Why Did You Have To Remind Me Barsawad?

Posted on July 21, 2007
Filed Under Sudan |

Omar Barsawad wrote this on his blog:

For me, Sudan is an enigma. Of all the Arab countries, Sudan could easily have been one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest. It has all the necessary resources to achieve that: an educated and hard working people, abundant arable land, abundant water and many minerals. And plenty of sunshine. And now: oil. Not only that - Sudan is the only Arab country that, honestly and truly, tried to take a real democratic path. And failed. Why? What went wrong? Why didn’t it continue with that democratic process?

Sudan, not only has plenty of oil now; but it too, has one of the world’s largest sugarcane plantations: the Kenana Sugar Company. Sugar cane, which ethanol is derived from. Ethanol which seems, now, to be the fuel of the future. Even though Sudan has oil: why doesn’t it start an ethanol programme similar to Brazil’s? And become an ethanol power? And: like all Arab countries, Sudan has abundant sunshine, which too - Sudan can use to its advantage. Like the U.A.E’s wise decision to tap Solar power, though it has huge oil reserves - Sudan too, can exploit its other most important energy resources: sugarcane and the Sun. Imagine what would be of Sudan if it can use all these resources wisely and constructively. But first, Sudan has to get its house in order and in peace.

Gee, thanks for reminding me. I feel better already. Sigh!

Comments

6 Responses to “Why Did You Have To Remind Me Barsawad?”

  1. tsedek on July 21st, 2007 5:34 pm

    :(

    sad, really sad…

    still, really: what exactly can be pointed at as being the catalysator for things going wrong?

    maybe that’s where the answer lies as well?

  2. Barsawad on July 22nd, 2007 12:04 pm

    Just in Time! You know, some times it’s difficult accessing your site (for me - I some times have such problems with Wordpress blogs); but right now I managed and there I saw ‘Barsawad’ and I wondered: what is Drima up to now?

    Well Brother, I love Sudan; love it with all my heart; and I have many Sudanese friends. If there’s any other Arab country I can choose to live in apart from my own Yemen, then Sudan will be one (apart from Morocco and Qatar). A few days after writing that post, while I was reading more on Sudan - I came across articles on how Sudan is getting on with an Ethanol project (I added a footnote about that). I hope, Sudan focuses too on Solar energy; and of course - getting Sudan back to democracy and peace.

    Hey Drima: you forgot to change the link for my blog on your side box.

  3. Howie on July 23rd, 2007 5:38 pm

    The people have little organization…little power, minimal input and no free press. The government has no accountability…

    So…will the government invest in longer term solutions that will benefit all…Southerners? Darfurians? OR will they take a the fast route to exploiting the oil and making gazillions of dollars very quickly…

    Hmmm?

    You know…I always hear people bash the USA…and not without cause…we have done bad things…but just wait until you see what happens when Bashir sells out to China…Man if you think Americans are cruel, racist, arrogant and dirty dealers…just wait

  4. Finnpundit on July 24th, 2007 1:49 am

    Hmmm. I don’t really think that Sudan is such an exceptional disaster, development-wise, as most Arab countries share that distinction.

    To answer the question of what went wrong, it would be useful to poise that question in terms of all the Arab countries, as a whole. And the best answer was given by some historians who specialize in the history of economic development:

    I’ll try to locate the source (if anyone’s interested) but the root cause was found to be the Arab world’s inability to form corporations, as they were developed in Venice and Northern Italy in the 1300’s. Arab society always conducted large-scale businesses within extended families and clans, and never sought structures which bound totally disinterested parties together in business, like western corporations did, and do today.

    This single difference was seen as the main reason for the ascendancy of the West, to the point where world domination by the West was possible.

  5. Howie on July 24th, 2007 3:58 pm

    Finnpudit-

    I think it also involved the fact that Arabs insulated themselves from the world and saw themselves as superior…they were the leaders in technology and academics for awhile then shut themselves off and the world just passed them by. The resisted having embassies in foreign countries and were rather xenophobic. To this day…they have resisted allowing the freedoms necessary for a country to experiement, share ideas, communicate, explore etc.

    It is called paranoia, arrogance and shooting yourself in the foot. And don’t start with the colonialism and imperialism kept us down crap. Islam with “the” colonialist and imperialist nearly 1000 years. How much of their youth, money and energy was wasted on trying to conquer frekin Vienna or whatever?

  6. Howie on July 24th, 2007 9:34 pm

    Islam WAS the colonialist/imperialist…not “with”

    I hate reading over my own stuff

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