Sudan not ready to host AU summit
By Alfred Taban, The Khartoum Monitor
Nov 29, 2005 — Does Sudan have the ability to host the next African Union (AU) summit? This is the question many Sudanese are asking. The answer to that question is obvious and it is clear Sudan can ill afford to host an AU smmit.
Desptie the oil income that is flowing in, Sudan is still a country burderned by its past. It owes the international community almost 30bn. The country does not have the money to pay even a small part of the interest on its loans.
Southern Sudan lies in ruins and it looks more like a museum, rather than a country in the making.
Darfur and eastern Sudan are nothing but mountains, rocks, scrubs and misery. Why did Sudan call for the donor conference in Oslo if it has the resources and money to develop southern Sudan and Darfur? Who is Sudan trying to impress by hosting the AU summit? Are the AU guests going to enjoy their meals in Khartoum when they will see through their television sets that over two million people in Darfur are totally dependent on foreign food aid?
How will they feel in their air conditioned rooms and meeting halls when people in Juba, including ministers are staying in tents?
The huge building being erected for the summit is a terrible misuse of resources.
Khartoum has already more than its fair share of buildings, roads and other services. The concentration of resources and services in the centre of the country, especially Khartoum is recognized as the main source of the conflict in Sudan. Now instead of moving towards ending that imbalance, the government makes the situtation worse by widening the gulf between rural Sudan and Khartoum.
Who is the government trying to impress? You cannot eat prestige, neither can you live in it. The AU is also suppsed to be resolving conflicts.
The government in Kharoum is part of the conflict in Darfur and Khartoum cannot therefore be a neutral venue for conflict resolution.
We like visitors but we are not going to invite guests when our house is in a mess and we have little food even for ourselves. Let us not deceive ourselves.