October 16, 2009

President of Sudan given information about the needs of the east

From Sudan Vision Daily

Al-Bashir Calls for more Concern with Socio-Economic Development in East Sudan
Posted on Thursday, October 15 @ 11:29:56 BST by admin

  Khartoum - SUNA
President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer Al-Bashir, has called for concern with the socio-economic development in east Sudan. This came when he received in his office Tuesday the Presidential Advisor, Dr. Amina Dirar, who acquainted him on the implementation of East Sudan peace agreement.

In a statement to SUNA after the meeting, Dr. Amina Dirar referred to preparations to hold a donors conference toward pushing ahead the economic development process, combating poverty and providing basic services such as education, health and water in east Sudan.

Comment: The East Sudan Peace Agreement was signed in November 2006, between the national government and representatives of the Eastern Front, in Asmara, Eritrea. One of the items in the Agreement was that an Eastern Front person [preferably a Beja] would be appointed as Presidential Advisor. Another was that $600 million would be made available for development in the east, spread over a few years.

Do Eastern Front representatives actually have capacity for spending $100 million per year?

Now it appears that a donors conference is being developed. If it is about recruiting more funds, that would difficult to justify unless clear accounts of previous expenditures were made known. If it is about donors offering expertise and resources to fulfill the plans for removing the marginalization of the East, that may be of real value in bringing people and organizations together that could make a real difference.

It is certainly good news that President Bashir is calling for action.

The very question of fulfilling the ESPA has been raised previously on this blog

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