US investors visit Sudan to explore business opportunities
By Wasil Ali
May 28, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A group of US businessmen is in Khartoum to explore business opportunities in different sectors, Sudanese media reported.
The visit was organized by the Sudanese investment ministry to a group of 23 American investors working in the fields of agriculture, manufacturing, dam construction, education and health.
The United States under Clinton’s administration imposed economic sanctions against Sudan in 1997 because of the country’s alleged support of international terrorist activities. The order prohibits the imports of Sudanese goods or exports of US technology and goods to the East African nation.
President Bush strengthened the existing sanctions against Sudan in October 2006 in accordance with the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006 passed by the congress.
Sudanese media quoted the head of the US delegation as saying that the situation in Sudan is “different from the way it is portrayed in the world media”. He said that “greed and the desire to control the great resources present in Sudan” are the motives behind the negative media campaign against Khartoum. The head of the US delegation went further to accuse the west of attempting to “enter Sudan through the UN forces”.
The Sudanese media did not disclose the identities of the US delegation members apparently to prevent their questioning by US treasury. However sources tell Sudan Tribune that the delegation is led by Akbar Muhammad the international representative of the US Black Muslim movement, Nation of Islam. Muhammad is also regarded as the possible successor to the ailing leader of the Nation of Islam Luis Farrakhan.
The extensive media coverage of the visit highlights the eagerness by Khartoum to have US firms pressure Washington to lift sanctions imposed since 1997. The Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir has expressed his frustration that US sanctions against his country are an obstacle to economic development.
Last week the Sudanese daily Al-Rayaam quoted the Sudanese envoy to Washington John Ukec as saying that a number of US oil companies have expressed a desire “to bridge the gap in the relations between the two Khartoum and Washington”.
Al-Rayaam also quoted unidentified senior Sudanese official as saying that these oil companies believe that their interests “have been hurt by its country’s decision to impose an economic embargo on Sudan”.
Last month President Bush unveiled a sanctions package against Khartoum if it doesn’t agree to the proposed deployment of a “hybrid” force of 20,000 United Nations and AU peacekeepers and police officers to the troubled western region of Darfur.
Among a list of things, Bush said that the Treasury Department would add 29 companies owned or controlled by the Sudanese government to a list that will make it a crime for American companies and individuals to do business with them.
(ST)