Al Mahdi: Port Sudan Authority begs the Arabs as gold revenue is squandered on war and corruption
The head of the Umma Party, Mubarak Al-Fadil Al-Mahdi, criticized the military delegation in Port Sudan’s request from the Arab Summit in Baghdad to assist in restoring basic electricity and water infrastructure, to support the health and education sectors, in addition to pushing for an Arab initiative to achieve political transition in Sudan.
Al-Fadil shared in a post on the (X) platform that the summit is neither the place nor the time for such demands, as the civil war is still raging in Sudan. He added that the Port Sudan delegation is “begging for support” while ($7 billion) in gold revenue is being wasted on war and squandered on corruption. He explained that former Sudanese President, Gaafar an-Nimeiry initiated this begging habit and was rewarded for eliminating the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) with ($6 billion) in loans, which he promptly squandered, leaving the nation with a debt that, with interest, has now reached ($60 billion).
Al-Mahdi continued: “Al-Bashir and his National Congress Party -kizan- took control and proceeded to squander oil revenues that amounted to ($70 billion) in ten years, an amount sufficient to transform Sudan into the world’s food basket. However, in the final years of his rule, Al-Bashir ended up waiting for bags of dollars brought to him by his office manager from his brothers in the Gulf, the last of which was a bag containing ($50 million).”
Al-Fadil believes that the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, along with his colleagues are repeating the same mistakes. “They appointed an Islamist Ambassador as an acting Prime Minister. Instead of first summoning him to Sudan, asking his opinion, and then announcing his appointment, they appointed him while he was still at work. Instead of returning to his duties, our appointed Prime Minister waited for an appointment with officials at his former place of work to ask permission and bid them farewell.”
In conclusion, the head of the Umma Party went on to state: “Brothers, have mercy on us and stop this absurd war. You have ruined our reputation. Half of our people are displaced, and the other half are starving, unemployed, and medically unfit They cannot even find a sip of water… Sudan has become fragile and won’t be able to withstand another totalitarian military rule following (50 years) of similar conditions… We ought to build a professional national army, free from politics, achieve comprehensive national reconciliation, dissolve all militias, and return to the path of civilian rule. We ought to implement the Jeddah Agreement and the Manama Framework Agreement as the key measure leading to Sudan’s recovery.”
