Browsing: Sudan

• Sudan’s humanitarian crisis is the worst in recent history, according to the United Nations.
• One-third of Sudan’s population, that is, 18 million people, are facing acute food insecurity, while 730,000 Sudanese children are believed to be suffering from severe malnutrition.
• World Food Programme(WFP) has delivered food to over 5.2 million people within Sudan since conflicts started in April.

Sudan’s humanitarian crisis

The United Nations Humanitarian Office has warned that Sudan is on the verge of facing the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history. Key drivers of this situation include intensified conflict and growing inter-communal violence, an economic crisis, soaring prices of food, fuel and essential goods, and below-average agricultural production.

“By all measures – the sheer scale of humanitarian needs, the numbers of people displaced and facing hunger – Sudan is one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory,” Edem Wosornu, director of operations at the UN Office for …

The whereabouts of Joseph Kony, the infamous leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), remains one of the most enduring mysteries in international justice and African politics. Despite extensive efforts to capture him, Kony continues to evade justice, with his exact location a subject of much speculation and few definitive answers.…

• The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) impact on downstream nations Egypt and Sudan has turned the project into a geopolitical hotspot.
• The three countries expect to find common ground on the Nile dam’s construction in about four months.
• Egypt’s concerns are rooted in its dependence on the Nile waters for the livelihoods of its over 100 million people.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), perched on the Blue Nile, stands as a symbol of Ethiopia’s ambitions for progress, energy independence, and economic growth. However, the $4.6 billion dam’s colossal impact on downstream nations, particularly Egypt and Sudan, has transformed this engineering marvel into a geopolitical hotspot.

Negotiations over the fate of the GERD are back on, with leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan expressing their intent to find common ground within a four-month window.

The stakes are high. Egypt relies on the Nile’s waters for agricultural sustenance and the livelihoods …

• Ongoing wars in Africa are bleeding billions from poor economies as investors flee the region.
• Sudan army is spending about $1.5 million per day fighting the Rapid Support Forces.
• IMF says Ethiopia’s GDP contracted from 9 percent in 2019 to 6.1 percent in 2020 as Tigray war intensified.

Wars in Africa are costing an arm and a leg, and throwing an awful wrench on poor economies that are hardly providing the bare minimum to their citizens. Take for instance the latest ongoing war in Sudan. Sudan Tribune notes that it is costing roughly $1.5 million every day for the Sudanese army to fight the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

For Sudan, a country whose poverty rate rose from 64.6 percent in 2021 to 66.1 percent last year, $1.5 million is a huge sum of money to be wasted on senseless fighting.

Wars in Africa yielding economic crisis

Sudan is one of …

• The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan has received a $100 million contribution from the World Bank to assist with critical emergency cash and food sustenance in Sudan
• The Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project aims to provide cash transfers and food for over two million people across the impoverished and crisis-wracked nation
• The country’s economic and political crisis has grown more intense due to rising inflation, conflict and displacement

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan has received a $100 million contribution from the World Bank to assist with critical emergency cash and food sustenance in Sudan.

In the first-ever direct contribution between the two UN agencies in the country, the Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project aims to provide cash transfers and food for more than two million people across the impoverished and crisis-wracked nation, including those internally displaced.

“WFP is extremely grateful to the World Bank for …

• Agriculture is contributes 23 percent of African GDP, Mckinsey 2019
• At least 43.8 percent of people are employed in the agriculture sector
• Only 5-6 percent of arable land in Africa is irrigated

Agriculture in Africa has not only an economic value but a cultural significance.  It is time to transform the economy and lives of African farmers. Africa is home to nearly 60 percent of the world’s arable land. Over the past decade, African agriculture has faced a number of shocks which beg for technological transformation. Farming in Africa contributes greatly to the welfare of most rural-based populations.

Despite the standing potential, productivity in Africa is lagging; hence, the role of modern technology stands to draw billions into it.Africa imports some food items abroad, such as wheat from war-entangled nations Ukraine and Russia, causing severe food insecurity issues for financially constrained nations such as Sudan.

Agriculture is not only the …

The food security situation is critical and demands international attention–which is lagging. According to Africa News, at least 400,000 tonnes of wheat won’t be sent to Sudan by the USA as promised in 2022.

The devastating impacts of civil conflicts, insecurity, drought have crippled Sudan’s food systems. The latter is responsible for displacing at least 1.9 million people across Sudan (UN).

The recent situation report by Reliefweb on Sudan food security reinforces the current trend of concern.

According to the report, displacement scenarios observed due to political instability affect agricultural operations significantly impacts cereal and non-cereal food prices.…

For survival, businesses need to guard against the negative effect of the elections by geographically diversifying their revenue streams. Revenue streams from different sources could help balance fluctuations.

While not all businesses are able to this, there is the need to come up with plans to cushion their businesses.

In order to plan effectively, it is critical to first assess the threat at hand. Some firms, such as those that provide critical goods and services, may be less adversely affected than others. A company’s sales may actually grow during election time especially for those working in the printing sector since they can produce campaign materials like posters and t-shirts. …

• The costs for South Sudan conflicts could reach a staggering range of between $22 billion and $28 billion over the next five years. 
• The cost of war shockingly overpowers the new nation’s 2021/2022 fiscal budget of around $2 billion.
• Poverty is ravaging South Sudan. South Sudanese people lack basic essential services, poor housing, land and property issues limit people returning home in large numbers

Numbers have been a better tool in analysing a very complex scenario, and in this case, South Sudan conflicts put it at a disadvantage economically.  

According to a 2015 Oxfam report, depending on the intensity of the conflict, the costs for South Sudan conflicts could reach a staggering range of between $22 billion and $28 billion over the next five years. 

The cost of war shockingly overpowers the new nation’s 2021/2022 fiscal budget of around $2 billion. These numbers show how wars suck the life out …

In 1991, Ethiopia was among the poorest in the world having endured a devastating famine and civil war in the 1980s and by 2020 it was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world averaging 9.9 per cent of broad-based growth per year.
The GERD will help secure the future water supply not only in the Nile Basin but in the entire region, thereby curbing the occurrence of severe drought and famine.
The flow of the River Nile has been nothing but winding, peacefully meandering its way downstream, oblivious of the decade-old tension that besieges its much-needed waters.
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are neighbours that have been embroiled in a row over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile causing a diplomatic standoff among the countries.
Being the longest river in Africa, the Nile bears paramount significance across several African nations that …