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On Monday, June 20, the chairman of Sudan’s private conglomerate and the DAL Group, the country’s largest private company, revealed that he and the United Arab Emirates will build a new Red Sea port in Sudan as part of a $6 billion investment project. DAL Osama Daoud Abdellatif, chairman of the group and partner in the deal, noted that the package includes a free trade zone, a large agricultural project and an upcoming deposit of $300 million to Sudan’s central bank. Sudanese leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed agreed on the outlines of a new deal during a recent visit to the UAE, which has been since the military takeover of the country in October. The first announced investment in Sudan since 2021.
The $4 billion port, which will be able to handle multiple commodities and compete with the country’s main national port Port Sudan, is a joint project between DAL Group and Abu Dhabi Ports, owned by Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ. The new port, located about 124 miles (200 kilometers) north of Port Sudan, will also include a free trade and industrial zone modeled after Dubai’s Jebel Ali, as well as a small international airport. The $1.6 billion expansion and development of the agricultural project will be undertaken by Abu Dhabi conglomerate IHC and DAL Agriculture, based in the northern Sudanese town of Abu Hamad. Alfalfa, wheat, cotton, sesame and other crops will be grown and processed on 400,000 acres of leased land. With funding from the Abu Dhabi Development Fund, a 310-mile (500-kilometer) toll road will also be built to connect the project to the port.
Western donors suspended billions of dollars in aid and investment in Sudan following the October 2021 coup, plunging an already struggling economy into further turmoil and depriving the government of much-needed foreign exchange. This was done to force the coup leaders to return to civilian rule and to support the country’s democratic transition process. In a tweet on Monday, CSIS Africa senior associate Cameron Hudson said the deal amounted to “a thumbs up for US and international efforts to prevent the junta from getting a financial lifeline until political negotiations are over.”
Port Sudan, Sudan’s largest port and major commercial and trade hub with an important oil export terminal, has been suffering from infrastructure challenges and was closed late last year due to a six-week political blockade that lost major international Shipper’s business. “The UAE wants a stable Sudan so they can make more and more of these investments, but we won’t wait for everything to be perfect,” Abdellatif said.
Rumours of investment in agricultural projects in Port Sudan and other parts of the country in the Gulf continue to spark outcry and protests, especially in the eastern part of the country. As Sudan’s economy continues to decline, a new UAE-backed port is bound to undermine the financial viability of Port Sudan, allowing UAE ports to conduct business without much competition. Furthermore, many of the new Gulf-Horn relationships are highly asymmetric and driven more by Gulf than African interests.
The Emirati port being built off the coast of Sudan finally secures vital Gulf control over the Red Sea, where both the UAE and Saudi Arabia could establish military bases given the ongoing Yemeni civil war. Gulf states are injecting resources and exporting competition into the Horn of Africa, which could further destabilize local politics. so, Horn of Africa and Western policymakers should seek to limit intra-Gulf disputes in Africa by expanding the role of regional multilateral organizations to increase the bargaining power of Horn of Africa states. Allies should also convince Gulf states that their actions are not conducive to ensuring the long-term security of the entire Red Sea basin.
On October 25, 2021, the Sudanese military arrested at least five senior Sudanese government officials. Later in the day, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared a state of emergency and announced the dissolution of the government and the Sovereign Council. In a televised address to the nation, Burhan announced that the new technocratic government will lead Sudan until the next elections in July 2023.Decades of war, isolation and sanctions have long been blamed for Sudan’s economic crisis. The crisis had shown signs of abating before the coup, but now the Sudanese people face another humanitarian crisis, with renewed violence in the country and rising levels of hunger in the country.
Ultimately, the immediate priority of the international community should be to stabilize Sudan economically and politically by forcing the current authoritarian regime to step down and promoting a democratic government. The normalization of relations in the Gulf with Sudan’s current government will seriously hinder the country’s efforts to restore democracy and economic stability.TonGulf states must be convinced that, while competition and confrontation in the Horn of Africa may help their immediate political and commercial goals, it is equally likely to hinder long-term stability in the region and ultimately be detrimental to themselves.
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