for quick elections, but in Sudan we have the opposite, military leaders demand for quick election, while the civilians prolong the period.The mistake that done by DFCF is accusing of mili-tary council of dominating power, this move caused lack of confidence between the two parts. My mes-sage to the revolutionists is to wait till the end of the transitional period to judge, if Military Council refused to hand power after 2 years, people should have a right to press through demonstrations or any other means to restore democracy, but now let mili-tary to protect democracy that is now being planted by the political parties.

Sudan Political Scene

70% of Gold Revenues Are Smuggled

U.S. Job Growth Surges; Unemployment Rate Drops to 3.6 %Reuters

WASHINGTON - U.S. job growth surged in April and the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest in nearly half a century, pointing to sustained strength in economic activity even as last year’s massive stimu-lus from Republican tax cuts and spending increases fades. The Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report on Friday showed the greater-than-expected 263,000 new jobs created last month were spread across most industry sectors, and the unem-ployment rate was just 3.6%, the lowest since Decem-ber 1969. Still, wage gains did not accelerate as expected, hold-ing at a reading that is consistent with moderate infla-tion. Moreover, the decline in the unemployment rate was driven largely by the most people leaving the la-bor force in a year and a half. The report was supportive of the Federal Reserve’s de-cision on Wednesday to keep interest rates unchanged and signal little desire to adjust monetary policy any-time soon. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell described the economy and job growth as “a bit stronger than we anticipated” and inflation “somewhat weaker.” Instant View: U.S. April job growth surges, unemploy-ment at 3.6%

“Employment gains are strong enough to dispel any immediate concerns over the health of the economy, while wage gains are not strong enough to force the Federal Reserve’s hand to tighten the policy stance,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at Uni-

Credit Research in New York. Aside from April’s surge in nonfarm payrolls, the economy created 16,000 more jobs in February and March than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising by 185,000 jobs last month. The strong economy, especially the labor market, could boost President Donald Trump’s re-election hopes next year. Trump, who has boasted about the economy be-ing one of the major wins of his first term in office, cheered April’s robust employment gains. “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS,” Trump tweeted. The economy will mark 10 years of expansion in July, the longest on record. Job gains are well above the roughly 100,000 needed per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The second month of strong employment growth put to rest concerns about a recession and ironically undercut Trump’s call for the Fed to cut interest rates. A brief inversion of the U.S. Treasury yield curve in March had fanned fears of an economic downturn, leading markets to price in a rate cut this year. “It would be awfully hard for the Fed to explain a rate cut given the strong job market, so forget that,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Ad-visors in Holland, Pennsylvania. Hiring remains strong, despite anecdotal evidence of worker shortages in the transportation, manufacturing and construction industries, suggesting there is still some spare capacity in the labor market. Steadily rising wages had until recently been keeping workers in the labor force and drawing back some who had dropped out. Average hourly earnings rose 6 cents, or 0.2% in April after rising by the same margin in

March. That kept the annual increase in wages at 3.2% for a second straight month. Though wage growth is not strong enough to drive up inflation, it is seen sufficient to underpin economic growth as the stimulus from last year’s $1.5 trillion tax cut wanes. The economy grew at a 3.2% annualized rate in the first quarter, driven by a surge in exports and inventories, quickening from the October-December period’s 2.2% pace. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies, while U.S. Treasury prices rose. Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher.

WEAK SUPPLY MANAGER SURVEYS

Despite April’s robust job gains, there are signs the economy slowed early in the second quarter. A survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Friday showed a measure of services indus-try activity dropped to a 20-month low in April. It fol-lowed on the heels of another ISM survey this week showing factory activity hitting a 2-1/2-year low last month. Last month’s two-tenths of a percentage point drop in the unemployment rate from 3.8 % in March was be-cause 490,000 people left the labor force in April, the most in 18 months. It was the fourth straight month of workers dropping out of the labor force and could shrink the pool of available workers. The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one, fell to 62.8% in April from 63.0% in March. This suggested more slack in the labor market than indicated by the unemployment rate. The drop in par-

ticipation was almost across the board, with significant declines among prime-age and younger workers. “The supply side of the economy looks a little less shiny in light of the decline in the participation rate,” said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. A broader measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have given up search-ing and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment, was unchanged at 7.3% in April. Economists expect job growth will slow this year as fewer workers become available, which will push up wages and lift inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target. An inflation measure tracked by the U.S. central bank increased 1.6% in the year to March, the smallest gain in 14 months. Employment at construction sites increased by 33,000 jobs, in April, rising for a second straight month. Man-ufacturing sector payrolls rebounded by 4,000 jobs af-ter being unchanged in March. The industry is being pressured by layoffs in the au-tomobile sector as assembly plants try to cope with declining sales and an inventory overhang. The auto sector shed jobs for a fourth straight month. Employment increased in the leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, healthcare, trans-portation and warehousing, and financial activities in-dustries. But retail payrolls declined for a third straight month. Temporary help, a harbinger for future hiring, re-bounded last month after dropping in March. Govern-ment payrolls increased by 27,000 in April.

By: Ahmed Ibrahim

Khartoum-The issue of how to develop the country, has become the concern of all, especially the economists. To begin with, Dr. Mahdi Al-Riheima, the secretary general of the exporters’ chamber, says that if the matter of exports are given special consideration, especially officially, Sudan will be much satisfied to for foreign aids, calling on the transitional military council to adopt practical measures regarding the exports, accusing the governmental companies as the much impeding factor to the issue of exports.On the field of agriculture, eco-nomic expert, Dr. ‘Adil Abdul Mu-neim, says that all efforts should be devoted to let get boosted forward,

calling on the cancellation of the law of 2005 which has been prov-en as the true stumbling block, especially to the Gezira project-something that has resulted in losses that are estimated to reach US$ 200 billion.Professor, Osman Suwar Al-Da-hab, talks about the animal sec-tor whose returns are estimated at US$ 500 million, lamenting that the money are misappropri-ated, i.e. not entering the national treasury.In addition, there is the gold commodity whose production is estimated by some specialists to amount to 250 tons, disclos-ing that the process is not with-out disadvantages. ‘70% of the production has been smuggled abroad-a situation that deprives

Channel Tunnel Breakthrough Miner Now a EuroskepticJoe JACKSON|AFP

DOVER, UK: A quarter-century after the Channel Tunnel opened, the Brit-ish miner who punched through to the French side and was a poster boy for the continental connection is now a Brexit supporter.In an interview ahead of Monday’s 25th anniversary, Graham Fagg said he still marvels at one of humankind’s “great-est achievements” but admitted he has soured on closer relations with main-land Europe.“I worked on the Channel Tunnel and did the breakthrough, but I actually voted for Brexit,” the 70-year-old told AFP. “I don’t see that as incompatible.”The retiree made history in Decem-ber 1990, greeting French counterpart Philippe Cozette about 100 meters un-der the sea after they connected their respective sides of the tunnel.Less than four years later, on May 6, 1994, Queen Elizabeth II and French president Francois Mitterrand cut the ribbon on the new rail link.

It has since welcomed 430 million pas-sengers and 86 million vehicles and, for some Britons, come to symbolize the country’s integration with the continent as a member of the European Union.Fagg said he supported joining the Eu-ropean Economic Community — the forerunner to the EU — in a 1975 refer-endum, but had not envisaged it would become a political union.“We voted for a trade deal,” he ex-plained. “I can’t remember anybody ever saying to me, ‘we’re going to turn it into a federal Europe. We’re going to set all the rules and you’ve got to obey them’.”A lifelong resident of the southeast Eng-lish port town Dover, where 62 percent of people backed Brexit in the 2016 ref-erendum, Fagg insisted he wants close future ties with Europe.The grandfather-of-four has forged an enduring friendship with Cozette, visit-ing the Frenchman’s home near Calais on several occasions.“I don’t really speak English and he doesn’t speak French at all, but still we understand each other,” Cozette told

AFP this week.The 66-year-old argued centuries of increasing cross-Channel cooperation could survive Brexit.“I don’t think it will drive the English and French apart,” he said.In footage of their historic first meeting, the pair clasp hands through a small gap in the tunnel to cheers from workers and officials looking on, before posing for pictures.Fagg remembered “it was all a little bit overwhelming” and being most con-cerned about not hitting Cozette with his digging tool before they had broken through.After stepping into the French side, the Englishman was greeted by an array of cameras and remembered being im-pressed by the typically Gallic fare on offer to celebrate the occasion.“They had champagne, wine, food,” he said. “On our side we had just tea, cof-fee and water — and maybe a sandwich if you were lucky!“20 years with EurotunnelFagg dedicated five years of his life to the tunnel’s construction between 1986

and 1991 and then worked in main-tenance for Eurotunnel for nearly 15 years from the early 2000s.He recalled a tough working environ-ment among the heavy-drinking British miners, who were in a race to reach the middle of the tunnel before their French counterparts and were paid on a bonus scheme.“The faster we went, the more money we got,” he said.The moment that would ultimately be-come a recurrent landmark in Fagg’s life was purely down to chance, with his name chosen randomly by bosses.“I thought I was going up to the office to get told off about something, but in actual fact they said ‘tomorrow you’re doing the breakthrough’,” he added.“I was a bit surprised because it was my day off and I had other plans.”He admitted feeling nostalgic Wednes-day revisiting the spot where tunnelling first started, stopping at a plaque over-looking the Channel honoring the 10 workers who died during the project.“It was a historical moment,” he recol-lected of his famous handshake.

By: SUNA

Khartoum - Professor of economy at Al- Neelain University, Prof. Issam Abdul-Wahab Bob has demanded the suspension of the government’s companies working in the field of goods exporta-tion.In statement to SUNA Bob added that these com-panies working in the field of exportation with the practise of (break- even of prices) under the pretext of importing medicines and fuel, a matter that led to the weakening of the Sudanese exports in foreign markets.He pointed out that this practice has made many international companies to stop buying Sudanese goods and products, and also it contradict with the policies and directions of the National Chamber of Exporters, calling on the private sector to take

advan-tage of the po-l i t i c a l factors t h a t the Su-danese arena is witnessing to redirect the economic policies in the right track, based on the great role played by the sector in support of the economic develop-ment process in the country.He explained that the private sector undertakes 70% of the economic activity in the country, and absorb between 55 and 60% of Sudanese labor, which qualifies it to develop plans and policies to manage the economic affairs in the country.

Bob Calls for Suspension of Government’s

Companies Exporting Goods

Ethiopia At GlanceWB

Ethiopia’s location gives it strategic domi-nance as a jumping off point in the Horn of Africa, close to the Middle East and its markets. Bordering Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan, Ethiopia is landlocked, and has been using neigh-boring Djibouti’s main port for the last two decades. However, with the recent peace with Eritrea, Ethiopia is set to resume ac-cessing the Eritrean ports of Assab and Massawa for its international trade.With about 105 million people (2017), Ethiopia is the second most populous na-tion in Africa after Nigeria, and the fastest growing economy in the region. However, it is also one of the poorest, with a per cap-

ita income of $783. Ethiopia aims to reach lower-mid-dle-income status by 2025.

Ethiopia’s economy experienced strong, broad-based growth averaging 10.3% a year from 2006/07 to 2016/17, compared to a regional average of 5.4%. Ethiopia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth decelerated to 7.7% in 2017/18. Industry, mainly construction, and services account-ed for most of the growth. Agriculture and manufacturing made lower contribution to growth in 207/18 compared to the previ-ous year. Private consumption and public investment explain demand-side growth, the latter assuming an increasingly impor-tant role.Higher economic growth brought with it positive trends in poverty reduction in both urban and rural areas. The share of the population living below the national poverty line decreased from 30% in 2011 to 24% in 2016. The government is imple-

menting the second phase of its Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) which will run to 2019/20. GTP II aims to con-tinue expanding physical infrastructure through public investments and to trans-form the country into a manufacturing hub. GTP II targets an average of 11% GDP growth annually, and in line with the manufacturing strategy, the industrial sector is set to expand by 20% on average, creating more jobs.

Development Challenges

Ethiopia’s main challenges are sustain-ing its positive economic growth and ac-celerating poverty reduction, which both require significant progress in job crea-tion as well as improved governance. The government is devoting a high share of its budget to pro-poor programs and invest-ments. Large scale donor support will con-tinue to provide a vital contribution in the near-term to finance the cost of pro-poor programs. Key challenges are related to:

EditorialTowards Consensus

Democracy

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Sunday, May 5, 2019

It is almost three weeks now since the up-rooting of the worst regime that ruled Sudan for three decades and insulted the nationís

history and civilization.We believe that it would be better for the observ-ers to evaluate the events in those three weeks to determine the negative and positive points n in order to assist to overcome the political chal-lenges during the transitional period.We should present ourselves to the world as a civilized nation that deserves respect for its peaceful uprising against one of the strongest dictatorships in the region.Let us first praise those who ignited the spark of the uprising including the Sudanese Profes-sional Association and all freedom lovers from the youth who launched a very smart move by organizing the sit-in near the den of the lion (army headquarters).The army also deserved appreciation for taking the side of the protesters without which those who were in the sit-in square would have been subject to a massacre and millions would have been been killed.All who struggled against the tyrant regime un-der Al Bashir in the last three decades deserve respect. The uprising was a natural result of sacrifices of all sectors.Some of the people were dismissed from their positions a matter that forced them to migrate and work abroad and some lost their lives dur-ing their struggle.The political peaceful and civilized sit-in would not end until all the demands of the protesters are responded to.Security and stability is the goal of all Suda-nese and the rule of law tops the demands of the protestors.We should not stay at the station of predicting calamities, but on the contrary we should move forward to avoid the expected calamity.We should not allow for the creative chaos and this could be by dealing decisively against any isolated breakdowns.We should consider that the deep state will con-tinue its attempts in disappointing the youth through rumours in the social media outlets, and that necessitates positive exchange of pros-pects and information.Let us all work for charging ourselves with the positive energies and creative capabilities to build the aspired Sudan.

Sudan revolution, or as it is always la-beled as the Youth revolution supported by Sudanese from different walks of life, which kicked off all over Sudan since 19th December 2018 started from the rural areas, from the states of Sudan not only from Khartoum as well as other revolutions in the Arab Countries. This revolution is described as a model revolution worldwide as Macron the

French President said. This unique revo-lution of youth created some sort of di-rect dialogue among all components of the Sudanese society, in the new small community of the youth and demon-strators who are still protesting in front of the headquarter of Armed Forces. It filled the gap of differences between all states of Sudan. This protests sent messages to the whole world that all Sudanese people are on a heart of one man. They discussed their issues frankly repeating three words of Freedom, Peace and Justice that led to overthrowing the former regime of Al Bashir. It enhanced the spirit of coopera-tion, solidarity. It strengthened the na-

tionalism, the Sudanese identity, values and moralities. But it faces many chal-lenges and risks resulted from 30 years of the ex-regime. It takes time to get rid of corruption, economic inflation, mis-management, social problems, insecuri-ties, instability. So to build trust is one of the requirements coming stage between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) that is running the affaires of Sudan dur-ing this critical era, and the Freedom and Change Forces (FCF), and the revolu-tionists, the supportersí demonstrators. Two weeks or more are enough to build a trust between the two sides of the TMC and the FCF. Dialogue is going on be-tween the two sides to come out with a

unification vision to form the new the joint council of the Transitional Military Council and the civilians. The differenc-es in the views and visions between the two sides may shed its negative shadows on the ongoing of negotiations and the peaceful process of the revolution.The success of the revolution is through the direct dialogue to find a way out from the bottle neck. To cut it short for the ru-mors and the opposed revolution. Strug-gle is a difficult task; it needs patience from the two sides to fulfil the demands of all people in peace, security and sta-bility and to pick up fruits of the strug-gle of all Sudanese people in all parts of Sudan.

Daily, we are inundated by a numbing and dizzying array of outrageous hor-rors and painful tragedies occurring both here at home and abroad. There are re-ports of: families torn apart by war, do-mestic strife, or callous authorities; in-nocent lives taken by cruel acts of terror or brutally insensitive governmental ac-tion; and the freedoms of individuals and groups denied by repressive regimes or discriminatory policies. With so much accumulated pain and suffering, it often becomes difficult to sustain the confidence that good will tri-umph over evil and the hope in a better tomorrow. At the times when I’m feeling overwhelmed by what appears to be the mountains of evil that confront our hu-manity, I turn to a simple insight I gleaned from my favorite theologian/philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin. Teilhard would suggest it’s not that there’s more evil in today’s world, it’s that we are more aware of the evil that exists. And it is precisely because we are more conscious, that we are more capa-ble of responding to the suffering and acting to ameliorate the conditions that have produced it. A century ago, unspeakable horrors took place on every continent that were known only to the victims and the perpetrators. Not so today. As a result of advances in communications ñ from the telegraph and radio to satellite television and the inter-net ñ the pain and loss of global tragedies are brought home to us in real time. Because of this expanding consciousness,

the post-World War II era has witnessed the rise of visionary leaders and the birth of countless organizations dedicated to alleviating suffering and elevating the causes of peace, human rights, and tol-erance among peoples. Individually and collectively, they have championed the rights of peoples in far-flung corners of the world, some of which had been pre-viously unknown to those who became their advocates. These same leaders and groups have also fought for civil rights and for economic, social, political, and environmental justice in their own coun-tries. Seeing our ever-expanding response to evil gives us hope and inspires us to do more. The bottom line is that despite all that is wrong in today’s world, human-ity is, in fact, in a better place today than ever before in history. A few examples: We read commentaries suggesting that the instability, terror, and wars raging across the Arab World are unprecedented, with Western analysts suggesting that it’s all the result of the endemic brutality or dys-functionality of Arab culture or society. In response, I ask these “scholars” to re-call that in a short 30-year period of Eu-ropean history, nations on that continent fought two wars that produced the hor-rific slaughter of more than 50,000,000 souls. Added to this were the tens of mil-lions of Arabs, Africans, and Asians who, during that same time frame, were vic-tims of Europe’s oppressive and violent colonial rule. Most of those tens of millions died with-out provoking any questioning ñ then or now ñ of what was wrong with European society or Christian culture. While inno-cent Armenians, Ukrainians, Indians, and

Algerians cruelly lost their lives, their tragedies were not recognized until dec-ades later. Today, on the other hand, we organize protests in defense of the Rohingya Mus-lims, the people of Darfur or East Timor or Gaza, or the Yazidis and Christians in Iraq. We have international NGOs wag-ing campaigns for justice for oppressed peoples on the other side of the world, mobilizing protests on behalf of victims of torture, or raising billions of dollars to house those displaced by war or to rescue victims of natural disasters or famine. Looking to my own country, just a little over five decades ago, millions of Afri-can Americans lived under a repressive discriminatory regime that denied them basic human rights and justice. And during World War II, over one hundred thousand Japanese American citizens lost their businesses, property, and their free-dom as they were placed in concentration camps for the duration of the war. Today, African Americans, although still plagued by economic and social inequi-ties and still victims of official violence at the hands of authorities, have made significant advances because powerful movements organized by their own vi-sionary leaders and supported by other people of conscience, rose up to demand justice and press for change. And while many feared that in the post-9/11 period that Arab and Muslims in America might suffer the same fate as the Japanese Americans, a coalition of dozens of civil rights, religious, and ethnic communities ñ led by Japanese Americans ñ mobi-lized to defend them. The same coalition came together, almost spontaneously, and packed US airports to welcome Mus-

lims to America after President Trump announced his now infamous “Muslim Ban.” The lessons are clear. The world has changed ñ for the better. Evil still exists, but awareness of evil and the will and capacity to resist it now enables us to a difference. It is in this context that I note that my organization, the Arab American Insti-tute (AAI), will, this week, host our an-nual Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity’ Awards Dinner. We use this event to hon-or those individuals and groups who have helped increase our collective awareness of the world’s suffering and have, in ways big and small, worked to alleviate that pain. This year’s honorees include: the BBC’s Lyse Doucet, whose reporting has brought home the personal stories of those whose lives have been devastated by war; Mayor Gus Newport, who for 50 years has been in the forefront of efforts to fight for racial, economic, political, and environmental justice; RAICES, an organization devoted to supporting fami-lies torn apart by the cruel family sepa-ration policy imposed by immigration authorities; Miriam Zayed, a Chicago community activist, whose life taught us the simple truth that those who are true leaders are those who are devoted to the service of others; and Emel Mathlouthi, the Tunisian singer, whose marvelous tal-ent has given voice to the cry for freedom and the pain of refugees. Those whom we honor have helped to bring light into the darkness and give us not just the hope of a better tomorrow but the confidence that we are on the path to making that hope real.

No doubt the main cause of this glorious revolution led by the free will youth is because the difficulties in living condi-tions and the price hikesThe incident of Atbara Technical School students who found that the price of one sandwich of breakfast jumped suddenly three fold, so they protested inside their compass; but the issue became political with political demands.This is a natural development; but it is

observed that certain groups took advan-tage from the absence of security and the conflict between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Freedom and Change Forces (FCF) and started rais-ing the tariffs of public transport without any justification but just because there is an absence of the concerned authori-ties in these critical days. There are also the looting gangs and criminals who are fishing in the troubled waters or as the military men say (exploiting the dust of the tanks) and hide under it to implement their agendas and those did not find up to this moment the party that is supposed to

deter them. The first slogan of the revolu-tion as (We came out to those who have stolen our sweat). The question that poses itself is did those who exploit the unrest and the absence of monitoring stole the sweat of the Sudanese people? Didnít they get their feeding from the blood of the Sudanese people? Then why didnít the politician, especially the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) and the FCF deal with the issue of the unjustifi-able price hikes. The merchants argue that the price hikes are due to the tremen-dous rice of the dollar exchange rate, and the public transport drivers argue that the

raising of the tariffs is due to the hikes in the spare parts prices! It is high time to punish those exploiters for their crimes against their people. We call on those who are leading the move towards the deserved dignified life for the Sudanese to adapt decisive measures to stop those who are exploiting the fragile situation to make wealth without consideration to the economic conditions of most of the Suda-nese who are using the public transport.Giving a deaf ear to this kind of corrup-tion will have its negative impacts on the revolution which is supposed to bring an end to all kinds of corruption.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious effort to improve regional cooperation and connectivity on a trans-continental scale. The initiative aims to strengthen infrastructure, trade, and investment links between China and some 65 other countries that account col-lectively for over 30 percent of global GDP, 62 percent of population, and 75 percent of known energy reserves. The BRI consists primarily of the Silk Road Economic Belt, linking China to Central and South Asia and onward to Europe, and the New Maritime Silk Road, linking China to the nations of South East Asia, the Gulf Countries, North Africa, and on to Europe. Six other economic corridors have been identified to link other coun-tries to the Belt and the Road. The scope of the initiative is still taking shapeómore recently, the initiative has been interpret-ed to be open to all countries as well as international and regional organizations.The Belt and Road Initiative can trans-form the economic environment in which economies in the region operate. Region-al cooperation on the new and improved transport infrastructure and policy re-

forms could substantially reduce trade costs and improve connectivity, leading to higher cross-border trade and invest-ment and improved growth in the region. For example, shipment times from China to Central Europe are approximately 30 days, as most goods travel by sea. Ship-ment times by train are about half as long, but given current infrastructure, much costlier. Hence, improving the capacity and network of rail infrastructure could radically change average travel times. In addition, while rail transport will remain costlier than maritime for these routes, the time and cost reduction will have significant consequences goods affecting the mode choice and total flows of inter-national trade. However, there are signifi-cant economic and policy challenges, and the realization of the potential benefits of BRI is by no means automatic. Policy reforms could have large effects. For ex-ample, Doing Business indicators show that in Central Asia it can take up to 50 days to comply with all procedures to import goods. It takes less than 10 in G7 countries, indicating the large scope for improvements at the border in the region. More generally, the return on investment in infrastructure is likely to be low or even negative unless complementary re-forms are carried to improve institutions and the policy environment. For individ-

ual countries, it will be important to eval-uate the possible effects of participating to the BRI and the needed policies and institutional reforms. Some of the infra-structure and policy reforms envisaged by the BRI will be difficult to implement, creating risks ranging from fiscal sustain-ability, to negative environmental and so-cial implications. There are also potential economic shocks created by the reduced trade costs that will require policies to deal with the adjustment and the lagging and negatively affected territories. Final-ly, opportunities for growth and poverty reduction will likely be contingent on ap-propriate macroeconomic conditions and supportive institutions and will differ for different countries and different social groups within countries depending on their comparative advantage, initial con-ditions and ability to reform. The World Bank Group is already deeply engaged in countries along the Belt and Road, based on the respective country partnership frameworks. The World Bank Group has commitments of about US$80 billion for infrastructure in Belt and Road countries. The World Bank Group also has numer-ous projects addressing infrastructure, trade, and connectivity in its project pipe-line. Furthermore, the World Bank Group helps countries address trade and con-nectivity issues by providing advisory

services and analytics. Although official colonialism is outdated in Africa, eco-nomic policy towards the continent, led by Western institutions, has continued to treat Africa as a source of resources whose development is to be prevented. Rather than real modern development, charity and such frankly racist proposals as ìappropriate technologyî are proposed. Under the guise of environmental protec-tion, needed development to improve hu-man life is blocked by the World Bank. However, this is changing: With the Belt and Road Initiative, China has launched an ambitious new global paradigm of cooperative economic development for win-win results, replacing the geopoliti-cal outlook dominant since the death of FDR. This Chinese initiative, coming af-ter decades of organizing by Lyndon and Helga Lafourche and the Schiller Institute, represents a major victory, and is produc-ing clear results, such as the modern rail projects in Kenya and DjiboutiñEthiopia, financed by Chinese state banks. Extend-ing the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa covers these developments, and, more importantly, advances proposals in the fields of economics, infrastructure, science and space, transportation, power, water, finance, agriculture, and moreó-proposals needed to bring the potential to the next stage.

Youth Revolution Picks-up the Fruits of Struggle

Bringing Light to the Darkness

Exploiting the Dust of the Tanks to Hide Under It!

Silk Road Represents Economic Opportunity for Asia and N. Africa

Dr. Mutaz Al-Hashimi

neimatalneiem@yahoo.com Neimat Al-Naiem

Spotlight

Moonlight

hurga65@gmail.com

Ahmed Hassan Omer (Hurga)

Dr. James J. Zogby (c)

WashingtonWatch

7 Sunday, May 5, 2019OPINION

The centralization of authority is essential to national politics, and some degree of central con-trol over a territory is essential for the formation of a state with a legitimate monopoly of the use of force. While the threat and use of force can make or break a state’s terri-torial integration, the consolida-tion of force only occurs when the political authority reflects a contractual relationship between the ruler and the ruled and be-comes expressed in the capacity to tax and to deliver needed ser-vices, in particular, to marginal-ised territorial regions. A weak contractual relationship between the ruler and the ruled, as well as centralization of rev-enues and expenditures without delivering services and develop-ment goods, may threaten states with violence, warlord-ism, and a constant threat to property and life, causing human and envi-ronmental destruction.Decentralization is one policy measure that can strengthen the legitimacy of the state and ena-ble the state to deliver needed services and development goods in countries char-acterized with regional-ethnic diversity.In Sudan, the decen-tralization of politi-cal and economic powers has been a commonly chosen strategy for boost-ing state legitimacy and quelling sepa-ratist demands for greater political authority to man-age economic, so-cial, and religious affairs. The coun-try has experienced various forms of de-centralization over its history. For example, from 1989 to 2002, de-centralization occurred in the form of an increase in sub-national governmen-tal units: the number of states increased from 9 to 26 (that is, by about 189%),the number of provinces increased from 18 to 98 (by about 444%), and the number of localities (that is, cities, towns, and other municipalities) increased from 328 to 493 (that is, by about 50%) (El-Battahani 2011). In the following period, from 2003 to 2010, de-centralization occurred through drastic changes in the composition of government expenditures in Sudan, with the central government share in total expenditures dropping dramatically. This was largely due to implementation of the Com-prehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the northern and southern parts of the country in 2005, which emphasized the role of sub-na-tional governments in the country’s public fi-ancé. Crossing both these periods, the “oil dec-ade” of 1999 to 2010 was characterized by the strongest growth trend in the country’s history.Unfortunately, the relatively huge amounts of oil reserves extracted and sold benefited first of all the central level, and were not converted into equivalent public investments in education, health, and infrastructure in the states and local governments. On its face, decentralization in Sudan was introduced to provide development goods and services throughout the country and to integrate the regions and units of Sudan’s

vast geog -

r a - phy into a united pol- ity. However, the outcome of decentralization efforts has been disappointing and has diverged widely from these policy intentions. In particular, fiscal de-centralization during past decades has neither established an accountable and representative governance framework nor proven to be an ef-ferent development-oriented service delivery strategy.

Research questions, objectives, and methods

This report considers decentralization over Sudan’s history from three perspectives. First, it looks at requirements of decentralization in laws and other proclamations (de jure decen-tralization). For example, the 2005 CPA re-quired Sudan’s central government to provide “equalization grants” to the states to help dis-parate areas of the country to achieve similar

levels of development. Second, the report considers how decentrali-zation has played out in actual practice (de facto decentraliza-tion), in particular considering disparities in financial sup-port provided by the central government to Sudan’s many states. Finally, the report analyses the impacts of decentraliza-tion efforts in Sudan on the fiscal relationship between the center and the states (the fiscal bargain).The report addresses the overall questions:How has Sudan’s central

government implemented its decentralization policies, from

independence and to date?• To what extent has the effort to

implement decentralization poli-cies actually devolved power and

fiscal resources to sub-national lev-els, for the benefit of the local popu-

lations?This report is based on both quantita-

tive and qualitative data. The primary data source is official documents and reports is-

sued by the Sudanese government. These are supplemented by other secondary academic and grey literature.

Argument

Since Sudan’s independence in 1956, “nation-al” ruling elites at the country’s center have negotiated effective bargains with regional and local elites and rebels. In this way, they ensured the political survival of the old established au-tocracy, despite changes in regime and institu-tional arrangements caused by decentralization, regional rule, and federalism.The more fragile the elites’ power base at the center, the more these elites tend to cooperate with or accommodate local political actors; the more consolidated the elites’ central power base, the less they rely on local political actors. All “fiscal bargains” struck between central au-thorities and local leaders and rebels in Sudan have been characterized by their short-term na-ture. They ultimately serve the interests of con-tending central, state, and local politicians and elites, rather than the social needs of citizens at the local levels. Still, rulers at both the center

and the state and local levels act rationally, calculate the costs and benefits of their actions, and choose the course of action most consistent with their preferences and interests. These are not necessarily nation-wide public interests but those of the individual, party, and/or client, as is explained in the following sec-tions.One way central, state, and local elites negotiate their relationship is through bargains over intergov-ernmental fiscal relations, that is, transfers of funding from the cen-tral government to state and local governments to fund state and local activities. Intergovernmental fis-cal relations are part of a political context that has been shaped by re-lations between Sudan’s center and the states over several decades.States in Sudan have reached vary-ing degrees of separation from Su-dan’s center (that is, they are “de-centralized” to varying extents. The innermost part of the circle (a) in-cludes state that represent Sudan’s historic core. These include states such as Khartoum state, River Nile, North State, Gezira, Sennar, and White Nile, that share an ethnic and religious background and have

come to be known as the Hamdi Triangle. The outermost part of the circle (d) includes parts of Sudan that have managed to fight for and/or negotiate complete removal from the re-gime, that is, South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011. Between these two extremes are two levels of separation: (b) decentralized areas that are still tied to Sudan’s center (including the states of Darfur where the center has claimed victory over rebel movements) and rebellious areas within individual states and (c) areas where central authorities are unable to claim total control of the territory because of rebellion (for example, South Kordofan in the Nuba Moun-tains region and the Blue Nile state). However in view of changing power relations analysis should allow for the possibility of states mov-ing acrosscategories.Importantly, this broad categorization does not fully reflect all traits of Sudan’s member states. For example, in eastern Sudan, the Red Sea state is not comparable to the Kassala state in terms of its revenue base and political leader-ship. Similarly, each of the Darfur states exhib-it stark differences: North Darfur (in the Kiber reign) has had a relatively stable state govern-ment for 12 years, while South Darfur has had about 5 wallis (governors) during the same pe-riod, many of them replaced after interference from the central government. Nonetheless, this classification helps to shed light on the dynam-ics of current center-state relations.Furthermore, the history of decentralization in Sudan also show the “fiscal bargain” be-tween the center and states has evolved over past decades, as central and state actors have negotiated their financial relationships. A pat-tern that has emerged from this history is that when the power base of elites at the center has been more fragile, the elites at the center have been more willing to cooperate with and ac-commodate state and local political actors. On the other hand, when elites at the center have had more consolidated power, they have relied less on state and local political actors. In short, the ruling class at the center will only concede more power to states and localities if it risks losing its power at the center. The secession of South Sudan in 2011 shows the extent to which the ruling center will compromise in order to maintain its fledging hold on power, that is, bargaining away territorial control for political survival.

Exploring Political and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations in an Unstable Polity (1)

Governance and Fiscal Federalism in Sudan, 1989–2015:

This report analyses the implementation and impact of decentralization in Sudan: To what extent has the efforts to implement decentralization policies actually devolved power and fiscal resources to sub-national levels, for the benefit of the local populations? The present research confirms what other studies have concluded: that in Sudan the center remains the ultimate arbiter when it comes to the distribution of economic and political resources between the centre and local states and regions. Eco-nomic control and fiscal transfers in Sudan remain relatively centralized. There is no systematic rela-tionship between actual transfers to states and poverty reduction. Government expenditures for states have increased at the same time that state-generated revenues have decreased, and a fair and equitable system of fiscal equalization and gap-filling is absent. Finally, there exists a mismatch between fiscal decentralization and the political set-up. The prevailing features of governance in Sudan do therefore not embrace genuine political and fiscal decentralization.

The decentralization of political and economic powers has been a commonly chosen strategy for boosting state legitimacy.

The ruling class at the center will only concede more power to states and localities if it risks losing its power at the center.

The outcome of decentralization efforts hasbeen disappointing and has diverged widely from these policy intentions.

By: Atta El-Hassan El-Battahani, Hassan Ali Gadkarim (2017), Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (Sudan Report SR 2017:1).

8INTERVIEWS

Sunday, May 5, 2019SCIENCE

Meet the Super Surrogate Who’s Addicted to being Pregnant - but doesn’t Want Her Own Child

Yahoo Style UK

A super surrogate has been pregnant and given birth four times, but has no desire to have a family of her own.Annie Peverelle has been a surrogate to three families over the past six years but despite describing pregnancy as an addiction, the 40-year-old has no intention of giving birth to her own child.Annie, from Rugby, Warickshire, gave birth for the fourth time in January 2019 for couple Amanda and Jason McKeane, 42 and 43, after being a surrogate to their first daughter, Effie, four years ago.“I adore being pregnant, it’s addictive,” she explains. “I have never had morning sickness and the last three labours were no longer than two hours and very easy.“I love the feeling of growing a new life for someone who can’t do it themselves and the thrill of seeing a positive pregnancy test.“Seeing that first scan and feeling the little kicks are just amazing.”The idea of surrogacy was first suggested to Annie by a colleague as a bit of a joke.“I was desperate to experience pregnancy, but I didn’t want to have a baby,” she says. “I couldn’t get [the idea] off my mind, so I researched it and before I knew it, I was at a social event with other surrogates and parents-to-be.”Annie certainly isn’t the only woman who claims to be addicted to being pregnant.While being a bumpaholic isn’t actually addictive in the same way alcohol and narcotics can be, many women claim to crave the feelings associated with being pregnant.From the special attention you get from others when you’re pregnant, to the knowledge you’re nurturing a life inside you, for many woman being pregnant is a high that is hard to ignore.A quick scroll of parenting sites reveals countless examples of women turning to the Internet for advice on their pregnancy ‘addiction.’“I only had a baby 2 weeks ago but I really can’t wait to have my next,” one woman

wrote on Mumsnet in a post entitled ‘I think I’m addicted to pregnancy.’“Yes it’s a long 9 months and yes labour is painful but it’s entirely worth it. To me there is no better feeling than seeing a positive ovulation test, DTD (doing the deed) and then 2 weeks later seeing those 2 lines appear. Also the scans and feeling baby move is such an amazing experience,” she added.And her post triggered responses from others who also admit to loving being pregnant.Keen to explore her own desire to experience pregnancy, Annie was first introduced to a couple desperate to have children through charity Surrogacy UK. Amanda, who is a veterinary nurse and her husband Jason were desperate to start a family and after miscarrying her first at seven weeks, she was unable to become pregnant again.After two years of investigations, Amanda, then 34 was diagnosed with grade 1a endometrial cancer – she had a year to freeze her embryos before undergoing a total hysterectomy.“After losing my first baby, I was unable to

get pregnant again, we were distraught, so we decided to have a break from trying,” Amanda explains. “Two years later, the tests continued to say negative, so the doctors ran some tests and what they thought was a fibroid, was actually the early stages of cancer.“I was in total shock; I had no symptoms and it’s uncommon for someone my age to have this cancer. Thankfully, we found it at the very early stages, so It was cured after a hysterectomy, I didn’t need radiation or chemotherapy.”Amanda says that infertility meant surrogacy was the couple’s only option left and after getting 14 embryos frozen they started attending surrogacy socials where they kept bumping into Annie who was pregnant with her first surrogate baby. Surrogacy UK host events throughout the year which gives surrogates the chance to meet parents-to-be, before choosing who they want to carry a baby for.Six months after becoming friends with Annie, the couple got the call that Annie was prepared to act as their surrogate. Having given birth to their first baby, Effie, Annie asked if the couple would like her to

act as a surrogate to give Effie a sibling, to which they readily agreed and Jude, was born in January this year.“Effie knows that ‘mummy’s tummy is broken and auntie Annie carried her – I couldn’t thank her enough!Annie explains that a surrogate is provided with expenses before and during the pregnancy are covered by the family and surrogates are also entitled to maternity leave.“No surrogate will ever be out of pocket, as all expenses pre-pregnancy and during are covered by the family along with maternity

leave from the workplace,” she explains.“This includes travel costs, vitamins, food and loss of worktime, with Jude I went swimming so this was paid for too.But there’s another, far more important, reason Annie loves being a surrogate.“I get the privilege of seeing my friends fall in love with their baby from the second they hold them.”The admin worker says her husband Steve, 49 who she met the night before her first surrogate social is totally supportive of her and really admires what I do.“I wouldn’t have my life any other way!”

Reuters

SAN JOSE, California: Facebook Inc. debuted an overhaul of its core social network on Tuesday, taking its first concrete steps to refashion itself into a private messaging and e-commerce company as it tries to move past a stream of scandals while tapping new revenue sources.Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a fresh design for the world’s biggest social network that de-emphasized its News Feed and showcased its messaging app, online marketplace and video-on-demand site.The company also rolled out features aimed at encouraging users to interact with their close social circle as well as with businesses, such as a “Secret Crush” option for Facebook Dating and a tool for appointment booking.Zuckerberg in March promised changes to the advertising-driven social media company as it was under regulatory scrutiny over propaganda on its platform and users’ data privacy. Facebook’s News Feed continues to draw ad dollars but user growth in its most lucrative markets has slowed.“We believe that there is a community for everyone. So we’ve been working on a major evolution to make communities as central as friends,” said Zuckerberg on Tuesday, speaking at Facebook’s annual F8 conference, where the company gives developers a peek at new product releases.Zuckerberg identified private messaging, short-lasting stories and small groups as the fastest-growing areas of online communication. In the last three years, the number of people using Facebook’s WhatsApp has almost doubled.The social media company is now working on “LightSpeed” in order to make its Messenger app smaller in size and faster.Facebook will also introduce Messenger for Mac and Windows and launch a feature called “Product Catalogue” for WhatsApp Business. The desktop version of Messenger will be available this fall.Later this week, Facebook will run a test in Canada for a major change to its Instagram app that would remove the number of likes on photos as well as video views from users’ feeds, permalink pages and profiles.Facebook had delayed rolling out certain products at last year’s F8 event, which came soon after revelations it inappropriately

shared information belonging to 87 million users with now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.“I know that we don’t exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, to put it lightly,” Zuckerberg said on Tuesday.Other Facebook executives introduced changes within the Messenger and Instagram apps aimed at helping businesses connect with customers, including appointment booking and enhanced shopping features as well as a tool to lure customers into direct conversations with companies via ads.The online ad market is largely dominated by Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google. But the field is more diverse for messaging, e-commerce and payments, with big players like Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp. and eBay Inc. as well as fast-growing Silicon Valley unicorns like workplace messaging app Slack and video conferencing service Zoom Video Communications Inc.“We’ve shown time and again as a company that we have what it takes to evolve,” Zuckerberg said.Facebook shares were trading down 0.3 percent on Tuesday.

MAKING MONEYFacebook pulled in nearly $56 billion in revenue last year, almost of all which came from showing ads to the 2.7 billion people who access its family of apps each month.But Facebook is no longer adding many new users in the United States and Europe, its most lucrative markets,

and it must find additional sources of revenue if it is to sustain growth.The product releases at F8 indicated that its answer involves efforts to keep users on its apps for longer, coupled with e-commerce tools Facebook is hoping businesses will pay to use.Features that drive the most user engagement, like Stories and videos, are being decked out with new tools and given increased prominence across the platforms.One new feature will allow users to watch videos together in Messenger, while also viewing each other’s reactions in simultaneous texts and video chats.Facebook Dating will be expanded into 14 new markets, including places in Asia like the Philippines where Facebook has high user growth. The “Secret Crush” feature will allows users to explore potential romantic relationships within their friend circle.The company is also courting businesses, giving them ways to chat with customers and conduct transactions, similar to how consumers in China are already shopping on services like WeChat.Instagram is expanding a sales system introduced last month, allowing public figures, known as influencers, to tag products in their posts so fans can buy them right away. Sellers on Marketplace will likewise receive payments and arrange shipping directly within Facebook.The company also said that starting on Tuesday, users in the United States can raise money for nonprofits directly through Instagram stories.

Facebook Overhauls Messaging as it Pivots to Privacy

PA

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has undergone surgery for an intestinal obstruction, raising questions about his campaign for the European Parliament elections.Mr Berlusconi’s office said the surgery was successful and that the 82-year-old media mogul would be released from the hospital in the coming days.Previously, Mr Berlusconi’s office had said he was suffering from acute renal colic, pain often associated with kidney stones. He was taken to hospital on the same day he was to present candidates of his Forza Italia party for European Parliament elections on May 26.Mr Berlusconi himself is running, the first time he has been allowed to challenge for public office following a ban imposed after a 2012 tax fraud conviction.Citing his good conduct, a court last year ruled that he could take part in elections again.Mr Berlusconi’s office said he had suffered

abdominal pain the night of April 29, and that a scan had revealed a blockage in the small intestine.Exploratory surgery identified the volvulus of ileum, a rare but serious cause of small bowel obstruction.Mr Berlusconi’s office said the adhesion stemmed from gallbladder surgery 40 years ago.The three-time premier has suffered heart problems in the past, including surgery in 2016 to repair a heart valve. He has said that despite his age, he wants to run for the European Parliament elections.It is not clear how the latest surgery would affect his campaign.Mr Berlusconi made sure to release excerpts of a speech he had planned to deliver on Tuesday. In them, he railed against the isolationist bent of the current populist government of the right-wing League and the 5-Star Movement.He warned that Italy could not confront African migration, Chinese “imperialistic design” and Islamic fundamentalism without European support.His once-dominant Forza Italia party trails in the polls behind the League, the 5-Stars and the opposition Democratic Party.

Berlusconi Undergoes Surgery on Intestinal Blockage

Reuters

BEIJING: A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian national to death on Tuesday for producing and trafficking the addictive stimulant methamphetamine, amid heightened tension between Beijing and Ottawa over the arrest of a Huawei Technologies executive.Canadian Fan Wei was a leader in the production and trafficking scheme, the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement.In response, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland condemned the use of the death penalty, calling it “cruel and inhumane punishment which should not be used in any country.”“We’re very concerned by this sentence. Canada stands firmly opposed to the use of the death penalty everywhere... We are

obviously particularly concerned when it is applied to Canadians,” she told reporters in Ottawa.Canada’s foreign ministry, in a separate statement, said Canadian officials attended the verdict and sentencing for Fan, and called on China to grant him clemency.“Global Affairs Canada has been closely following this case and has been providing consular assistance to Mr. Fan and his family since he was first detained in 2012,” it added.Another suspect, Wu Ziping, was sentenced to death but Wu’s nationality was not given.The court also issued judgments against nine other people, including one American and four Mexicans.It did not specify what sentences five of the nine received, though it indicated the minimum they got was life in prison. It said the other four were jailed but did not say for how long.

Court officials could not be reached for comment.All 11 can appeal their sentences.Fan is the second Canadian to be sentenced to death for drug offenses in China this year, during a period of escalating tension between the two countries.In December, Canadian police arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, at the request of US prosecutors.US prosecutors have portrayed the company as a threat to national security and alleged it conspired to violate US sanctions. Both Meng, who is out on bail, and Huawei deny the allegations.China recently arrested two Canadians on national security grounds.China has also canceled Canadian agribusiness Richardson International Ltd’s registration to ship canola to China this year.

China Sentences Canadian to Death for Drug Offenses

WORLD NEWS9 Sunday, May 5, 2019

At least Nine Dead as Monster Cyclone Enters BangladeshAFP

KHULNA, Bangladesh: Cyclone Fani, one of the biggest to hit India in years, barrelled into Bangladesh on Saturday after leaving a trail of deadly destruction in India.Eight people reportedly died in India and Bangladeshi police said nine perished even before the eye of the storm rumbled over the border in the morning.Some 400,000 people have been taken to shelters, Bangladeshi officials told AFP.Fourteen villages were inundated as a tidal surge breached flood dams. The dead in-cluded a minor in Barguna district on the coast and five others killed by lightening.“We are mooring our boat because it’s the only means of income for us. Only Allah knows when we can go back to fishing again,” Akbar Ali, a fisherman near the town of Dacope in Bangladesh, told AFP while battling surging waves to tie his boat to a tree.With the storm weakening but still pack-ing a punch, winds of up to 70 kilometers (45 miles) per hour and heavy rain battered overnight and on Saturday morning the Indian state of West Bengal and its capital Kolkata, including the Sundarbans man-grove forest area.“It’s a total mess in islands of the Sunder-

bans as the cyclone has destroyed every-thing in its path, fueling fears rivers could burst their banks and leave vast areas un-derwater,” said Manturam Pakhira, Sun-derbans affairs minister.“Locals spent a sleepless night and many came out of their thatched huts and stood on the river banks measuring the level of the water,” Pakhira said.“Several homes have been flattened, roofs blown off, electric poles and trees top-pled.”Several hundred thousand people were told to evacuate coastal areas of West Bengal before the arrival of Fani (“snake” in Ben-gali), with 5,000 leaving the low-lying ar-eas and old, dilapidated buildings of Kolk-ata, home to 4.6 million people.“Nearly a dozen people were trapped as an old building in the northern part of the city has collapsed,” Kolkata’s mayor Firhad Hakim said. “They have been rescued and shifted to a safer place.”Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal’s chief minister and a key figure in India’s ongoing mega-election, canceled all political rallies and set up an improvised control room in a hotel in the path of the storm.Kolkata’s international airport was ordered closed. Train services were also halted.Worst hit was the state of Odisha where

Fani made landfall on Friday, packing winds gusting up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) an hour, sending coconut trees fly-ing, knocking down power lines and cut-ting off water and telecommunications.Eight people were killed in Odisha, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported, including a teenage boy crushed under a tree and a woman hit by concrete debris.

While not confirming any deaths, Odisha disaster management official Prabhat Ma-hapatra told AFP there were about 160 peo-ple injured in the Hindu pilgrimage city of Puri alone.“It just went dark and then suddenly we could barely see five meters in front of us,” said one Puri resident.“There were roadside food carts, store signs all flying by in the air,” the man told AFP.

“The wind is deafening.”PTI reported that a construction crane col-lapsed and that a police booth was dragged 60 meters (yards) by the wind.As Fani headed northeast, Odisha authori-ties battled to remove fallen trees and other debris strewn over roads and to restore phone and Internet services.Electricity pylons were down, tin roofs were ripped off and windows on many buildings were smashed.Puri’s famous 12th-century Jagannath tem-ple escaped damage, however.Gouranga Malick, 48, was solemnly pick-ing up bricks after the small two-room house he shared with his six-strong family collapsed, its roof blown away.“I have never witnessed this type of devas-tation in my lifetime,” he told AFP.“Energy infrastructure has been completely destroyed,” Odisha’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik said.The winds were felt as far away as Mount Everest, with tents blown away at Camp 2 at 6,400 meters (21,000 feet) and Nepali authorities cautioning helicopters against flying.Ports have been closed but the Indian Navy has sent warships to the region to help if needed. Hundreds of workers were taken off offshore oil rigs.

Reuters

A Boeing jetliner with 143 people aboard from the US outpost at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, slid off a run-way into a shallow river in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday while attempting to land at a military base there during a thunderstorm, injuring 21 people.There were no reports of fatalities or critical inju-ries. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said on Twit-ter that all 21 of the injured were taken to a hospital, where they were listed in good condition.The plane, a chartered Boeing 737-800 arriving from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with 136 passengers and seven crew members, crashed into the St. Johns river at the end of the runway at Naval Air Station Jacksonville at about 9:40 p.m. lo-cal time, a spokesman for the Florida air base said.“The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for,” the sheriff’s office said on Twitter.The sheriff’s tweet was accompanied by two photo-graphs showing the plane, bearing the logo of Mi-ami Air International, resting in shallow water and fully intact.The mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry, said on Twitter that US President Donald Trump had called him to offer help.“No fatalities reported. We are all in this together,” Curry said in a separate tweet.A passenger on board the plane, attorney Cheryl Bormann, told CNN in an interview that the flight, which had been four hours late in departing, made a “really hard landing” in Jacksonville amid thunder and lightning.“We came down, the plane literally hit the ground and bounced. It was clear the pilot did not have to-tal control of the plane. It bounced again,” she said, adding that the experience was “terrifying.”Bormann said she hit her head on a plastic tray on the seat in front of her as the plane veered side-ways and off the runway. “We were in the water, we couldn’t tell where we were, whether it was a river or an ocean.”The military base is situated on the east bank of the St. Johns River about 8 miles south of Jacksonville, in the northeastern corner of Florida about 350 miles north of Miami.Bormann described emerging from the plane onto the wing as oxygen masks deployed and smelling the jet fuel that she said was apparently leaking into the water.Bormann, from Chicago, said that most of the pas-sengers were connected to the military and helped each other out of their seats and onto a wing, where they were assisted after some time into a raft.Miami Air International is a charter airline operating a fleet of the Boeing 737-800, different from the 737 MAX 8 aircraft that has been grounded following two fatal crashes involving that plane. Representa-tives for the airline could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters on Friday evening.

Boeing 737 Goes into Florida River with 136 on Board, No Fatalities

AP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Police killings in the state of Rio de Janeiro have hit a record high, rising by 18% in the first three months of this year in a spike partly attributed to a zero tolerance for criminals campaign by state leaders.Official data reviewed by The Associ-ated Press show police forces in Rio killed 434 people during clashes in those months, compared to 368 people in same period last year.The number, released on April 17, is the highest since record keeping began in 1998.The rise comes under the watch of Gov. Wilson Witzel, a former marine and political ally of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Witzel has promised a zero tolerance policy against criminals, call-ing drug traffickers “narco-terrorists” and vowing to ease gun possession laws.On the campaign trail, he said he wanted to send sharp shooters aboard helicop-ters to target armed criminal in favelas. Weeks ago, the governor acknowledged that police were using shooters.The police communications department declined to comment about the latest statistics.“Even though there is no direct order (to kill), you have a governor and officials that use this language, that we should commemorate the deaths of suspects, that a (police) operation was successful

when there were nine or 10 deaths,” said Felippe Angeli, a public security expert with the Sou da Paz institute in Brazil. “This ends up having an impact.”Police killings in the state, however, did not begin with the current administra-tion, sworn in on Jan. 1.Last June, Orlando Dos Santos found out his 27-year-old stepson had disap-peared in the wake of a police operation in the Babilonia slum, which sits on a hill behind the city’s iconic Sugarloaf mountain.The following day, guided by local residents, Dos Santos and other people whose relatives had also disappeared, began searching with the help of the lo-

cal fire department. They found seven bodies at the bottom of a cliff, which were later linked to the police opera-tion.Dos Santos’s stepson, whom he said had gotten involved with criminal groups not long before the police crackdown, was never found.“The place where they were found and the way their bodies were, made it very clear that it had been an execution,” Dos Santos, a car mechanic, told The Associated Press.Police killings have intensified in the last couple of years.Since 2013, the number of victims in Brazilian police operations has contin-

ued to rise from 416 victims to 1,534 last year.In 2018, the military was put in charge of Rio state’s security forces. Rates for crimes such as theft dropped, but crit-ics say structural problems remained unsolved.Widespread violence is a historical problem in Brazil and in Rio, one of its main tourist destinations.Paulo Storani, former deputy command-er of an elite squad of officers known by the acronym BOPE, said the increase in the number of deaths is a “natural” consequence of the police’s decision to try to recover territories abandoned by the state to organized crime for many years.“There is no license to kill in the police. The criminals are armed with weapons of war and police are oriented to re-cover territories. There are violent con-frontations because the criminals were strengthened by the inaction of past governments,” Storani said.In parallel, overall homicides in the state have declined by 26% in the first three months of the year to 1,046 regis-tered deaths.But some experts fear the government’s rhetoric combined with their desire to pass legislation facilitating gun posses-sion will further deepen the crisis.“Violence engenders more violence,” Dos Santos said. “I think the duty of the police officer is to catch, apprehend and for the justice to judge.”

Police Killings in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro State Reach Record High

AFP

TRIPOLI: Shoppers throng Tripoli’s Souk Al-Hout market but their mood is somber as Libya’s capital is again hit by violence and prices have shot up ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.“Our country is famous for its dates,” a staple which Muslims eat first to break the Ramadan dawn-to-dusk fast, says shopkeeper Abdallah Al-Chaibi.“But no one is able to buy them because their price has doubled,” he adds as he struggles to woo shoppers to buy the celebrated degla variety which are grown in southeastern Libya.“I cannot imagine an iftar without dates,” he says.During Ramadan, Muslims around the world ab-stain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn to dusk.They break the fast with a meal known as iftar and before dawn they have a second opportunity to eat and drink during sahoor.In the days ahead of Ramadan — which be-gins on May 5 this year — families embark on shopping sprees to stock up on food for the iftar meal, which is often a feast that draws friends and relatives.But renewed clashes between rival forces in and around Tripoli, a cash shortage and rising prices mean that this year’s iftar will be more frugal than those of previous years, and in oil-rich Lib-ya that hurts.

“A large part of the population is unable to buy even basic items and guaranteeing (iftar) meals has become a challenge,” says Chaibi.“In a wealthy country like Libya we are not used to this.”Libya has been plagued by chaos, violence and economic hardship since the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.On April 4, military commander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to seize Tripoli pitting his Libyan National Army against the Tripoli gov-ernment forces backed by powerful militias in Tripoli’s southern suburbs.The ensuing deadly clashes have killed 376 peo-ple according to the World Health Organization.More than 40,000 have been displaced, accord-ing to the UN, but the figure does not include the many families who have sought safety with relatives.“This will be the most difficult Ramadan in years,” said Malek Mohamad, a resident of Tripoli in the covered Souk Al-Hout market, where shoppers can find everything from fish to spices.He said the fighting had forced thousands of residents of southern districts to flee with just a few of their belongings. “They now have to buy things and this will eat into their meagre budg-ets,” he said.Since 2011, insecurity and shortages have been part of the daily lives of Libyans. Economic re-forms launched last year were supposed to tackle a chronic lack of liquidity, but have been hit by

the flare-up.“Every time there is a glimmer of hope, a new military conflict erupts among Libyans,” says Mohamed Al-Noueri, who ekes out a living sell-ing spices and garlic from a tiny stall in the mar-ket.Noueri, 69, says he is responsible for the needs of a family of 10, including a daughter with a physical disability and sons who study at uni-versity.He himself is diabetic and says he “struggles to buy my medication.”“I am tired like many other (Libyans) who try to resist year upon year. And now war awaits us,” he adds, his face wrinkled and sad.Housewife Manal Khayri is also desolate on the eve of Ramadan.“I spent three days queueing outside a bank and only managed to withdraw 500 dinars (around $350),” she says.“This will be barely enough to cover our needs for the first week of Ramadan,” says the mother of four as she shopped for pulses for her iftar meals.“I pray to God to bring the Libyan people closer to each other,” she adds.Authorities say they have taken measures to ensure there will be no shortages of basic food products during Ramadan.Charities are planning to organize free iftar meals for the needy, including those displaced by the latest fighting.

Marred by Conflicts, Tripoli Residents Feel the Pinch in Ramadan

10 Sunday, May 5, 2019

SDG Knowledge

Continuing on the infrastructure and in-vestment themes from recent weeksí briefs, this SDG Knowledge Weekly brief focuses on Chinaís Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the countryís infrastructure investments and their regional impacts. Featuring offi-cial statements, academic/expert opinions and other studies, this brief complements an SDG Knowledge Hub write-up of the BRI Forum, the resulting communiquÈ and other outcomes.The second Belt and Road Forum for In-ternational Cooperation took place from 25-27 April 2019, in Beijing, China. The Forumís official website features headline news and photos, while an independent Belt and Road Initiative website compiles recent news relating to the Forum. The of-ficial BRI portal is available here. For those seeking a refresher on the BRI, please see the last SDG Knowledge Weekly brief on the subject or a pre-read from the Over-seas Development Institute (ODI), released prior to the Forum. For BRI Forum takea-ways, a Bloomberg summary is here.An IBON International policy brief also gives an overview on the basics of the BRI. It provides an unofficial list of countries in-volved, outlines five BRI priorities and six economic corridors, and provides context to place the Initiative in the broader glo-bal context vis-‡-vis development agendas such as the SDGs and South-South Coop-eration Conference (BAPA+40). The brief also provides tables of the largest contracts awarded to Chinese companies from 2013-2018 and a list of private corporationsí involvement. The brief calls for infrastruc-ture development to be ìgenuinely demand-drivenî and with peoplesí rights placed first and foremost, among other key messages.A summary of China President Xi Jinpingís speech at the Forum in the South China Morning Post indicated that the country will not devalue the currency and that the BRI is not ìan exclusive clubî meant only for China. Xi said China will strengthen enforcement of intellectual property (IP) protection and signaled a commitment to an open economy, though the summary notes that a trade war ìwas still reflected in Xiís speech.î In his remarks, UN Secretary-General AntÛnio Guterres outlined the im-portance of ìinclusive sustainable and du-rableî development, pledging the support of UN country teams and highlighting the urgency of ìgreen developmentî in the con-text of imminent climate impacts.An interview on The Brookings Institu-tionís website unpacks the broader politics of global infrastructure development vis-‡-vis the BRI, with nine experts discussing strategic implications of the initiative and assessing Chinaís motivations for under-taking it. Highlights include the finding that

the BRI ìis meeting a need and filling a void left by international financial institutions (IFIs)î that have shifted away from ìhard infrastructure development,î as well as the importance of a US strategy that responds to the BRI. The interviewees note that the BRI ìis a money-making investmentî fea-turing ìa blend of economic, political and strategic agendas that play out differently in different countries.î They further note the importance of an independent media in recipient countries, to ensure BRI projects can be scrutinized.Deborah Brautigam, Johns Hopkins Uni-versity, argues that the BRI is not a mili-tary or strategic threat to the West, but is indeed an economic one, in an analytic op-ed on The American Interest. She compares the various arguments for and against the Initiative (many of which are noted above and below), notes Chinaís interest in ports, highlighting the links between port projects and economic growth, and explores the topic of ìdebt trap diplomacy.î Among oth-er conclusions, she finds that 1) the chal-lenge of Chinaís infrastructure investment push abroad to the US and the West is that it is ìquite attractive to many low-income countries and we [the West] do not have the tools to offer something better,î and 2) when it comes to issues such as anti-cor-ruption legislation, very few OECD coun-tries actively enforce existing laws, so ìit

seems the Chinese may not be so different from ëthe Westí after all.îAn article on Foreign Policy emphasizes the strategic importance of the recently established US International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC), scheduled to begin operating at the end of 2019. How-ever, the authors, from Princeton Univer-sity, underscore the IDFCís ìrelative pov-ertyî compared to the BRI: USD 60 billion compared to nearly USD 1 trillion. The authors outline a three-part strategy: 1) leverage Chinaís bucking of international norms around lending; 2) highlight corrupt BRI payments; and 3) use IDFC funds to ìliberate countries that find themselves in Beijingís financial clutches.îA Chatham House commentary calls for increases in transparency and predictabil-ity when it comes to BRI projects. Author James Crabtree calls on China to ìmove be-yondÖ opaque, bilateral dealsî and address three intertwined issues: 1) debt traps; 2) transparency; and 3) the ìmuddled organi-zationî that accompanies many infrastruc-ture deals.A separate article on the South China Morning Post describes how China sought to address criticisms relating to debt traps and environmental sustainability during the BRI Forum, noting that ìChinese officials have been scrambling to clear controver-sies that the initiative is a scheme to entrap

nations into debt.î Similarly, a New York Times op-ed, also by Deborah Brautigam whose analysis is above, asks, ìis China the worldís loan shark?î Relatedly, Bloomberg News published an article aimed at po-tential recipients or beneficiaries of BRI projects that articulates ìseven risks to checkî before accepting funds.A second article on Bloomberg also high-lights officialsí attempts to bolster the BRIís image after criticism, particularly with regard to what the BRI actually is (or is not). The aim, it notes, is to stop com-panies from appropriating or misusing the BRI label, given that ìunchecked use of the name on projects has created confusion about the initiativeís scope and damaged its reputation abroad.î The ODI blog men-tioned above also links to several databases and resources on BRI projects.Looking at the BRIís impacts in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, re-searchers from Tsinghua University pub-lished an article in Sustainability that links the BRI, China-LAC relations and broader 2030 Agenda. Titled, ëThe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Chinaís Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean,í the study finds that despite strong political, economic and trade rela-tionships, there must be deeper dialogues and cooperation on sustainable develop-ment. The authors note concerns ìwith re-

gard to environmental and social impacts as Chinese investments, infrastructure projects, trade balance and market oppor-tunities enter [the LAC] region.î The study also maps the content of Chinaís policies towards the LAC regionóas well as official documents relating to the BRIóto the 2030 Agenda, noting that the Joint Action Plan of China-LAC Cooperation for 2019-2021 aligns with 13 of the 17 Sustainable Devel-opment Goals (SDGs).While human development need not come at the cost of environmental degradation, several authors have pointed out a link be-tween the BRI and funding for fossil fuel infrastructure development. An article in The Guardian highlights that, despite cut-ting its own dependence on coal, the coun-try ìhas committed more than USD 20 bil-lion in funding for coal plants around the world.î On the other hand, China has also played a role in the launch of an official BRI International Green Development Co-alition, together with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Chinaís top environ-mental watchdog organization and over 120 institutions from 25+ countries. An article on Climate Change News summarizes how China is both promoting green projects and facing pressure over its coal investments.Also looking at the environmental dimen-sion, IDDRI outlines criticisms of the BRI on the environmental impacts of its early accomplishments, and on uncertainties over Chinaís willingness to strengthen existing institutions (rather than replacing them with new ones through which the country could exert more control). Asking wheth-er the BRI can ìreinforce the multilateral agenda for sustainable development,î the blog highlights several launches in addition to the Green Development Coalition:* Three ìoperationalî initiatives: the BRI Green Cooling Initiative (on the environ-mental performance of air conditioners); the BRI Green Lighting Initiative; and the BRI Green Going-Out Initiative on invest-ments by Chinese companies abroad;* The BRI Green Investment Principles, announced at the end of 2018 by the City of London Corporationís Green Finance Initi-ative (GFI), in partnership with the Chinese Green Finance Committee (GFC); and* The BRI Environmental Big Data Plat-form, which aims to centralize and share data on the environmental performance of BRI projects, as well as promote the shar-ing of good practices.Of chief importance to global society re-gardless of geopolitical strategy, the ID-DRI brief concludes that ìChinaís current international positioning as a champion of environmental multilateralism, in contrast to the renunciation of the US, must be used strategically to encourageî organizations to strengthen, not supplant, multilateral insti-tutions and the priorities of the SDGs.

By: Faye Leone, Elena Kosolapova

May 2019 is a busy time for intergovernmental ne-gotiations on environmental protection, as well as for discussions of governance and technology for sus-tainable development. Talks will cover issues from the very technical and immediate, to the sweeping, forward-looking and ambitious. In addition, several long-anticipated reports will be launched. Here is your guide to the month.GSDR: The 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), which will be the first GSDR edition to be issued by an independent group of experts and the first that will inform the UNís summit-level global review of the 2030 Agenda, is expected to be released mid-May, following a preview of initial findings for UN Member States and others in April. The report has benefited from a call for inputs on current scientific knowledge on interactions among the SDGs and their targets, transformation pathways towards sustainable development, major issues that are not explicitly tak-en into account in the SDGs, and the role of science for sustainable development.Chemicals and Waste: The 2019 meeting of the Con-ferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions (informally known as the ìTriple COPsî) is underway in Geneva. In opening statements, country groupings called for urgent action on emerging issues such as plastics and marine litter, as well as longstanding challenges such as managing legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The SDG Knowledge Hub has published curtain raisers on Ba-sel Convention COP 14, Rotterdam Convention COP 9 and Stockholm Convention COP 9. IISD RS cover-age of the meeting is here.Forests: The 14th session of the UN Forum on For-ests (UNFF 14) meets next week in New York, US. Governments are expected to discuss: implementa-tion of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests (SPF) 2017-2030, including contributions to the implementation of the global forest goals and targets; progress on the development of global forest indicators; enhancing global forest policy coherence and a common inter-national understanding of sustainable forest manage-ment (SFM); progress on the activities and operation of the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network (GFFFN); and availability of resources, among other issues. IISD RS coverage of the meeting will be here.Soil: Global Soil Week 2019 at the end of this month

will bring together a diverse range of actors to initi-ate and strengthen policies and actions on sustainable soil management and responsible land governance. The event aims to emphasize the role of enabling en-vironments for smallholder farmes in ending hunger

in rural areas, enhancing adaptive capacity, achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN), and sustainably managing biodiversity and natural resources, among other aims.Science: Two intergovernmental panels are meeting

this month to advance work in the realm of environ-mental science and policy. The seventh session of the Plenary of the Intergovern-mental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Serv-ices (IPBES-7) is currently underway in Paris, France.

Update and Perspectives on Belt and Road Initiative

Monthly Forecast May 2019: Chemicals, Science and Sustainable Development (1-2)

SDGs PLATFORM Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani

11REPORT Sunday, May 5, 2019

The Politics of Mining and Trading of Gold in Sudan: Governance, Corruption and Lack of Transparency (5)

lack of transparencyThe lack of transparency and ac-countability surfaced during the cancellation of a press conference called for by the GRAS in August 2015 to explain serious concerns about the type of concessions offered and amount of expected reserves from a gold production agreement between the Siberian Golden Stone (a Russian gold company) and Sudan. GRAS General Manager Yosif Alsam-ani stated that the press confer-ence was cancelled by President Omer Al-Bashir, who told GRAS that he trusted their information and that the details of the agree-ment were secret and should be made available only to the audi-tor general.It is estimated that an average Arab country loses $18 billion per year due to corruption. In Sudan, there is a supervisory body called the NCR, which is a religiously-based commission playing the role of an ombudsman. The NCR is responsible for detecting and addressing corruption. There is also a legal framework designed to combat corruption, including the 2002 Anti-Money Launder-ing Regulations, the 2003 Com-bating Money Laundering Act and the 1989 Illicit and Suspi-cious Enrichment Act, which de-fines enrichment, which is haram or forbidden, in line with sharia law. The latter was enacted to criminalize ìwealth that could be linked to corruption or interest-based earning (illicit enrichment) and wealth whose source cannot be explained (suspicious enrich-ment).î79 Such laws have never been fairly enforced. The NCR is poorly staffed, underfunded and subject to political interference. 80 In 2015, Judge Babikr Ahmed Gishi, the president of a commit-tee responsible for preparation of an anti-corruption bill, argued constitutional and legal immuni-ties for government officials con-stitute serious obstacles for the NCR. According to Mohamed Bushara Dosa, the former minis-ter of justice, 25 per cent of Su-danese have such constitutional and legal immunities. 81 Experts argue that the supervisory insti-tutions in the government are toothless and ineffective.There are two monetary and pric-ing factors that contribute to gold smuggling and inflation: a) There is a disparity between the gold price set by the Central Bank and the market value; b) There is a lack of credible informa-tion available to gold merchants regarding the daily market price of gold which depends on many factors. This tends to make mer-chants hesitant to sell their gold and prompts security authorities to detain gold merchants.To affirm the above factors, let us showcase what took place during the month of February 2013. The Central Bank pur-chased artisanal gold at 280,000 Sudanese pounds (approximately US$42,000) per kg, compared to its international price of 320,000 Sudanese pounds (approximately US$48,000) per kg i.e. the local price was 87.5 per cent of the in-ternational price. According to Alsudani newspaper, the Central Bank policy led to a 75% drop in the amount purchased by the bank, from 200 to 50 kg per day. Having a gold price at 87.5 per cent of the international price, the conditions were set perfectly for gold to be smuggled to South Su-

dan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Chad and Egypt through several uncontrol-lable gold markets far from the capital. 82 Security forces failed to curb gold smuggling, not only due to Sudanís uncontrollable borders, but also due to corrup-tion that starts at the highest level of the security apparatus and ex-tends to the lowest levels. Much of the smuggled gold is carried by hand on commercial airlines leaving little in the way of a pa-per trail.83 Smuggling is a viola-tion of national sovereignty and deprives citizens of their rights. Sometimes, statistics posted by the Ministry of Minerals and the Central Bank of Sudan relating to production of, and trade in, gold are far from accurate. One of the Central Bankís Annual Reports stated that posted statistics in-cluded only products monitored by the Ministry of Minerals.84 The supervisory tools and meas-ures developed by the Central Bank to combat money launder-ing, smuggling and terrorist fi-nancing are ineffective as shown by the gap between gold output and export figures.Legal and regulatory frame-works: Background The gold trade is overseen by the Minis-try of Minerals, which is man-dated to promote investment, protect the environment, ensure the health and safety of miners and the community, and combat smuggling. The Central Bank also plays a role, managing and controlling gold pricing, the gold trade and export and facilitat-ing access to credit. In addition to this institutional framework, there are a number of laws and policies which have an impact on the gold industry. Article 11 of the Interim National Constitu-tion (INC) 2005, amended Janu-ary 2015, requires the govern-ment to protect the environment and provides that the ìState shall

promote, through legislation, sustainable utilization of natural resources and best practices with respect to their management.îThe following land acts and legal documents have given the post-colonial government the sole au-thority to commodify collective land rights by granting gold ex-ploration and mining rights:* The 1970 Unregistered Land Act,* The 1972 Mines and Quarries Act,* 1973 Mines and Quarries Reg-ulations,* 1999 Investment Encourage-ment Act (amended 2000),* 2007 Mineral Resources and Mining Development Act (MRMDA),* 2010 The Organization of Arti-sanal Mining Regulation (OAM-RA),* Procedures for Acquisitions of Exploration and Mining Rights in an Area,* Memoranda of understanding (as a preparation for a conces-sion), and* Final concession agreements.These measures have been rein-forced by the INC amendments of January 2015 which central-ized the power to allocate land for investments in the hands of the president. This move under-mines the essence of a democrat-ic constitution, has made all prin-ciples and best practices of other acts and laws meaningless, inef-ficient and un-transparent. Some of the other legislation relevant to the gold sector are:* The 2015 Minerals Wealth Development and Mining Act (MWDMA), which sets out li-censing requirements, protects the environment and supervises coordination of national and state governments in terms of trade, pricing and taxation. However, the MWDMA has not been en-forced, especially the provisions on protecting the environment and forbidding child labor.* The 2012 Regulation of Tra-ditional Gold Mining Act (RT-GMA) sets processes, procedures, and operational requirements for registering mines, protecting the environment and requires that gold be sold to designated sale points of the Central Bank.* The 2001 Environmental Pro-tection Act (overseen by the High Council for Environment and Natural Resources) provides

practices and procedures to be followed to protect the environ-ment from the hazardous pol-luting materials used in the gold mining sector. Further protec-tions are included in the 2009 Environmental Health Act.The 2010 Child Act, supervised by the responsibility of the Min-istry of Social Welfare, prohibits children under the age of 14 from working, and prohibits the em-ployment of children in danger-ous industries. 1997 Sudan Labor Act (overseen by the Ministry of Labor) specifically forbids the employment of young people in the mining sector.* The 1999 Investment Promo-tion Law and its amendments (supervised by the Ministry of In-vestment) screens and approves companies looking to invest in Sudan and defines the benefits available to private companies investing in the mining sector. It covers both the exploration and mining phases. In the first in-stance, an Exploration Prospect-

ing License is issued.85 Follow-ing a successful exploration, a mining license is awarded to the company, with due registration of the company under the 1925 Sudanese Companies Act.* The Public Corporations Act, amended in 2015, and super-vised by the Ministry of Justice provides further regulations for companies. All the above regulations are rarely enforced and when they are enforced, this is generally not done in favor of underprivileged citizens. There is poor coordina-tion between federal, provincial and local governments and dif-ferent departments.Lack of transparency in the regulatory system The Central Bankís foreign ex-change policy makes access to foreign currency accounts in private commercial banks cum-bersome. The widespread cor-ruption in many sectors worsens the economic situation and con-tributes to the depletion of hard

currency reserves. Chronic hard currency shortages persist de-spite good profits from the export of crude oil before 2012. Without institutional transparency and clear enforcement mechanisms, legislation, including anti-money laundering legislation, will not make any difference. Indeed, Sudanís laws are often robust, but the Sudanese judicial system lacks independence and is unable to enforce them. The judicial sys-tem is ìwidely regarded as con-trolled by the executive branch. Courts cannot be relied upon to deliver objective rulings, espe-cially in sensitive or high-level cases [...] The judiciary, being influenced by other branches of government, exercises little in-dependence, and is widely per-ceived as corrupt.î Moreover, the judiciary is subject to various forms of political interference and is undermined by lack of resources, corruption, poor in-frastructure, inadequate training, and low salaries.A good example for the lack of rules and regulation enforce-ment, is the case of the Russian gold company, Siberian Golden Stone, which failed to pay a $5 billion-dollar investment guar-antee and hence, breached the investment contract that it has signed in 2015. This reveals a lack of accountability in the deal which was blessed and orches-trated at a governmental level between Russia and Sudan in 2013.The multiplicity of ministries, departments and pieces of leg-islation to support and serve the gold mining sector have failed to produce effective results. The coordination mechanisms verti-cally between the three levels of governments or the horizon-tally among federal departments are ineffective due to the lack of planning, policies, and transpar-ency and the existence of corrupt influential power pockets within the ruling circles who interfere in operations. Complicated and slow bureaucratic procedures add insult to injury.

By: Elfadil Elsharief Elhashmi

Sudan Transparency Initiative (STI)

Corruption and lack of transparency and accountability dom-inates the discourse on the gold sector in Sudan. In undemo-cratic and kleptocratic political systems, corruption plays a crucial role in granting gold concessions, as well as in the export and smuggling of gold. This has an impact on the dis-tribution of wealth and power, as well as socioeconomic life, health and safety in Sudan.

Weak and Corrupt Judicial System also facilitates corruption as the Ministry of Justice regulates competition

LAST PAGE SUNDAY5th May, 2019 - 30th Shaaban,1440

Published By: Byader Media Distribution Co.Ltd. - Printed by: Martyr Major Osman Omer.

Quote of the Day:

Japanís New Emperor Urges World Peace in First Public Speech

BRIEF

«Things are always better in the morning.» Harper Lee

A family disembarks from an Italian military aircraft arriving from Misrata, Libya, at Pratica di Mare military airport, near Rome, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP)

US Film Director John Singleton Dead at Age 51

Judge Rules Nazi-looted Pissarro Belongs to Museum, not Survivors of Original Owner

Lebanese Artist Shortlisted for Prestigious Turner Prize 2019Reuters

LOS ANGELES: John Singleton, who made his movie directorial debut with the acclaimed ìBoyz n the Hoodî about young men struggling in a gang-ridden Los Angeles neigh-borhood, died on Monday at the age of 51, his fam-ily said. Singleton recently suffered a stroke, a family spokeswoman said.ìWe are sad to relay that John Singleton has died,î a statement from the fam-ily said. ìJohn passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family and friends.îEarlier on Monday, the family said it had made

the ìagonizing decisionî to withdraw life support from Singleton.Singleton was a native of South Central Los Ange-les, the community that was the setting for ìBoyz n

the Hood,î a drama about friendship amid the peril of gang violence.He became the first Af-rican-American and the youngest person to be nominated for an Academy

award for best director, at age 24, for the movie.Singleton later directed movies such as action film ì2 Fast 2 Furiousî and his-torical drama ìRosewood.î He is the creator and ex-ecutive producer of cur-rent cable TV series ìS-nowfallî about the start of the cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. His fam-ily said Singleton ìis a prolific, ground-breaking director who changed the game and opened doors in Hollywood, a world that was just a few miles away, yet worlds away, from the neighborhood in which he grew up.î

RFIA federal judge in Los An-geles has ruled that a Span-ish museum that acquired a painting by Camille Pis-sarro in 1992 is the work>s rightful owner, and not the descendants of the Jewish woman who surrendered it to escape the Holocaust.On Tuesday, US District Judge John F Walter said he found no evidence that the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid knew

the painting was looted art in 1993 when it bought the collection of the German industrialist for whom the museum is named. Though the judge did criticise Bar-on Hans-Heinrich Thys-sen-Bornemisza for not doing all the due diligence he could when he bought the painting in 1976.The painting, ëRue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluieí, depicts a rainy Paris street scene Pissarro

saw from his window in 1897. Lilly Cassirer, a German Jewish woman, acquired it from her fa-ther in law, who bought it directly from Pisarroís art dealer in 1900.When Cassirer and her

family fled Germany in 1939, she traded the paint-ing to secure their passage out of the country.The German government paid reparations to the family in 1958, assuming the painting was lost.

Arab NewsDUBAI: The artists short-listed for the coveted Turner Prize 2019 were announced on Wednesday morning, with Lebanese artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan scoring a nod.The press conference was held at the Tate Britain in London, with the prize set to be announced on Dec. 3.This yearís shortlisted artists, who were announced today at Tate Britain, include Abu Ham-dan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani.Abu Hamdan was shortlisted for his solo exhibition ìEarwitness Theatreî and for the video instal-lation ìWalled Unwalled: and performance After SFX at Tate Modern, London. Abu Ham-danís work investigates crimes that have been heard and not seen; exploring the processes of reconstruction, the complexity

of memory and language as well as the urgency of human rights and advocacy. Cammockís work explores social histories through film, photography, print, text and performance. Creating lay-ered narratives that allow for the cyclical nature of history to be revealed, her work ìThe Long Noteî looks at the history and the role of women in the civil rights movement in Londonderry.The jury praised the way Murillo pushes the boundaries of materi-als, particularly in his paintings. His work incorporates a variety of techniques and media includ-ing painting, drawing, perform-ance, sculpture and sound, of-ten using recycled materials and fragments from his studio, according to the Turner Prize website.Shaniís ongoing project ìDark Continentî combines his-torical texts with contemporary references and issues.

AFPTOKYO: Emperor Naruhito urged Japan to work together for world peace as he made his first public appearance Satur-day in front of a cheer-ing, flag-waving crowd of tens of thousands.ìI sincerely wish that our country, hand-in-hand with foreign countries, seeks world peace and further development,î said the 59-year-old Naruhito, who ascend-ed the Chrysanthemum Throne Wednesday.Japanís 126th emperor wore a morning coat to make the brief appear-ance on a glass-covered balcony of the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo, along with other adult royals including Empress Masako.Masako donned an ele-gant yellow, long-sleeved dress with a matching hat and pearl necklace.Emperor and empress emeritus, Akihito and Michiko, did not join their children as they have decided to with-draw from official duties after their three-decade reign.Akihito, 85, was the first Japanese emperor to ab-dicate in more than two centuries.The royal family were scheduled to make a to-tal of six appearances throughout the day, with some 50,000 people gathered before the main gate of the palace before the first one, according to national broadcaster NHK.More elaborate festivities are planned for October 22 when he and Masako will appear in traditional robes for a palace cer-emony before parading through the streets of To-kyo to be congratulated by a host of world lead-ers and royals.

Sweet Corn: Essential Component of Traditional Sudanese DishesBy: Rogia al-Shafee - SudanowKHARTOUM - Sweet corn (locally known as ìAish-Arreefî) is quickly becoming one of the most important cereal crops of Sudan. It is traditionally grown as human and animal feed. But recently it has become subject to a great popular demand to the extent that it now represents an essential component of many traditional Sudanese dishes such as ìBakombaî.Bakomba is a delicious Sudanese traditional dish made of boiled sweet corn mixed with milk, custard, raisins, coconut powder and sugar, and is served cold.Sweet corn is also used in preparing the fa-mous white ìAabriî drink, especially made as a thirst nourishing drink during Ramadan (fasting month) and in summer season.Grinded and dried sweet corn is used as yeast paste to prepare the local dish of ìAseedaî that is particularly served at weddings and other festivity occasions in Sudan. Special grind-ing mills have been established in Omdur-man City to produce this yeast paste. Some tribes at certain parts of Sudan mix this sweet corn paste with yoghurt and peanut cream and use it as nourishing complementary food for small children and old people.Starch sweet corn is also mixed with green peas as protein-rich pie filling instead of minced meat. Sweet corn starch is also mixed with wheat to make local bread.Sweet corn is grown in central and eastern parts of Sudan, the Blue Nile and White Nile states, as well as in Kordufan, and Khartoum states.It is worth noting that there is now a great

demand on sweet corn in regional and inter-national markets.In addition to their value as animal feed, sweet corn stems are sometimes bound to-gether and used as house walls and fences at certain rural areas of Sudan. They are also used to produce bio-energy fuel.To explore the economic value of sweet corn, Sudanow talked to agro-economic expert, Dr. Al-Fatih Mohammed Saeed, who owns a number of sweet corn schemes where he confirmed Sudanís great potential as interna-tional sweet corn producer. He also explained that sweet corn may be cultivated at different seasons reiterating the fact that rain-fed areas represent fertile cultivation land for sweet corn.

Dr. Al-Fatih further added that sweet corn is now being cultivated as self-sufficient crop, but plans are under way to cultivate sweet corn crop on much larger scale for export purposes, especially in light of global market demand on sweet corn to fill in the gap in wheat production.Dr. Al-Fatih referred to a Turkish company that heavily invests in large-scale cultivation of sweet corn for export purpose in Sudan, a move that will subsidize Sudanís GDP, se-cure self-sufficiency of the crop and increase the countryís hard currency reserves.Sweet corn is of high nutritional value and may be consumed as boiled, or baked on coal. It is definitely a safer and healthier al-ternative of the fast junk foods that are be-

ing sold by street vendors in many cities and town of Sudan. It is noticed that many school students now prefer to eat baked or boiled sweet corn as sold by street vendors.Sweet corn is packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. It contains many variants of Vitamin B including B1, B5 and B12, and therefore it is very effective in curing anemia symptoms and enhancing the nerve system.It helps cure colon cancer and is also a rec-ommended diet for diabetic people.It is also relatively low in protein and fat and helps reduce harmful cholesterol percentage in the blood. Due to its impressive nutrient profile, most people can benefit from eating whole corn and popcorn as part of a balanced diet. Itís also a naturally gluten-free food and can be eaten by those who are advised to avoid gluten.Sweet corn is useful for a human body in many ways, as it ensures idyllic functioning of several internal systems such as cell gen-eration system. It is especially useful during pregnancy period as it contains folic acid.Being rich in antioxidants, sweet corn there-fore is useful in preventing the aging process. It helps cure bladder infections and acts as soothing tranquilizer. It is also very effective in stopping nasal hemorrhage.On the cosmetic level, regular body massage with corn oil achieves considerable enhance-ment in skin texture. Being a host of essential minerals and vitamins, regular consumption of sweet corn also ensures radiant skin and good vision. Also, owing to its high vitamin E content, a paste created with sweet corn can work wonders to remove facial acne scars.