11/9/2008

UAE’s Bin Omeir eyes $300 mln sugar plant in Sudan
Abu Dhabi-based private group Bin Omeir Holding is considering to invest $300 million to build a sugar refinery in Sudan and may plan further projects in the country, a Sudanese embassy official said on Wednesday.

The plant would produce 100,000 tonnes of sugar and 20 million litres of ethanol a year in the White Nile province of Sudan, said Nour Al-Huda Abdul Alim, economic adviser at the Sudanese embassy in Abu Dhabi.

A company official who asked not to be named confirmed the report, without giving details.
Bin Omeir Holding, a large family-owned business group based in Abu Dhabi, has investments in automobile dealerships, tourism, export and import, financial sector and other businesses.

“They are planning to expand their investments there in the future,” Abdul Alim said.

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Gov’t approves stay in Romania of 41 refugees from Eritrea
The Romanian Office for Immigration will issue identity cards to these persons. The documents will encompass a range of security elements adjusted depending on the EU regulations in the field, reads the aforementioned documents.
The entry to Romania of these persons is allowed only with the approval of the general manager of the Romanian Office for Immigration with the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform, after the specific checkups which should prove that the people do not pose threat to national safety of public order in Romania, reads the release.

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She urged greater support for the small UN mission in Sudan, known by its acronym UNMIS, which has been accused of failing to protect civilians during heavy armed clashes in the oil-rich town of Abyei in May.
Thousands of civilians fled their homes during the fighting, during which Sudanese troops reportedly went on a looting and burning spree, leaving at least 68 people dead.
“The United Nations did not have the means to contain two major armies with heavy weaponry and intervene as forcefully as they might have wanted to,” Samar said.
“In the wake of the events in Abyei, it is essential that the United Nations provide clearer and more practically applicable guidance on how exactly UNMIS implements issues of protection of civilians under its mandate.”