Dinka Bor Cultural Wrestling: Ajang Garang Vs Mayen Reech Akuak

South Sudan: Cuei-keer plain victory over Aboudit in wrestling

By Majur Deng Nhial

Wuncuei/Gaakyoum (Borglobe) – it has been almost a year, pulling a string between the two athletes Ajang Garang Atan and Mayen Reech Akuak over a cultural wrestling on who to defeat who, but on Wednesday truth came to light that Mayen lost undoubtedly to his opponent Ajang in a friendly play at Wuncuei, a part of the Bor Town in Jonglei State. Local administration threatened the event at Freedom Square field on Tuesday by orders of the Commissioner Maker Lual for security purposes. However, the interested sporting teams relocated to Wuncuei.

From one side of the story, seven members of Cuei-keer are allegedly won a victory in a straight chain, making it worst than useless to its monotony according to the source.
Ajang Garang vs. Mayen Reech; won-lost
Ajith Nyakuoi vs. Amol Majak; won-lost
Ghai Tiar vs. Madior Amum; won-lost

Agau Kuol, and three other gentlemen also won in the latest confrontation match between Aboudit and Cuei-keer. The worst experience for Mayen Reech in his career with his squad team in Aboudit history was witnessed on Wednesday. Critics earlier asserted that the wrestling was poorly thought out in its arrangement. Ooh! Ooh! Ajang remains to cough in the area, but could he dare to face Majok Jok-riir? Need wrestling keys? Submit your paper to Ajang Garang Atan and good luck!

Dinka (Jieng) Wrestling: Dinka Twic (East) Vs. Dinka Bor of Jonglei State

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZukdpkgU0k&feature=related

Women rapists terrorise men in Zimbabwe

By KITSEPILE NYATHI NATION Correspondent

Posted Monday, August 8 2011 at 20:15

Police have said the women cannot be charged with rape because Zimbabwean law does not recognise that women can rape men
Harare, Monday

Cases of men who have been sexually abused by women are common in the country and hardly a week passes without such a report being made in the media.

Police in Zimbabwe are on the trail of a group of women who have been raping men, usually at gunpoint, since last year.

The motives of these women are not known, but there is speculation that they may be doing this for ritual purposes.

Indecently assaulting

“We appeal to members of the public to pass any information to the police regarding three women who have gone on a spree of kidnapping and indecently assaulting young men around town,” Harare police boss Angeline Guvamombe said in a statement.

“The women drive in posh cars and offer their unsuspecting victims lifts before spraying some liquid substance on their faces.

“Once the victim is drowsy, he is taken to a secluded place or house where he is forced to have sex,” said Ms Guvamombe. “I want to warn these criminals that their days are numbered,” she added.

On Monday, the Herald reported that two men were kidnapped last week and forced to have sex with women at gunpoint.

In one of the incidents, a 30-year-old man was kidnapped by three women and forced to have sex with them for five days.

In some cases, the women use protection and collect the men’s sperm, leading to speculation that they were in the activity for ritual purposes.

At times, the women are helped by armed men.

Since the strange rape cases began sometime last year, no one has been arrested.

Police have said the women cannot be charged with rape because Zimbabwean law does not recognise that women can rape men.

But they will be charged with indecent assault, which carries a lesser sentence.

South Sudan Job Vacancy:

Dear all,

Johanniter International Assistance is currently recruiting for the position of: Country Director (South Sudan).

We welcome applications until 15 August 2011, all details can be found here:

http://www.johanniter.de/die-johanniter/johanniter-unfall-hilfe/home/news-and-resources/jobs/country-director-mf-for-south-sudan/

Please spread the word and do not hesitate to contact me for further questions.

Thank you very much.

With kind regards,

Annika Kunze

Projektkoordinatorin Afrika/

Desk Officer Africa

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Currency Exchange Proceeds

South Sudan Central Bank Governor says 75 percent of old banknotes have been traded in

LTR Basic VOA Training User 2 | Juba, South Sudan

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Jan. 1, 2010 photo, Sheik Mukhtar Robow, also known as Abu Mansur, the deputy leader of al-Shabab, left, is flanked by the group’s spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, right.(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

In my diocese, my offices all they were burned, and also the cyber café with all computers was burned. And my house was shot at and other denominations of churches were burned,”

The Anglican bishop of Kadugli in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan state has appealed to the United Nations to send a fact-finding team to investigate credible reports of mass graves and other serious crimes against civilians allegedly committed by Sudanese forces there.

Reverend Andudu Adam Elnail, the Anglican Bishop of Kadugli, detailed the deteriorating situation in his home state at a news conference on Friday.

“In my diocese, my offices all they were burned, and also the cyber café with all computers was burned. And my house was shot at and other denominations of churches were burned,” he said. “As I speak now, the Catholic Church in Kadugli is occupied by the military. And many people have been killed. They are culling people from house-to-house. Also, some of my congregations, they give me very clear what they saw in the mass graves in Kadugli. And also there was some satellite image was brought to confirm what eyewitnesses they have saw.”

AP

(AP Photo/Norwich University)

He warned that in the Nuba mountains, which is home to many pro-South Sudan groups, the situation is worsening with aerial attacks that are killing civilians. He added that this is the planting season and warned that the people of Southern Kordofan could face serious food shortages next year because so many have fled and there is no one to farm.

“There is a lot of killing going on and we consider this is ethnic cleansing, so that is why we are calling on the U.N. and the Security Council to consider what is going on in Sudan,” he said.

Reverend Andudu appealed to the U.N. Security Council to stop the bombing and authorize a fact-finding commission to go to Southern Kordofan to verify what is happening there. He also urged the council to press Khartoum to allow in humanitarian agencies to bring food and medicine to those in need and to authorize monitors to watch the situation.

South Sudan gets own ‘ss’ domain

Dennis Mbuvi

10.08.2011 kl 17:12 | CIO East Africa

A A A

South Sudan, the World’s newest country, got its country domain today. South Sudan’s online presence will be donated by ‘.ss’. The country became independent on 14 July 2011 following a peace agreement in 2005 that ended a secession war with the Republic of Sudan.

South Sudan, the World’s newest country, got its country domain today. South Sudan’s online presence will be donated by ‘.ss’. The country became independent on 14 July 2011 following a peace agreement in 2005 that ended a secession war with the Republic of Sudan.

Prior to the new domain, the country relied on the Republic of Sudan’s ‘.sd’ domain. Registration for the ‘.sd’ domain was only allocated to the top hierarchy of companies, organizations or individuals. Second level hierarchies were also available with ‘.com.sd‘ for companies, ‘.net.sd‘ for network providers and Internet service providers, ‘.org.sd‘ for non-governmental organizations, ‘.edu.sd‘ for academic institutions, ‘.gov.sd‘ for government and agencies and ‘info.sd‘ for news organizations.

South Sudan is yet to give guidance on the domain to clarify if it will allow top level hierarchy domains and what second level hierarchy extensions it would allow.

Prior to the secession of South Sudan, Sudan had about 4.2 million Internet users, 70 Internet service provider, one submarine fiber optic link. Both countries had an estimated population of 45 million with South Sudan having an estimated population of 8,260,000. The South though has limited infrastructure development with most of the infrastructure, including communication infrastructure, belonging to the North (Republic of Sudan).

Northern Sudan Christians face challenges after south’s secession

---

Fredrick Nzwili
9 August 2011

---

Nairobi, Kenya (ENInews). As Christians in South Sudan mark one month after independence, churches in the Muslim north are facing pressure from government officials and members of the public who are demanding their closure.

The development is causing some church leaders to close schools and congregations and consider moving to the south, but even those actions are difficult because they see themselves as northern Christians.

“Some churches are being left empty and those in the outskirts without proper documentation are being forced to close. Some individual government leaders are going there and telling pastors to close them down,” said the Rev. Ramadan Chan Liol, general secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, in a telephone interview.

South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July, creating hope for many Christians, especially in the north, where they were never allowed full freedom to operate. But they are now facing increased threats from individual groups, according to Chan, a Baptist.

“The groups have collected names of pastors and are warning them against conducting church services on Sundays or they would be killed,” said the leader of the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox church grouping.

He said that renewal of identity cards and other important documents for the leaders and the south Sudanese were being denied. “The people are not being allowed to take property like refrigerators and cookers. Money is also being taken away by the soldiers at the border points,” he said.

Government officials in Khartoum are generally barred from speaking with the press and an official at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi said he had no knowledge of any harassment.

Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Adwok, the Archdiocese of Khartoum auxiliary, said church schools were considering closing since church based charities had reduced funding after most people travelled to the south. “Many parents who are displaced persons are not able to raise the required school fees given their little income. So the church is finding it difficult to continue running the schools without enough resources,” said Adwok.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir declared Sudan would embrace Sharia and Islam as the official state religion after the breakaway. On 7 August, Qutbi al-Mahdi, the political bureau officer of the ruling National Congress Party told the Sudan Tribune that the decrees would soon be issued.

In the war-torn South Kordofan region, the Anglican cathedral and offices in Kadugli have been ransacked and looted, according to Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of the Kadugli Episcopal Diocese.

“I am told that armed men went house to house, searching for me, calling my name,” Elnail told the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Africa on 4 August in Washington D.C. He narrated how a member of his congregation had witnessed the Sudan Armed Forces and northern militia groups burying 100 or more dead bodies in mass graves in Kadugli.

“If I were not here today to testify before you, I do not know whether I would be in a mass grave in Kadugli now,” he said. Elnail said he has received frequent reports of the bombing of civilians in the Nuba Mountains by the Sudan air force. He expressed the people’s fears that a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing campaign was unfolding there.

Northern Sudan Christians face challenges after south’s secession

By Fredrick Nzwili, August 11, 2011

[Ecumenical News International — Nairobi, Kenya] As Christians in South Sudan mark one month after independence, churches in the Muslim north are facing pressure from government officials and members of the public who are demanding their closure.

The development is causing some church leaders to close schools and congregations and consider moving to the south, but even those actions are difficult because they see themselves as northern Christians.

“Some churches are being left empty and those in the outskirts without proper documentation are being forced to close. Some individual government leaders are going there and telling pastors to close them down,” said the Rev. Ramadan Chan Liol, general secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, in a telephone interview.

South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July, creating hope for many Christians, especially in the north, where they were never allowed full freedom to operate. But they are now facing increased threats from individual groups, according to Chan, a Baptist.

“The groups have collected names of pastors and are warning them against conducting church services on Sundays or they would be killed,” said the leader of the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox church grouping.

He said that renewal of identity cards and other important documents for the leaders and the south Sudanese were being denied. “The people are not being allowed to take property like refrigerators and cookers. Money is also being taken away by the soldiers at the border points,” he said.

Government officials in Khartoum are generally barred from speaking with the press and an official at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi said he had no knowledge of any harassment.

Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Adwok, the Archdiocese of Khartoum auxiliary, said church schools were considering closing since church based charities had reduced funding after most people travelled to the south. “Many parents who are displaced persons are not able to raise the required school fees given their little income. So the church is finding it difficult to continue running the schools without enough resources,” said Adwok.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir declared Sudan would embrace Sharia and Islam as the official state religion after the breakaway. On 7 August, Qutbi al-Mahdi, the political bureau officer of the ruling National Congress Party told the Sudan Tribune that the decrees would soon be issued.

In the war-torn South Kordofan region, the Anglican cathedral and offices in Kadugli have been ransacked and looted, according to Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of the Kadugli Episcopal Diocese.

“I am told that armed men went house to house, searching for me, calling my name,” Elnail told the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Africa on 4 August in Washington D.C. He narrated how a member of his congregation had witnessed the Sudan Armed Forces and northern militia groups burying 100 or more dead bodies in mass graves in Kadugli.

“If I were not here today to testify before you, I do not know whether I would be in a mass grave in Kadugli now,” he said. Elnail said he has received frequent reports of the bombing of civilians in the Nuba Mountains by the Sudan air force. He expressed the people’s fears that a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing campaign was unfolding there.

US fears Kordofan violence contagion to South Sudan

BRUSSELS — The US special envoy to Sudan on Wednesday voiced fears that the violence in the South Kordofan region could spread and engulf the newly independent nation of South Sudan.

"I think that the danger in the fighting in South Kordofan is that it could indeed spread to other parts of the Nuba mountains or of the Blue Nile," Princeton Lyman said in a news conference on the Internet.

"It could involve the south because there are links from the civil war between elements in the south and the people fighting in South Kordofan," he explained.

South Kordofan remained under Khartoum’s northern administration when South Sudan became independent last month but since June violent clashes have been pitting Nuba rebels once allied to southern rebels against the Sudanese army.

Lyman said maximum efforts needed to be deployed to keep the violence from spreading to South Sudan, the world’s newest state which faces the daunting task of turning its back on decades of war to build its institutions.

The US envoy lashed out at Khartoum’s heavy-handed crackdown against the Nuba rebellion.

"The way the government is conducting the war in South Kordofan violates the standards of war in the 21st century," he said, citing the "bombing of civilian targets, taking people out of their homes, possible extrajudicial killings."

Washington had advocated maintaining a UN peacekeeping presence in South Kordofan after the July 9 secession of South Sudan, in vain.

But Lyman said he was "sure" the issue would be back on the table soon.

Khartoum had hoped it would be removed from the US list of rogue states and that sanctions against it would be lifted as a reward for its acceptance of South Sudan’s independence.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, also voiced alarm at the latest reports of violence and rights abuses out of South Kordofan.

"The European Union remains gravely concerned about continued fighting in Southern Kordofan state and disturbing reports of further widespread human rights violations," a statement said.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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Rwanda/Sudan: Crime without punishment

Africa’s vicious genocides over the last 15 years have posed agonising dilemmas for the international community, with the March indictment of Sudan’s president raising new ones Fifteen years after the extermination of 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus, there are still no international institutions with the credibility and capacity to respond quickly to mass killings of civilians. The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) issuance of an arrest warrant on 4 March for Sudan’s President Omer el Beshir for war crimes in Darfur may yet advance the cause of international justice, but its capacity to end the war looks questionable in the short run. To make real progress in Sudan, the ICC’s warrant would need massive, determined, internationally-coordinated action to protect civilians and greatly increased diplomatic pressure on the Khartoum regime. It might have helped if the ICC’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo had been able to start with trials of lower-ranking officials. After the ICC announced the arrest warrant, there was a dreadful silence as the Khartoum regime expelled most of the aid agencies in Darfur and closed down local human-rights organisations. African governments’ concerns about the warrant centred on the fear that Khartoum would redouble attacks on the Darfur people and close down the AU peacekeeping mission there, Ethiopia’s Premier Meles Zenawi told the The Africa Report. “The political implications of the arrest warrant weren’t thought through,” Meles said. “If it’s about a regime-change agenda, there was no plan there… If it’s about political pressure, there’s no more leverage once you’ve announced the warrant.” The road to the arrest warrant for Beshir goes back to Rwanda’s genocide in 1994 when survivors pledged that “justice will be done”. And those foreign politicians who ordered the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers at the time – while the murderers went to work in Rwanda – have gradually made their apologies, quietly repeating the “never again” mantra. Responsibility to protect Partly as a result of that, the UN General Assembly in 2005 passed a resolution establishing the UN’s ‘Responsibility to Protect’ which gave the UN the responsibility to use “appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means …to help protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” But the international response remains tragically slow. The Darfur war in western Sudan reached its peak in 2004, almost a decade after Rwanda’s genocide. Estimates of the deaths caused by the war range from 200,000-400,000. Some 2.5m people have been chased from their homes and into camps. Almost all UN and human-rights groups’ reports hold the Khartoum government responsible for the vast majority of deaths and displacements. The response was inchoate and dilatory. The AU started with a monitoring mission protected by 300 soldiers as the UN began a long deliberation, commissioning several investigations into the Darfur crisis. Rhetoric saves no one Western rhetoric was far more strident than the quiescent approach to Rwanda in 1994, when President Bill Clinton’s administration barred officials from describing the killings as genocide for fear that it would compel the US to intervene. There is little argument about the extent of the Darfur crisis, but there is fierce debate about whether it was right for the UN Security Council to mandate the ICC to investigate the killings there. Nick Grono, a director of the International Crisis Group sees the arrest warrant as a “welcome and crucial step towards challenging impunity that has worsened conflict in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan”. Grono says that Khartoum might look for a way out by making tactical concessions and stalling for time, and argues that the ICC should make it clear that it will investigate those responsible for violence against peacekeepers, aid agencies and people in camps. Many diplomats opt for a pragmatic approach. President George Bush’s Sudan envoy, Andrew Natsios, says he changed his policy because hostility did not work: “The best way for Washington to proceed is not by confronting Khartoum but by engaging it… Moral outrage is no substitute for practical policies aimed at saving lives and promoting stability.” Ultimately, it is the Sudanese who will decide, and they are keeping their counsel. Southern Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has pointedly not attended any of the state-sponsored warrant protest rallies. None doubt that many opponents of the regime are quietly celebrating the ICC’s action. For now, southern politicians want to hold Beshir and his allies to the north-south peace accord which provides for national elections this year and a referendum on southern independence in 2011. If Khartoum starts to tamper with that schedule, using the warrant crisis as a pretext, then there will be a high risk of the country slipping back towards the killing fields of 2004.

South Sudan: No swift solution after independence

With a roaring cheer the people of South Sudan welcomed the newest nation in the world on July 9. Couples embraced and men cried as the new national anthem was sung for the first time and the south’s flag hoisted, marking the formal independence from former civil war enemies in the north.

With a roaring cheer the people of South Sudan welcomed the newest nation in the world on July 9. Couples embraced and men cried as the new national anthem was sung for the first time and the south’s flag hoisted, marking the formal independence from former civil war enemies in the north.

Celebrants in Juba, South Sudan. UN Photo/Paul Banks

“Today is the most important day for the people of South Sudan,” said President Salva Kiir, in front of a giant crowd. “It is a day which will be forever engraved on our hearts and minds.… We have waited 56 years for this day.”

But the hard work begins. “Let us celebrate today, but we must get to work right away,” President Kiir added. The new nation, an area about the size of Spain and Portugal combined, is ruined by decades of war.

“We have suffered over many years of fighting,” said former child soldier turned student Mabior David. “Our baby nation has a long way to go,” he added. “But if we can be left in peace, I’m hopeful we will manage.”

Sudan’s wars were the longest running conflict in Africa: two rounds of civil war spanning nearly 40 years, fought over ideology, religion, ethnicity, resources, land and oil. The last round, from 1983 to 2005, left some 2 million people dead and 4 million displaced.

Some in the south fought for separation. Others wanted a united Sudan, aiming to change a ruling regime in Khartoum that they said marginalized the majority. But the rebels also fought amongst themselves; in internecine battles as bloody as those fought against government forces.

A referendum on independence was part of a 2005 peace deal. This January, almost 99 per cent of southerners voted to split Africa’s largest country into two.

“There are enormous expectations, but also enormous challenges ahead,” said Joe Feeney, who heads the UN Development Programme in South Sudan. “[The war] left a scar that is not only physical, but a scar has been left on the people.”

Six nations share a border with this often lawless wilderness, which has fewer than 100 kilometres of tarmac roads. “The vast majority of the country remains inaccessible during the rainy season,” added Mr. Feeney. “Jonglei state, just one of the ten states in the south, is twice the size of my country, Ireland, and it has no paved roads.”

South Sudan has lucrative oil reserves, but remains one of the most impoverished regions in the world. The UN’s World Food Programme helped feed about half the population last year, or some 4 million people.

The UN issued “scary statistics” for visiting journalists: Southern Sudan has the lowest routine immunization coverage rate in the world. A 15-year-old girl has a higher chance of dying in childbirth than completing school. One in seven pregnant women will probably die from pregnancy-related causes.

Away from the independence celebrations, people had little time to party. Their lives are taken up with day-to-day survival. “The acid test of success will be what changes the people will see in their lives,” Mr. Feeney said.

“All of Sudan, not just the south, will face major challenges,” warns Oxfam, the UK-based aid agency. “It will need long-term support from the international community if there is to be lasting peace and development.”

Football and basketball teams have been organized, passports ordered, a national anthem written. “Having our team play under the South Sudanese flag is something we have waited for,” says Rudolf Andrea, secretary of the South Sudan Football Association.

Key to success will be how the government negotiates with those who still threaten the country. Traditional ethnic rivalries between multiple groups are exacerbated by bitter enmities from the war.

Most of the south pulled together to oppose forces from the north. But now, the south must find a common bond and create a nation based on a shared identity.

Jok Madut Jok, a South Sudanese academic working in the culture ministry, and also a history professor at Loyola Marymount University in the US state of California, questions whether the new nation is “going to exercise the double standard that other countries have gone in for ― that you become independent and then go ahead and do the exact things that you had rebelled against?”

Over 2 million southerners have returned home since the signing of the 2005 peace agreement. Over 300,000 have returned since last October. “We have returned because we had to leave the north, our jobs were terminated,” said former civil service official Giir Thiik, who spent four weeks on a slow barge to Juba.

Building an economy to construct the new nation and provide jobs will put pressure on the government. About 98 per cent of government budget comes from oil revenues. The south is also believed to hold large mineral and metal deposits. It has vast areas of farmland, forestry and even hydroelectric power from the White Nile River.

The final steps towards Sudan’s divorce have been tough. Key deals remain to be struck: sharing the oil proceeds, dividing the US$35 billion debt and demarcating the borders. Both countries have announced they are introducing new currencies, a process likely to complicate their struggling economies.

Despite a peaceful referendum, tensions remain high with the north. In May, northern troops took over the contested Abyei region, forcing over 110,000 people to flee into the south.

There is a deal for northern troops to pull out and Ethiopian peacekeepers to replace them. But that deal does not provide any long-term peaceful solution.

In June violence broke out in the northern oil state of Southern Kordofan, between the northern military and former members of the ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army, now the official southern army. The north claims the fighters are backed by the south, just as the south accuses the north of backing rebels in its territory to destabilize key oil areas along the still undefined north-south border.

Each side rejects the other’s accusations. But analysts fear there will be no swift solution to conflict along the border.

Peter Martell writes for United Nations Africa Renewal Magazine

South Sudan is to join the African Union

South Sudan to become 54th member of African Union

[10.08.2011 20:15]

Newly independent South Sudan will become the 54th member of the African Union (AU), the organization announced on Wednesday, dpa reported.

A flag-raising ceremony will be held on Monday in Addis Ababa, headquarters of the AU, to mark the official entrance of Africa’s newest country into the regional body.

South Sudan, which became an independent state on July 9, was formally admitted to the United Nations last month as its 193rd member.

Juba’s vote for independence earlier this year followed two decades of conflict.

While Khartoum formally recognises Juba, there are still tensions over unresolved disputes, in large part over economic and territorial matters.

Sudan, to the north, blocked a South Sudanese oil shipment over the weekend, citing payment issues, although the cargo was eventually released.

The European Union has said it is concerned by continued violence in oil-rich border areas between the two.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 10, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 10, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — On Monday, 15 August 2011, South Sudanwill be formally admitted in the African Union (AU) as its 54th Member State.

A ceremony in commemoration of the formal admission of South Sudan to the African Union is scheduled at 10:00am in the Plenary Hall, the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It will be followed by a Flag Raising Ceremony.

The Commission received on the 26th of July 2011, the requisite number of Member States affirmation consenting to the admission of South Sudan to the African Union. This is in conformity with the provisions of Article 29 of the Constitutive Act relating to AU membership. In further compliance with the provisions of the Constitutive Act, the Flag Raising Ceremony will be preceded by the official deposit of South Sudan’s Instrument of Accession to the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Jean Ping, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Sudan, MrDeng Alor Kuol and the members of the Diplomatic Corps will be in attendance.

South Sudan became an independent state after the referendum on 9 July 2011. The referendum was included in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 by between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. The provisions of the CPA involved amongst other the sharing of oil revenues and the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan.

Journalists are invited to cover the commemoration of the formal admission within the Union and the Flag Raising Ceremony on Monday 15th August 2011 at the AU Headquarters. Journalists who are not accredited to the AU are advised to present an identification document to the AU Security Officers in order to enter the premises.

© copyright StarAfrica.com

AU Says to Admit South Sudan as 54th Member

    2011-08-11 02:34:24     Xinhua       Web Editor: Yu

South Sudan will be formally admitted in the African Union (AU) as its 54th member state on Monday. According to a statement issued by the AU on Wednesday, a ceremony to mark the formal admission of South Sudan is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Plenary Hall, the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It will be followed by a flag-raising ceremony. The AU Commission received on July 26 the requisite number of member states affirmation consenting to the admission of South Sudan to the African Union. This is in conformity with the provisions of Article 29 of the Constitutive Act relating to AU membership. The ceremony will be attended by Jean Ping, the chairperson of the AU Commission, Deng Alor Kuol, the minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of South Sudan and the members of the diplomatic corps. South Sudan became an independent state on July 9 after a referendum, which was included in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the government of Sudan. The provisions of the CPA involved the sharing of oil revenues and the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan.

 

Epic moment that shaped African leaders

By INDIATSI NASIBI
Posted Tuesday, August 9 2011

In 1958, French President Charles de Gaulle recognised that a group of African leaders led by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Sekou Toure of Guinea were agitating for independence.

He organised a referendum in Francophone Africa, but only Sekou Toure’s Guinea voted for independence. All the other Francophone countries, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d’Ivoire, Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal and others, preferred to remain French.

Enraged by Sekou Toure’s agitation for independence, the French pulled out of Guinea in a huff. They destroyed electricity and telephone lines and left the country in a mess. The countries which remained in the French community were rewarded for good conduct.

Things took a different turn after Guinea’s celebration of independence when Sekou Toure was invited to the UN.

At the Waldorf Astoria, a landmark, luxurious hotel in Manhattan, Toure was received with a 21-gun salute, and driven in a convoy of vehicles to the UN headquarters, while Houphouët-Boigny waited for a taxi to take him to the same venue as an observer representative of the French Government.

The turn of events at the Waldorf Astoria from whence the two Africans had emerged changed Boigny’s perspective.

Here he was, a representative of a colonial power, while Sekou Toure was the leader of an independent African country. He immediately went back to Côte d’Ivoire to agitate for independence, which the country achieved in 1960.

And thus was born the false start of African leadership at the revolving doors at the Waldorf Astoria. The continent has seen nothing but bad leadership since then, characterised by coups and counter-coups, as well as official corruption.

By 1993 when Houphouët-Boigny died, he was the longest serving African leader in history. He bequeathed a mess to the people of Côte d’Ivoire.

He aided conspirators to overthrow Nkrumah in 1966 and worked for France and other former colonial powers to stifle growth in Africa.

He was at the heart of the Monrovia Group of nations, which insisted on inclusion of article III in the OAU Charter, which stressed the power of the state against the ideals that Sekou Toure and Nkrumah fought for.

Houphouët-Boigny and his ilk became guardians of self-aggrandisement and agents of imperialism.

During his commencements speech at the 40th graduation ceremony of the United States International University, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda summed up the African predicament when he defined “a failed state as evidence of failed leadership”.

While the Vienna Declaration of 1993 emphasised that human rights were universal, indivisible and inter-dependent, African leaders never saw it as a priority.

If the rain began beating us at Waldorf Astoria, the light at the end of the tunnel was in Cape Town during the World Economic Forum on June 11, 2008, when African leaders admitted that the continent had a serious leadership deficiency.

The speeches during the convention in Mombasa in which greed, corruption and other malpractices were cited as an impediment to development are a tired old song sung by the same folks who brought us to where we are today.

Prof Nasibi teaches at the United States International University, Nairobi.

Iran, Libya Condemn British Crackdown

Tit for Tat: Payback time

Iran and Libya are chastising Britain over its handling of ongoing riots that have swept through London and other major British cities.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned what he called Britain’s “savage” treatment of peaceful protesters. He also told reporters in Tehran Wednesday the British government needs to listen to the demands of the people who have become frustrated.

An official with the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi also criticized Britain Wednesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Khalid Ka’im told the official Jana news agency that British Prime Minister David Cameron has lost his legitimacy and must step down.

Britain was a leading critic of Iran’s treatment of protesters following the disputed June 2009 election that kept Mr. Ahmadinejad in office.

British forces have also played a key role in the NATO campaign in Libya, which started after Mr. Gadhafi’s government turned on ant-government protesters earlier this year.

TOP 500 COMPANIES IN AFRICA: African Economies up to the Global Challenge

Note to the editor:What if much of sub Sahara Africa was to become the world’s next business destination? The question might sound odd, yet it is in line with the tone of a UN Conference held in Istanbul last May.For UN Africa Renewal, André-Michel Essoungou reports.

African Union’s ordinary session. Photo: Asmaa Waguih-Reuters.

By André-Michel Essoungou

Istanbul

August 9, 2011 (SSNA) — Two foreign shoe sellers were once sent to Africa in search of new customers. At the sight of locals marching barefoot, the first retreated in despair. The second rejoiced at the untapped market. He ordered thousands of shoes, sold them to locals and became a wealthy man, or so the tale goes.

There is an appealing parallel that Cheikh Sidi Diarra, the UN special adviser on Africa and high representative for least developed countries (LDCs) is willing to draw between this story and the reality of the world’s 48 LDCs (33 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa): “Despite the many ills these countries endure, the world needs to start looking at them more as lands of opportunities rather than a burden,” he says. Urging investors to consider nations associated with endemic poverty, disease and instability as a potential business magnet is a bold invitation. Yet the call is in line with the general tone of an international gathering that Mr. Diarra led in May in Istanbul, Turkey.

Since 1981 the once-a-decade UN conference has focused on the world’s most vulnerable countries (as defined by low per-capita incomes, low standards of living and high vulnerability to economic shocks). Its aim has been to mobilize support, including by encouraging developed nations to disburse more aid to LDCs. In the past, much time has been devoted to this issue. This time, however, talk about aid was not central.

That was in part a result of the budget constraints imposed on rich countries by a frustratingly slow economic recovery. A growing realization that aid alone cannot solve the fundamental problems LDCs face added to what some see as a welcome shift away from the usual debates.

Ultimately, the Istanbul Programme of Action renewed aid commitments made at the previous conference in Brussels, Belgium, 10 years ago. Donors pledged to devote between 0.15 and 0.2 per cent of their gross national incomes (GNIs) to aid to LDCs.

Civil society groups in Istanbul criticized that as too little. “Having caused massive costs in the LDCs through financial and food speculation, unjust trade rules, illegitimate loans with onerous conditionality and ecological damage, including climate change, the developed countries have not even committed to provide more aid to LDCs,” they said. This is a charge that Mr. Diarra disputed. Although not new, this promise of aid remains an important one, he argued, adding that if fulfilled, it would likely raise the amount of aid actually going to LDCs from its current annual level of $38 billion.

The emphasis in Istanbul was on trade, investment and productive capacities. Months before the meeting, trade issues were at the centre of some of the most heated debates among negotiators. African LDCs called for the adoption of a long-debated scheme that would allow all their exports to enter developed-country markets without any duties or quotas. Such preferential treatment was considered a step too far by most developed countries, however, even though LDCs’ share of world trade currently stands at only 1 per cent. The charms of the crossroads city of Istanbul did not change any minds. Instead, there was renewal of yet another decade-old commitment: tariff-free access to developed nations’ markets for 97 per cent of LDCs’ exports.

Unfortunately for African LDCs, this arrangement provides little benefit, as the 3 per cent of exports excluded from tariff-free treatment covers some of the countries’ most important export products, including agricultural commodities such as sugar, rice, meat and dairy products.

African LDCs’ quest for more foreign investment received a stronger boost. Measures designed to encourage developed countries’ corporations to invest in LDCs were adopted, with governments expected to encourage their companies to invest in LDCs by providing fiscal incentives and special lines of credit.

In recent years the 33 LDCs from Africa have benefited most from the growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) to LDCs, which rose from $4.1 billion to $32.4 billion between 2001 and 2008. African LDCs accounted for almost half of that total. Yet not only did FDI’s eight-year growth come to a brief halt following the global recession, it also appears that FDI is mostly oriented toward just a few sectors, such as oil and minerals. As a result, few jobs have been created and strong growth in oil-rich countries such as Angola and Equatorial Guinea has yet to translate into meaningful change in people’s lives. Such trends must change if foreign investment is to help reduce poverty, which affects over half the population in the continent’s LDCs. In order for it to do so, the Istanbul Programme of Action calls for economic diversification to reduce African LDCs’ dependence on the extractive sector.

One major point of agreement among delegates in Istanbul was the need to invest in productive sectors, including agriculture, industry and infrastructure. The Programme of Action refers to these as “development multipliers,” as improvement in each area will benefit others. In an era of rising food prices, the call for further investment in agriculture is of particular interest to Africa, as the continent spends around $33 billion every year on food imports.

As the rest of the world hears calls to look at the continent in a more positive way, are the continent’s LDCs ready to seize the opportunity? “There is no doubt many African LDCs are performing better. Sound economic policies are leading to strong improvements in various areas,” asserted Mr. Diarra. Based on their strengths and needs, more African LDCs should follow suit, he urges. If they do, the legendary foreign shoe sellers arriving in Africa may be left only with the impression that they came in far too late.

Africa Renewal www.un.org/africarenewal

André-Michel Essoungou writes for UN Africa Renewal magazine. Over the past decade he has worked as Foreign Correspondent posted in Canada, US, Tanzania, Uganda and Switzerland for international media including the BBC World Service and Radio France International. He covered and published extensively on African affairs. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Le Monde Diplomatique and French Daily Liberation, among other publications. He is the author of a book (Justice à Arusha, published in Paris at l’Harmattan in 2006) and he holds a Master Degree in Political Science from Université de Genève (Switzerland).

TOP 500 COMPANIES IN AFRICA Each year, The Africa Report chronicles the fortunes of the top 500 companies in Africa’s key business sectors. These rankings, which were published in February 2011, are based on firms’ 2009 performance, point to some of the important longer-term changes affecting African economies. Use the search bar below to browse the ranking by company name, country or sector. It was growth in domestic consumption that helped African companies’ impressive stamina in 2010. Read more analysis in A pause on the way up. Rank 2010 Rank 2009 Company name Country Sector Turnover (Thds $) Turnover change Net profits 1 1 SONATRACH ALGERIA PETROLEUM 47 479 918 -33,49% 3 2 2 SONANGOL ANGOLA PETROLEUM 22 442 400 -15,63% 4 3 3 SASOL SOUTH AFRICA CHEMICALS 18 583 050 35,10% 1 4 4 THE BIDVEST GROUP SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 15 157 520 29,58% 392 5 5 MTN GROUP SOUTH AFRICA TELECOMS 15 092 695 39,34% 2 6 11 ESKOM SOUTH AFRICA ELECTRICITY 9 600 397 68,82% 488 7 62 SANLAM SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 8 179 664 293,01% 685 8 17 SHOPRITE HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 7 997 328 58,85% 269 9 10 VODACOM GROUP SOUTH AFRICA TELECOMS 7 891 689 35,35% 566 10 14 PICK’N PAY STORES HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 7 379 305 39,32% 160 11 8 IMPERIAL HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 7 318 434 23,86% 204 12 18 VODACOM SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA TELECOMS 6 799 107 35,53% 0 13 20 STEINHOFF INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 6 476 753 36,09% 505 14 22 MASSMART HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 5 814 611 37,78% 163 15 19 BARLOWORLD SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 5 693 718 15,08% 99 16 9 SAPPI SOUTH AFRICA PAPER 5 369 000 -8,43% -177 17 27 TELKOM SOUTH AFRICA TELECOMS 5 164 010 34,16% 508 18 15 ORASCOM TELECOM EGYPT TELECOMS 5 064 790 -3,42% 379 19 13 ANGLO PLATINUM CORP. SOUTH AFRICA MINING 4 981 195 -7,12% 421 20 31 TRANSNET SOUTH AFRICA TRANSPORT 4 800 940 35,28% 412 21 21 GROUPE ONA MOROCCO DIVERSIFIED 4 684 968 1,48% 381 22 37 AVENG SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 4 553 101 45,49% 281 23 39 MURRAY & ROBERTS HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 4 551 847 54,44% 315 24 35 MTN NIGERIA NIGERIA TELECOMS 4 493 011 34,76% 0 25 33 MTN SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA TELECOMS 4 469 148 30,33% 0 26 40 SPAR GROUP SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 4 348 781 53,92% 100 27 12 SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITY EGYPT SEA TRANSPORT 4 289 500 -20,30% 0 28 32 SAB MILLER SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA BEVERAGES 4 214 000 21,69% 0 29 36 ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI SOUTH AFRICA MINING 4 145 041 31,77% -372 30 46 GOLD FIELDS SOUTH AFRICA MINING 3 921 496 61,32% 207 31 28 ORASCOM CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES EGYPT CONSTRUCTION 3 861 027 3,45% 461 32 7 DE BEERS CONSOLIDATED MINES SOUTH AFRICA MINING 3 840 000 -44,25% -743 33 29 MAROC TELECOM MOROCCO TELECOMS 3 807 241 3,52% 1 34 58 NASPERS SOUTH AFRICA MEDIA 3 774 690 74,13% 532 35 24 DATATEC SOUTH AFRICA ICT 3 738 026 -10,82% 29 36 30 GRINDROD SOUTH AFRICA SEA TRANSPORT 3 733 441 4,75% 126 37 25 IMPALA PLATINUM HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA MINING 3 521 633 -11,39% 811 38 23 ARCELOR MITTAL SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA METAL, STEEL 3 451 122 -18,16% -64 39 34 NAFTAL ALGERIA PETROLEUM SERVICES 3 437 127 0,41% 130 40 41 SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS SOUTH AFRICA AIR TRANSPORT 3 420 977 22,65% 51 41 16 SAMIR MOROCCO REFINERY 3 382 081 -34,64% 69 42 43 EDGARS CONSOLIDATED STORES SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 3 353 782 25,99% -142 43 54 KUMBA RESOURCES SOUTH AFRICA MINING 3 155 867 39,85% 940 44 52 NETWORK HEALTHCARE HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA HEALTH 3 132 138 36,40% 236 45 51 OLD MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE CO. SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 3 113 129 35,48% 725 46 6 OFFICE CHERIFIEN DES PHOSPHATES MOROCCO MINING 3 011 760 -59,80% 0 47 37 ALLIED ELECTRONICS CORP. SOUTH AFRICA ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 3 011 340 15,08% 73 48 50 LIBERTY GROUP SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 2 965 770 26,11% 31 49 59 WOOLWORTHS HOLDINGS (WHL) SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 2 955 564 39,42% 169 50 55 THE ARAB CONTRACTORS EGYPT CONSTRUCTION 2 764 000 22,90% 223 51 60 TIGER BRANDS SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 2 754 427 31,09% 335 52 66 NAMPAK SOUTH AFRICA PACKAGING 2 640 531 35,41% 27 53 53 OFFICE NATIONAL DE L’ELECTRICITE MOROCCO ELECTRICITY 2 409 408 5,71% 0 54 57 EGYPTAIR HOLDINGS EGYPT DIVERSIFIED 2 354 814 8,48% 103 55 74 MEDI CLINIC CORP. SOUTH AFRICA HEALTH 2 310 950 33,78% 142 56 26 EZZ STEEL CO. (EX-AL EZZ STEEL REBARS) EGYPT METAL, STEEL 2 280 671 -41,37% 55 57 65 MC CARTHY RETAIL SOUTH AFRICA AUTO DEALER 2 219 676 13,57% 0 58 47 OANDO NIGERIA PETROLEUM SERVICES 2 209 799 -8,16% 66 59 80 PIONEER FOODS GROUP SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 2 195 397 39,61% 75 60 85 MASSCASH SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 2 051 381 42,66% 0 61 84 EXXARO RESOURCES SOUTH AFRICA MINING 2 023 513 38,36% 137 62 101 WILSON BAYLY HOLMES – OVCON SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 1 991 131 74,77% 129 63 67 ORASCOM TELECOM ALGERIE (OTA) ALGERIA TELECOMS 1 867 837 -0,93% 0 64 72 SOC. NAT. DE L’ELECTRICITE ET DU GAZ ALGERIA ELECTRICITY, GAS 1 826 891 3,54% 62 65 68 TELECOM EGYPT EGYPT TELECOMS 1 804 409 -0,08% 553 66 76 EGYPTAIR AIRLINES EGYPT AIR TRANSPORT 1 796 608 8,63% 37 67 69 CEVITAL ALGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 1 788 067 -0,65% 255 68 42 SOCIETE IVOIRIENNE DE RAFFINAGE COTE D’IVOIRE REFINERY 1 780 416 -34,68% -80 69 89 JD GROUP SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 1 742 144 30,77% 10 70 94 SANTAM SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 1 738 369 40,44% 150 71 97 NEW CLICKS HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 1 719 522 44,27% 63 72 48 SOC. TUN. DES IND. DE RAFFINAGE TUNISIA REFINERY 1 718 115 -28,28% 0 73 64 EL SEWEDY CABLES EGYPT ELEC. CABLES 1 683 111 -17,62% 114 74 45 AKWA HOLDING MOROCCO DIVERSIFIED 1 655 339 -32,89% 0 75 134 HOSKEN CONSOLIDATED INVESTMENTS SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 1 636 266 92,17% 179 76 63 AL EZZ DEKHEILA STEEL CO. EGYPT METAL, STEEL 1 635 339 -21,29% 104 77 122 GROUP FIVE HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 1 630 006 73,36% 72 78 – ALTADIS MAROC MOROCCO TOBACCO 1 618 821 ND 0 79 96 REMGRO SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 1 597 482 32,00% 426 80 117 HARMONY GOLD MINING CO. SOUTH AFRICA MINING 1 549 891 59,28% 394 81 82 ROYAL AIR MAROC MOROCCO AIR TRANSPORT 1 542 539 3,18% 0 82 86 SOC. TUN. DE L’ELECTRICITE ET DU GAZ TUNISIA ELECTRICITY, GAS 1 539 765 9,12% 6 83 49 MIDDLE EAST OIL REFINERIES EGYPT REFINERY 1 518 093 -36,57% 172 84 106 MASSDISCOUNTERS SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 1 510 793 37,41% 87 85 142 MONDI GROUP SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA PAPER 1 501 490 81,66% -10 86 151 TONGAAT-HULETT GROUP SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 1 501 356 99,98% 408 87 108 MASSWAREHOUSE SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 1 496 826 40,22% 0 88 114 DISTELL GROUP SOUTH AFRICA BEVERAGES 1 464 648 47,33% 128 89 81 AECI SOUTH AFRICA CHEMICALS 1 443 787 -4,70% 56 90 99 REUNERT SOUTH AFRICA ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 1 384 709 20,01% 158 91 107 METROPOLITAN LIFE SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 1 380 557 25,59% 154 92 87 AFRICAN RAINBOW MINERALS SOUTH AFRICA MINING 1 360 873 -0,29% 386 93 125 GRINAKER – LTA SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 1 325 415 42,84% 0 94 77 ZAIN NIGERIA NIGERIA TELECOMS 1 306 500 -20,51% -125 95 124 MR PRICE GROUP SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 1 303 477 39,30% 90 96 90 SUPER GROUP SOUTH AFRICA AUTOMOBILE 1 247 622 -4,87% -182 97 118 ALLIED TECHNOLOGIES SOUTH AFRICA ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 1 240 344 28,11% 70 98 79 KENOLKOBIL KENYA PETROLEUM 1 221 230 -23,71% 16 99 103 SOC. NAT. DE TELECOM. DU SENEGAL SENEGAL TELECOMS 1 204 020 7,50% 395 100 92 SHELL MAROC MOROCCO PETROLEUM SERVICES 1 199 970 -7,61% 46 101 132 ASTRAL FOODS SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 1 190 951 37,74% 46 102 98 OMNIA HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA CHEMICALS 1 190 056 1,38% 7 103 119 ASSORE SOUTH AFRICA MINING 1 188 931 22,87% 437 104 105 AFGRI SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 1 183 777 5,93% 47 105 129 FLOUR MILLS NIGERIA NIGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 1 181 246 30,53% 25 106 93 TOTAL NIGERIA NIGERIA PETROLEUM 1 171 421 -6,85% 26 107 109 FOSCHINI SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 1 160 153 9,93% 146 108 115 SUEZ CEMENT CO. EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 1 155 827 16,83% 235 109 127 ILLOVO SUGAR SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 1 141 642 25,63% 89 110 210 ASPEN PHARMACARE HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA PHARMACEUTICALS 1 125 787 118,30% 180 111 71 TOTAL GABON GABON PETROLEUM 1 119 903 -36,79% 140 112 78 PETROSA SOUTH AFRICA PETROLEUM 1 090 716 ND -65 113 146 SUN INTERNATIONAL SOUTH AFRICA TOURISM 1 084 088 34,70% 67 114 111 NIGERIAN BREWERIES NIGERIA BEVERAGES 1 077 552 4,50% 183 115 – LIFE HEALTHCARE GROUP SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 1 069 078 ND 150 116 449 EQSTRA HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA AUTO DEALER 1 063 595 478,24% 6 117 56 LONMIN SOUTH AFRICA MINING 1 062 000 -52,40% -323 118 139 SAFARICOM KENYA TELECOMS 1 060 427 26,44% 191 119 73 SOCIETE NAT. DES HYDROCARBURES CAMEROON PETROLEUM 1 056 000 -39,82% 24 120 100 AFRICAN PETROLEUM NIGERIA PETROLEUM 1 048 668 -9,02% 60 121 104 ALEXANDRIA MINERAL OILS CO. EGYPT PETROLEUM 1 024 775 -8,32% 100 122 75 SOCIETE NATIONALE DE RAFFINAGE CAMEROON REFINERY 1 008 460 -40,16% 0 123 158 ANGLOVAAL INDUSTRIES SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 1 006 081 42,97% 68 124 150 NATIONAL PORTS AUTHORITY SOUTH AFRICA SEA TRANSPORT 1 005 892 33,91% 0 125 131 ZAIN SUDAN SUDAN TELECOMS 994 300 14,26% 351 126 170 STEFANUTTI & BRESSAN SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 992 952 48,79% 51 127 145 JULIUS BERGER NIGERIA NIGERIA CONSTRUCTION 973 675 20,45% 21 128 123 MARJANE HOLDING MOROCCO RETAIL 969 724 3,22% 35 129 128 ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES ETHIOPIA AIR TRANSPORT 947 176 4,62% 104 130 192 TRUWORTHS INTERNATIONAL SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 945 627 58,39% 194 131 70 MOBINIL EGYPT TELECOMS 944 133 -47,12% 0 132 156 RAINBOW CHICKEN SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 937 375 30,26% 47 133 144 MUTUAL & FEDERAL INSURANCE SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 926 753 14,38% 0 134 172 PRETORIA PORTLAND CEMENT CO. SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 914 484 38,54% 138 135 120 TOTAL MAROC MOROCCO PETROLEUM SERVICES 905 808 -6,26% 0 136 133 KENYA AIRWAYS KENYA AIR TRANSPORT 893 484 4,53% 25 137 130 CHEMICAL SERVICES SOUTH AFRICA CHEMICALS 879 566 -1,29% 65 138 162 CMH GROUP SOUTH AFRICA AUTO DEALER 877 344 26,17% 7 139 110 TALAAT MOUSTAFA GROUP EGYPT REAL ESTATE 873 554 -16,38% 200 140 121 SOC. NAT. DE DISTR. DES PETROLES AGIL TUNISIA PETROLEUM SERVICES 851 943 -10,67% 0 141 188 CLOVER HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 844 327 39,34% 72 142 216 KENYA POWER AND LIGHTING KENYA ELECTRICITY 838 165 68,16% 40 143 141 MONDI SHANDUKA NEWSPRINT* SOUTH AFRICA MEDIA 835 005 ND 0 144 165 COSIDER ALGERIA CONSTRUCTION 821 318 19,24% 152 145 143 ALGERIE TELECOM ALGERIA TELECOMS 774 816 -5,60% 34 146 126 GHABBOUR AUTO EGYPT AUTOMOBILE 771 445 -16,77% 36 147 179 MTN GHANA GHANA TELECOMS 764 025 19,59% 0 148 189 EGYPTIAN SUGAR AND INT. INDUSTRIES EGYPT AGRIBUSINESS 755 981 ND 53 149 191 MASSBUILD SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 755 612 26,30% 0 150 182 DOUJA PROMOTION MOROCCO REAL ESTATE 754 446 20,85% 128 151 260 MURRAY & ROBERTS CONSTRUCTION SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 752 161 92,42% 19 152 163 SOCIETE TUNISIENNE DE L’AIR TUNISIA AIR TRANSPORT 748 631 7,76% 40 153 153 AIR ALGERIE ALGERIA AIR TRANSPORT 744 435 0,10% 0 154 227 BUSINESS CONNEXION GROUP SOUTH AFRICA ICT 740 988 57,81% 14 155 155 TUNISIANA TUNISIA TELECOMS 719 601 -1,02% 0 156 168 EASTERN CO. EGYPT TOBACCO 718 654 5,42% 150 157 207 CENTRALE LAITIÃ�RE MOROCCO AGRIBUSINESS 716 171 34,83% 76 158 157 COMP. SUCRIÃ�RE MAROC. DE RAFFINAGE MOROCCO AGRIBUSINESS 714 791 0,68% 69 159 169 MONDI PACKAGING SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA PACKAGING 713 121 6,84% 0 160 220 PALABORA MINING CO. SOUTH AFRICA MINING 712 372 46,44% 38 161 159 HOLDING POULINA TUNISIA DIVERSIFIED 706 431 0,61% 56 162 232 DISCOVERY HEALTH SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 699 177 54,15% 165 163 112 SOCIETE NATIONALE DE SIDERURGIE MOROCCO METAL, STEEL 689 593 -32,22% 43 164 241 CASHBUILD SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 682 977 59,87% 23 165 186 LAFARGE CIMENTS MOROCCO CONST. MATERIALS 682 819 11,54% 233 166 148 JORF LASFAR ENERGY CO. MOROCCO ELECTRICITY 682 017 -10,70% 0 167 213 ADCORP HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA EDUCATION 680 889 33,24% 14 168 154 CARGILL COTE D’IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE AGRIBUSINESS 670 846 -8,06% 2 169 152 CONOIL NIGERIA PETROLEUM SERVICES 668 156 ND 15 170 164 AURECON HERITAGE COMPANIES SOUTH AFRICA ENGINEERING 668 000 -3,24% 0 171 222 RENAULT MAROC MOROCCO AUTOMOBILE 659 701 36,40% 0 172 177 MEDI TELECOM MOROCCO TELECOMS 657 317 1,47% 0 173 190 AFRICAN OXYGEN SOUTH AFRICA CHEMICALS 646 462 7,99% 31 174 178 EGYPTIAN FERTILIZERS CO.* EGYPT CHEMICALS 644 434 ND 405 175 185 ORIENTAL WEAVERS FOR CARPETS EGYPT TEXTILES 643 233 4,71% 56 176 199 TRIDENT STEEL SOUTH AFRICA METAL, STEEL 642 296 13,97% 0 177 211 AVUSA SOUTH AFRICA MEDIA 635 272 23,34% 24 178 137 SIFCA (GROUPE) COTE D’IVOIRE AGRIBUSINESS 632 047 -25,13% 37 179 234 RAND WATER SOUTH AFRICA WATER 630 545 39,63% 80 180 276 BASIL READ HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 628 597 71,23% 36 181 173 GROUPE OPTORG MOROCCO RETAIL 620 971 -5,05% 12 182 237 RAUBEX SOUTH AFRICA CIV. ENGINEERING 617 864 40,49% 79 183 184 EGYPTIAN CEMENT CO.* EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 615 581 ND 266 184 218 KAP INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 615 345 26,06% -5 185 395 HOLDING D’AMENAGEMENT AL OMRANE MOROCCO REAL ESTATE 611 011 167,10% 73 186 181 LYONNAISE DES EAUX DE CASABLANCA MOROCCO WATER, ELECTRICITY 609 986 -2,71% 27 187 187 UNITED PHARMACISTS CO.* EGYPT PHARMACEUTICALS 607 309 ND 10 188 149 HULAMIN SOUTH AFRICA METAL 606 634 -19,35% 12 189 208 COMPAGNIE IVOIRIENNE D’ELECTRICITE COTE D’IVOIRE ELECTRICITY 605 720 15,67% 12 190 171 GROUPE ELLOUMI TUNISIA DIVERSIFIED 596 808 ND 0 191 194 SOUTH AFRICAN POST OFFICE* SOUTH AFRICA POSTAL SERVICES 588 981 ND 38 192 147 ALUMINIUM CO. OF EGYPT EGYPT METAL, STEEL 588 737 -26,24% 35 193 217 GUINNESS NIGERIA NIGERIA BEVERAGES 584 811 19,26% 88 194 204 VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT MOROCCO WATER 580 140 7,05% 0 195 206 SOC. NAT. BURKIN. D’HYDROCARBURES BURKINA FASO PETROLEUM SERVICES 577 543 8,68% 52 196 239 ZURICH INSURANCE CO. SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA INSURANCE 574 972 32,21% -24 197 136 HIGHVELD STEEL & VANADIUM CORP. SOUTH AFRICA METAL, STEEL 573 255 -32,36% 21 198 212 SONATEL MOBILES SENEGAL TELECOMS 570 514 10,86% 0 199 198 NIGERIAN BOTTLING CO.* NIGERIA BEVERAGES 567 687 ND 15 200 – ADCOCK INGRAM SOUTH AFRICA PHARMACEUTICALS 554 820 ND 106 201 253 LEWIS GROUP SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 554 191 37,78% 79 202 174 SUDANESE TELECOM CO. SUDAN TELECOMS 550 340 -15,79% 38 203 201 TARKWA MINES* GHANA MINING 550 302 ND 82 204 202 EL ARABIA FOR PROJECTS & CONSTRUCTION* EGYPT CONSTRUCTION 550 081 ND 155 205 229 CTP HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA MEDIA 543 073 18,37% 123 206 231 PHARMACIE CENTRALE DE TUNISIE TUNISIA PHARMACEUTICALS 540 926 18,55% 22 207 197 DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY NIGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 540 511 -5,48% 86 208 209 WAFA ASSURANCE MOROCCO INSURANCE 539 347 4,22% 84 209 258 AFRICAN REINSURANCE CORP. NIGERIA INSURANCE 536 382 36,32% 44 210 224 INVICTA HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA AUTOMOBILE 535 083 11,96% 49 211 245 DISTRIBUTION & WAREHOUSING NETWORK SOUTH AFRICA RETAIL 533 517 28,31% 15 212 180 AIR MAURITIUS MAURITIUS AIR TRANSPORT 532 763 -15,66% 83 213 219 ILIAD AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 528 563 8,50% 10 214 215 RMA WATANIYA MOROCCO INSURANCE 527 828 5,87% 127 215 – ALEXANDRIA NAT. REF & PETRO. CO. EGYPT REFINERY 522 222 ND 47 216 176 TOTAL KENYA KENYA PETROLEUM SERVICES 521 765 -20,00% 6 217 – CDG DEVELOPPEMENT MOROCCO DIVERSIFIED 521 154 ND 25 218 116 SOCIETE AFRICAINE DE RAFFINAGE SENEGAL REFINERY 520 812 -46,85% 0 219 – VOLTA RIVER AUTHORITY GHANA ELECTRICITY 519 943 ND -53 220 140 SOC. NAT. INDUSTRIELLE ET MINIÃ�RE MAURITANIA MINING 518 504 -38,13% 121 221 257 SOC. EG. D’ENT. – MOKHTAR IBRAHIM EGYPT CONSTRUCTION 516 246 31,16% 24 222 205 SA DES BRASSERIES DU CAMEROUN CAMEROON BEVERAGES 515 457 -4,88% 40 223 – PETROLE DU MAGHREB MOROCCO PETROLEUM SERVICES 501 960 ND 0 224 200 LESIEUR CRISTAL MOROCCO AGRIBUSINESS 501 220 -10,53% 36 225 214 NATIONAL NAVIGATION CO.* EGYPT SEA TRANSPORT 499 224 ND 62 226 230 SOCIETE NATIONALE D’ELECTRICITE SENEGAL ELECTRICITY 488 716 6,63% 12 227 223 OLYMPIC GROUP EGYPT DIVERSIFIED 476 229 -1,45% 28 228 251 SOC. MAROC. DE CONST. AUTOMOBILES MOROCCO AUTOMOBILE 474 368 17,08% 0 229 270 GROUPE LOUKIL TUNISIA DIVERSIFIED 469 986 24,33% 26 230 255 BRITISH AMERICAN INVESTMENT CO. MAURITIUS DIVERSIFIED 469 479 18,06% 3 231 283 MUSTEK SOUTH AFRICA ICT 469 430 30,35% 7 232 221 LIBYA OIL MAROC MOROCCO PETROLEUM SERVICES 465 462 -3,76% 6 233 304 MURRAY & ROBERTS CEMENTATION SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 463 916 46,37% 28 234 228 GROUPE TTS* TUNISIA TOURISM 462 191 ND 45 235 – CATOCA SOCIEDADE MINEIRA ANGOLA MINING 461 510 ND 0 236 238 CIMENTS DU MAROC MOROCCO CONST. MATERIALS 452 726 3,51% 120 237 236 METAIR INVESTMENTS SOUTH AFRICA AUTOMOBILE 450 576 2,02% 7 238 277 NESTLE NIGERIA NIGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 448 160 22,18% 64 239 282 SOC. NAT. D’OPERATIONS PETROLIÃ�RES COTE D’IVOIRE PETROLEUM 448 005 24,27% 69 240 254 ABU QIR FERTILIZERS & CHEMICAL IND. EGYPT CHEMICALS 446 672 11,12% 196 241 303 OCEANA GROUP SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 445 080 40,31% 29 242 342 HOLCIM MOROCCO CONST. MATERIALS 444 579 61,54% 96 243 292 MTN COTE D’IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE TELECOMS 441 198 ND 34 244 246 OFFICE NATIONAL DE L’EAU POTABLE MOROCCO WATER 437 709 5,67% 15 245 – SHELL TUNISIE TUNISIA PETROLEUM SERVICES 436 954 ND 6 246 167 NAMDEB DIAMOND CORP. NAMIBIA MINING 434 988 ND -53 247 262 EAST AFRICAN BREWERIES KENYA BEVERAGES 434 573 12,41% 90 248 311 GROWTHPOINT PROPERTIES SOUTH AFRICA REAL ESTATE 432 907 40,33% 0 249 249 COMP. MAROCAINE DES HYDROCARBS. MOROCCO PETROLEUM 431 686 5,32% 0 250 183 TOTAL SENEGAL SENEGAL PETROLEUM SERVICES 429 618 -31,02% 0 251 248 NORTHAM PLATINUM SOUTH AFRICA MINING 429 542 4,62% 85 252 265 MTN CAMEROUN CAMEROON TELECOMS 427 144 11,61% 0 253 – CONCOR SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 425 492 ND 45 254 264 IRELAND BLYTH MAURITIUS CONSTRUCTION 421 626 10,11% 45 255 247 CEMEX – ASSIUT CEMENT* EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 413 321 ND 102 256 196 PZ CUSSONS NIGERIA NIGERIA PHARMACEUTICALS 411 101 -28,38% 34 257 334 COMAIR SOUTH AFRICA AIR TRANSPORT 411 037 44,71% 9 258 226 MOBIL OIL NIGERIA NIGERIA PETROLEUM 406 930 -13,99% 18 259 – MOOLMANS SOUTH AFRICA MINING 406 617 ND 0 260 349 GIJIMA AST GROUP SOUTH AFRICA ICT 406 393 52,96% 14 261 319 DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS NIGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 402 705 34,61% 36 262 256 SOC. D’EXPL. DES MIN. D’OR DE SADIOLA* MALI MINING 396 208 ND 79 263 259 HOLDING MAROCAINE COMM. ET FIN. MOROCCO DIVERSIFIED 393 699 0,70% 0 264 – TANZANIA BREWERIES TANZANIA BEVERAGES 390 548 ND 64 265 – SANIA CIE COTE D’IVOIRE AGRIBUSINESS 385 868 ND 8 266 285 AXA ASSURANCE MAROC MOROCCO INSURANCE 384 146 7,58% 0 267 330 ASTRAPAK SOUTH AFRICA PAPER 382 636 31,71% 17 268 175 EGYPTIAN IRON & STEEL CO. EGYPT METAL, STEEL 382 436 -41,42% 32 269 287 SOC. FRIG. ET BRASS. DE TUNIS TUNISIA BEVERAGES 382 098 8,66% 56 270 352 PINNACLE TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA ICT 382 042 44,86% 14 271 88 COMPAGNIE MINIÃ�RE DE L’OGOOUE GABON MINING 380 920 -71,55% 10 272 298 BAMBURI CEMENT KENYA CONST. MATERIALS 378 824 15,90% 88 273 271 GROUPE MABROUK* TUNISIA DIVERSIFIED 375 765 ND 0 274 326 MERAFE RESOURCES SOUTH AFRICA MINING 374 975 27,61% 138 275 320 PROCTER & GAMBLE MAROC MOROCCO CHEMICALS 373 982 25,08% 0 276 243 TOTAL PETROLEUM GHANA GHANA PETROLEUM SERVICES 373 648 ND 9 277 268 UAC OF NIGERIA NIGERIA CONSTRUCTION 370 613 -2,26% 26 278 284 NOUVELAIR TUNISIE TUNISIA AIR TRANSPORT 365 973 2,08% 22 279 244 AUTO HALL MOROCCO AUTOMOBILE 365 575 -12,98% 26 280 279 SIEMENS EGYPT* EGYPT ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 364 857 ND 0 281 195 BELL EQUIPMENT SOUTH AFRICA AUTOMOBILE 363 899 -36,90% -35 282 280 HELWAN PORTLAND CEMENT* EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 363 462 ND 94 283 301 ORANGE MALI MALI TELECOMS 360 387 12,75% 157 284 441 CIE. NORD AFR. ET INT. D’ASSURANCES MOROCCO INSURANCE 355 137 84,71% 0 285 318 CIEL GROUP MAURITIUS DIVERSIFIED 354 316 17,89% 18 286 290 CAIRO POULTRY EGYPT AGRIBUSINESS 350 564 0,08% 37 287 289 AFRIQUIA GAZ MOROCCO ENERGY 350 311 0,01% 36 288 250 SEARDEL INVESTMENT CORP. SOUTH AFRICA TEXTILES 348 769 -14,64% -27 289 288 AES AFRICAN POWER CO. CAMEROON ELECTRICITY 345 563 -1,44% 0 290 291 CHEVRON OIL CO. NIGERIA* NIGERIA PETROLEUM SERVICES 345 142 ND -1 291 225 WATANIYA TELECOM ALGERIE ALGERIA TELECOMS 344 248 -27,93% 1 292 378 WANA CORP. MOROCCO TELECOMS 341 458 42,02% 0 293 348 PEERMONT GLOBAL SOUTH AFRICA TOURISM 341 432 27,21% -28 294 273 MVELAPHANDA GROUP SOUTH AFRICA DIVERSIFIED 338 977 -9,34% 214 295 261 RAYA HOLDING FOR TELECOMM. EGYPT ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 338 721 -12,80% 7 296 278 OF. NAT. DES CHEM. DE FER DU MAROC MOROCCO TRANSPORT 335 309 -8,18% -44 297 314 SOCIETE CENTRALE DE REASSURANCE MOROCCO INSURANCE 334 919 10,13% 0 298 275 SOCIETE DES MINES DE MORILA MALI MINING 330 577 -10,80% 91 299 295 ALEXANDRIA REAL ESTATE INV. CO.* EGYPT REAL ESTATE 329 179 ND 72 300 310 SOC. MAROC. DE CARBURANTS – ZIZ MOROCCO PETROLEUM SERVICES 327 989 6,28% 0 301 389 CIC HOLDINGS NAMIBIA RETAIL 326 495 40,55% 7 302 328 HUDACO INDUSTRIES SOUTH AFRICA AUTOMOBILE 326 306 11,68% 32 303 325 GROUPE MON LOISIR MAURITIUS DIVERSIFIED 324 658 10,38% 38 304 300 DELTA INDUSTRIAL CO.* EGYPT ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 323 751 ND 32 305 346 FOOD AND ALLIED GROUP OF COMPANIES MAURITIUS AGRIBUSINESS 323 637 19,30% 16 306 329 SOC. NAT. DES TAB. ET DES ALLUMETTES ALGERIA TOBACCO 323 617 11,33% 157 307 235 EGYPT KUWAIT HOLDING CO. EGYPT DIVERSIFIED 322 116 -28,42% 158 308 267 ZAIN RDC DR CONGO TELECOMS 321 600 -15,63% -7 309 305 VODACOM TANZANIA TANZANIA TELECOMS 320 467 1,96% 0 310 366 PRESS CORPORATION MALAWI DIVERSIFIED 319 603 25,58% 38 311 – SOC. BURKINABE DES FIBRES TEXTILES BURKINA FASO COTTON 316 467 ND -109 312 – SOC. GENERALE DES TRAVAUX DU MAROC MOROCCO CONSTRUCTION 316 289 ND 0 313 321 CECAGADIS GABON RETAIL 316 132 6,39% 18 314 266 ENT. NAT. DE TRAVAUX AUX PUITS ALGERIA PETROLEUM 315 678 -17,30% 62 315 363 HIDROELECTRICA DE CAHORA BASSA MOZAMBIQUE WATER, ELECTRICITY 313 745 22,08% -55 316 337 ENTREPRISE NATIONALE DE FORAGE ALGERIA PETROLEUM 309 868 ND 17 317 269 SIDI KERIR PETROCHEMICALS CO. EGYPT PETROLEUM 304 872 -19,41% 137 318 383 KELLY GROUP SOUTH AFRICA HUMAN RESOURCES 304 284 28,98% 7 319 315 TOTAL MARKETING GABON* GABON PETROLEUM SERVICES 302 375 ND 0 320 – SOCIETE DES MINES DE LOULO MALI MINING 301 960 ND 91 321 453 COUNTRY BIRD HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA AGRIBUSINESS 301 862 69,14% 16 322 444 PRODUCE BUYING CO. GHANA AGRIBUSINESS 301 298 59,19% 3 323 390 GOLD REEF CASINO RESORTS SOUTH AFRICA CASINOS 300 545 29,48% 48 324 286 ZAIN ZAMBIA ZAMBIA TELECOMS 300 100 -15,18% 53 325 331 OFFICE NATIONAL DES AEROPORTS MOROCCO AIR TRANSPORT 299 294 3,27% 61 326 – SOCIETE MAGASIN GENERAL TUNISIA RETAIL 299 246 115,56% -1 327 312 LAFARGE W. AFRICAN PORT. CEMENT CO. NIGERIA CONST. MATERIALS 299 070 -2,51% 33 328 347 COTE D’IVOIRE TELECOM COTE D’IVOIRE TELECOMS 298 776 10,37% 0 329 299 SOC. DE PROM. IND. AUTO. AU MAROC MOROCCO AUTOMOBILE 298 064 -8,45% 10 330 274 SOC. D’EXPL. DES PORTS MARSA MAROC MOROCCO SEA TRANSPORT 297 788 -19,79% 49 331 322 DIANA HOLDING* MOROCCO DIVERSIFIED 296 463 ND 15 332 385 SNMVT – MONOPRIX TUNISIA RETAIL 295 422 25,86% 11 333 309 TOTAL COTE D’IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE PETROLEUM SERVICES 294 201 -4,89% 11 334 240 SALAM GAZ MOROCCO PETROLEUM SERVICES 294 190 -31,68% 13 335 – METRO MAROC MOROCCO RETAIL 293 145 ND 0 336 351 UNILEVER NIGERIA NIGERIA CHEMICALS 291 795 10,06% 26 337 302 GHANA OIL CO. GHANA PETROLEUM SERVICES 290 371 ND 3 338 341 ORANGE CAMEROUN CAMEROON TELECOMS 289 824 5,19% 0 339 339 COOPERATIVE COPAG TAROUDANT MOROCCO AGRIBUSINESS 288 376 3,96% 0 340 333 NORTH AFRICA BOTTLING CO.* MOROCCO BEVERAGES 286 811 ND 0 341 353 SOCIETE D’ENERGIE ET D’EAU DU GABON GABON WATER, ELECTRICITY 284 620 8,00% 8 342 – ALLIANCES DEVELOPPEMENT IMMOBILIER MOROCCO REAL ESTATE 284 235 ND 45 343 335 MCEL MOCAMBIQUE* MOZAMBIQUE TELECOMS 281 385 ND 0 344 434 VOX TELECOM SOUTH AFRICA TELECOMS 280 767 43,90% 8 345 356 GROUPE MANAGEM MOROCCO MINING 278 902 7,10% 2 346 338 UNILEVER MAGHREB* MOROCCO CHEMICALS 277 813 ND 0 347 343 EUROFIND* COTE D’IVOIRE DIVERSIFIED 274 950 ND 0 348 485 SINAI CEMENT CO. EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 274 108 69,44% 121 349 297 ZAIN TANZANIA TANZANIA TELECOMS 272 300 -16,93% 6 350 391 OUTSPAN IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE AGRIBUSINESS 272 184 17,48% 808 351 345 MANTRAC* EGYPT AUTO DEALER 271 430 ND 3 352 394 ENTREPRISE NAT. DE GEOPHYSIQUE ALGERIA PETROLEUM SERVICES 270 332 ND 75 353 233 SHELL SENEGAL SENEGAL PETROLEUM SERVICES 270 083 -40,24% 0 354 412 SEVEN-UP BOTTLING CO. NIGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 269 413 24,31% 12 355 479 SANYATI HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA CIV. ENGINEERING 269 258 65,17% 7 356 306 SHELL MAURITIUS MAURITIUS PETROLEUM SERVICES 269 118 -14,09% 8 357 358 PETROMINS-OIL DU MAROC MOROCCO PETROLEUM SERVICES 268 759 4,11% 0 358 432 TOURAH CEMENT CO. EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 265 787 33,81% 61 359 350 DELICES DANONE* TUNISIA AGRIBUSINESS 265 290 ND 0 360 392 SOCOCIM INDUSTRIES SENEGAL CONST. MATERIALS 264 508 14,63% 0 361 323 TRENCOR SOUTH AFRICA SEA TRANSPORT 263 978 -10,89% 34 362 354 ALGERIE POSTE* ALGERIA POSTAL SERVICES 262 382 ND 1 363 372 ROGERS GROUP MAURITIUS CONSTRUCTION 261 849 6,24% 18 364 370 SOC. NIGERIENNE DE PROD. PETROLIERS NIGER PETROLEUM SERVICES 260 874 5,36% 11 365 426 DRDGOLD SOUTH AFRICA MINING 257 606 26,13% 17 366 360 COMARIT* MOROCCO SEA TRANSPORT 257 575 ND 0 367 402 MAGHREBAIL MOROCCO FINANCE 256 928 14,28% 9 368 344 ZAIN GABON GABON TELECOMS 256 400 -5,98% 19 369 252 SOCIETE MULTINATIONALE DE BITUMES COTE D’IVOIRE REFINERY 256 008 -36,68% -4 370 365 ARAB CABLES CO.* EGYPT ELEC. CABLES 254 705 ND 7 371 384 NESTLE COTE D’IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE AGRIBUSINESS 253 532 7,73% 7 372 308 VODACOM CONGO DR CONGO TELECOMS 251 035 -18,85% 0 373 – ESORFRANKI SOUTH AFRICA CIV. ENGINEERING 250 471 ND 26 374 403 SOCIETE NATIONALE D’ASSURANCES ALGERIA INSURANCE 250 199 11,48% 21 375 397 ROYAL SWAZILAND SUGAR CORP. SWAZILAND AGRIBUSINESS 249 726 ND 21 376 362 MARIDIVE AND OIL SERVICES EGYPT PETROLEUM SERVICES 246 980 -3,95% 71 377 407 DELTA HOLDING MOROCCO DIVERSIFIED 246 647 11,07% 29 378 409 SOC. DE LIM. ET BRASS. D’AFRIQUE COTE D’IVOIRE BEVERAGES 245 460 10,67% 30 379 – BUILDMAX SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 243 429 ND -135 380 – SOCIETE ENNAKL TUNISIA AUTOMOBILE 243 288 ND 16 381 377 SEFALANA HOLDING CO.* BOTSWANA AGRIBUSINESS 241 583 ND 9 382 463 TOTAL BURKINA BURKINA FASO PETROLEUM SERVICES 241 368 39,25% 5 383 399 COOPER MAROC PHARMACEUTICALS MOROCCO PHARMACEUTICALS 240 313 6,33% 0 384 – SOC. CEN. DE BOISSONS GAZEUSES MOROCCO BEVERAGES 240 291 ND 0 385 398 SOC. IV. DE PROM. DE SUPERMARCHES COTE D’IVOIRE RETAIL 237 381 4,91% 2 386 451 NATIONAL CEMENT CO. EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 237 247 30,92% 49 387 421 BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO KENYA KENYA TOBACCO 236 434 13,95% 18 388 380 NEW MAURITIUS HOTELS MAURITIUS TOURISM 236 267 -1,66% 38 389 388 GROUPE ACIMA MOROCCO RETAIL 236 034 1,54% -2 390 369 COMPAGNIE DU KOMO GABON DIVERSIFIED 235 935 -5,42% 15 391 414 TOGO TELECOM TOGO TELECOMS 235 034 9,49% 62 392 – PALMERAIES KOUTOUBIA MOROCCO AGRIBUSINESS 234 941 ND 0 393 – WEST AFRICAN CEMENT CO. TOGO CONST. MATERIALS 234 931 ND 26 394 – SOC. NAT. DE VEHICULES INDUSTRIELS ALGERIA AUTOMOBILE 234 313 ND 0 395 386 AMREYAH CEMENT* EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 233 838 ND 72 396 393 BIOPHARM ALGERIA PHARMACEUTICALS 233 181 1,16% 12 397 450 ILLOVO MALAWI MALAWI AGRIBUSINESS 230 717 25,53% 85 398 – LABEL VIE MOROCCO RETAIL 230 449 62,14% 9 399 296 INT. TRADING OIL & COMMODITIES CORP. SENEGAL PETROLEUM SERVICES 229 909 -30,10% 0 400 – BENUE CEMENT CO. NIGERIA CONST. MATERIALS 229 679 96,92% 94 401 430 MAURITIUS TELECOM MAURITIUS TELECOMS 227 639 13,03% 46 402 – GROUPE ONE TECH TUNISIA ELEC. CABLES 227 533 ND 0 403 281 METMAR SOUTH AFRICA METAL, STEEL 227 119 -37,48% 21 404 336 PETROLEOS DE MOCAMBIQUE MOZAMBIQUE PETROLEUM SERVICES 226 846 -19,14% 190 405 478 FAMOUS BRANDS SOUTH AFRICA TOURISM 225 733 37,91% 25 406 400 GROUPE BOUSSARSAR* TUNISIA TOURISM 225 459 ND 0 407 373 STARCOMMS NIGERIA TELECOMS 225 034 -7,99% -51 408 418 CENTRALE AUTOMOBILE CHERIFIENNE MOROCCO AUTO DEALER 222 812 6,01% 0 409 427 EGYPTIAN INTERNATIONAL TOURISM CO. EGYPT TOURISM 220 867 8,70% 28 410 429 SEFALANA CASH AND CARRY BOTSWANA RETAIL 220 839 9,27% 5 411 – ENT. NAT. DE GRANDS TRAVAUX PETROL. ALGERIA PETROLEUM 220 631 ND 3 412 437 CIEL TEXTILE MAURITIUS TEXTILES 219 061 13,22% 1 413 – DELPHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTÃ�ME MAROC MOROCCO ELEC. CABLES 216 890 ND 0 414 438 SOCIETE DES BRASSERIES DU GABON GABON BEVERAGES 215 408 11,42% 18 415 404 SOCIETE DES MINES DE L’AÃ�R NIGER MINING 214 998 -4,19% 34 416 420 BRASSERIES DU MAROC MOROCCO BEVERAGES 214 707 2,65% 9 417 – DISWAY MOROCCO RETAIL 212 947 ND 9 418 371 TOTAL MAURITIUS MAURITIUS PETROLEUM SERVICES 212 683 -13,91% 6 419 433 IND. PROM. SERVICES WEST AFRICA COTE D’IVOIRE DIVERSIFIED 212 470 8,04% 0 420 416 LG ELECTRONICS MOROCCO* MOROCCO ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 212 284 ND 0 421 376 GILPLAIT ALGERIA DAIRY 211 801 -12,38% -33 422 482 LES GRANDS TRAVAUX ROUTIERS MOROCCO CONSTRUCTION 211 160 29,76% 0 423 – NSIA PARTICIPATIONS S.A COTE D’IVOIRE DIVERSIFIED 210 969 65,50% 15 424 445 ENERGIE DU MALI MALI WATER, ELECTRICITY 210 328 11,44% -847 425 419 SOC. DE TRAD. ET D’EXP. DE PET. BRUT* CAMEROON PETROLEUM SERVICES 210 167 ND 0 426 461 OFFICE NATIONAL DES TELECOM. BURKINA FASO TELECOMS 208 336 19,62% 21 427 480 PEREGRINE HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA FINANCE 208 282 27,89% 66 428 396 ZAIN CONGO CONGO TELECOMS 208 100 -8,77% 12 429 401 PALM HILLS DEVELOPMENT CO. EGYPT REAL ESTATE 207 572 -7,90% 86 430 355 MISR REFRIG. AND AIR COND. CO. EGYPT ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 205 712 -21,57% 20 431 425 SAN STEFANO REAL ESTATE* EGYPT TOURISM 204 595 ND 18 432 411 CARTHAGE POWER CO. TUNISIA ELECTRICITY 203 647 -6,13% 23 433 – NAMIBIA BREWERIES NAMIBIA BEVERAGES 203 481 43,25% 21 434 382 UNIVERS ACIER MOROCCO METAL, STEEL 202 660 -14,79% 0 435 317 MAGHREB STEEL MOROCCO METAL, STEEL 202 448 -32,69% -27 436 – COMPAGNIE GENERALE IMMOBILIÃ�RE MOROCCO REAL ESTATE 201 699 36,16% 69 437 431 SANTOVA LOGISTICS SOUTH AFRICA TRANSPORT 201 336 1,08% 505 438 – UMGENI WATER-AMANZI SOUTH AFRICA WATER 201 244 47,77% 71 439 375 PALM-CI COTE D’IVOIRE AGRIBUSINESS 200 122 -17,90% 5 440 471 RADEEMA MOROCCO WATER 199 245 17,35% 34 441 446 CIMENTERIES DU CAMEROUN CAMEROON CONST. MATERIALS 198 513 7,26% 22 442 – UPPER EGYPT FLOUR MILLS EGYPT AGRIBUSINESS 198 066 ND 17 443 – ZAMBIA SUGAR ZAMBIA AGRIBUSINESS 197 929 85,86% 35 444 – HELWAN FERTILIZER CO. EGYPT CHEMICALS 197 578 ND 81 445 424 ARGENT INDUSTRIAL SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 197 443 -4,13% 1 446 – NAMIBIAN POWER CORP. NAMIBIA ELECTRICITY 196 715 51,64% 80 447 – EGYPTAIR MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING EGYPT AIR TRANSPORT 196 229 ND 28 448 422 NU WORLD HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA TRANSPORT 194 559 -6,13% 3 449 498 CERAMIC INDUSTRIES SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 194 167 25,05% 12 450 – BSI STEEL SOUTH AFRICA METAL, STEEL 193 746 ND 3 451 468 CERVEJAS DE MOCAMBIQUE MOZAMBIQUE BEVERAGES 192 708 11,95% 0 452 447 CURRIMJEE GROUP MAURITIUS DIVERSIFIED 191 999 3,97% 0 453 440 LECICO EGYPT EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 191 171 -0,89% 19 454 473 JAN DE NUL (PACIFIC) MAURITIUS PETROLEUM 189 250 12,60% 58 455 374 TOYOTA MAROC MOROCCO AUTO DEALER 188 937 -22,59% 0 456 – COMP. DE DISTR. DE COTE D’IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE RETAIL 187 126 ND 2 457 – BOTSWANA INSURANCE HOLDINGS BOTSWANA INSURANCE 186 935 51,39% 34 458 406 COMPAGNIE TUNISIENNE DE NAVIGATION TUNISIA SEA TRANSPORT 185 836 -16,46% 2 459 413 RECTRON HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA ICT 184 299 ND 8 460 415 NEXANS MAROC MOROCCO ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 183 634 -14,20% 6 461 313 UNILEVER COTE D’IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE COSMETICS 183 552 -40,15% 9 462 455 OFF. DE L’AVIATION CIV. ET DES AEROPORTS TUNISIA AIR TRANSPORT 182 825 3,61% 56 463 448 SUNEOR SENEGAL AGRIBUSINESS 182 756 -0,90% -6 464 483 EGYPTIAN INT. PHARMA. INDUSTRIES CO. EGYPT PHARMACEUTICALS 181 975 12,02% 51 465 – DELTA SUGAR EGYPT AGRIBUSINESS 181 166 38,33% 18 466 – ALEXANDRIA PORTLAND CEMENT EGYPT CONST. MATERIALS 180 975 38,34% 52 467 428 SHELL COTE D’IVOIRE COTE D’IVOIRE PETROLEUM 180 755 -10,69% 2 468 452 ISLAMIC. CO. FOR PHARMA. CHEMICALS* EGYPT PHARMACEUTICALS 179 653 ND 59 469 – COMP. ALGERIENNE DES ASSURANCES ALGERIA INSURANCE 179 357 ND 11 470 381 SOCIETE TUNISIENNE DE SIDERURGIE TUNISIA METAL, STEEL 179 307 -24,86% -12 471 – COMP. ALG. D’ASS. ET DE REASSURANCE ALGERIA INSURANCE 178 214 17,70% 14 472 – MED COM TUNISIA ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 177 550 15,81% 3 473 494 SOC. NAT. AUTOROUTES DU MAROC MOROCCO CIV. ENGINEERING 176 062 12,52% 0 474 465 ITALTILE SOUTH AFRICA CONST. MATERIALS 175 670 1,70% 34 475 459 COSMIVOIRE* COTE D’IVOIRE COSMETICS 175 545 ND 25 476 460 EL NASR MINING CO.* EGYPT MINING 175 388 ND 83 477 488 DATACENTRIX HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA ICT 174 023 8,84% 10 478 436 MIDDLE & WEST DELTA FLOUR MILLS EGYPT AGRIBUSINESS 173 865 -10,68% 6 479 – ENGEN BOTSWANA BOTSWANA PETROLEUM SERVICES 173 601 ND 13 480 467 DAMANG MINES* GHANA MINING 172 196 ND 15 481 469 MTN SOUDAN* SUDAN TELECOMS 172 104 ND 0 482 – CENTRALE LAITIÃ�RE DU CAP BON TUNISIA DAIRY 170 514 ND 3 483 – CIPLA MEDPRO SOUTH AFRICA PHARMACEUTICALS 170 151 61,88% 21 484 477 COMPAGNIE MAURICIENNE DE TEXTILE MAURITIUS TEXTILES 169 623 3,49% 22 485 – EOH HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA ICT 169 208 68,42% 10 486 472 CKG HOLDING* COTE D’IVOIRE DIVERSIFIED 169 200 ND 0 487 – 1TIME HOLDINGS SOUTH AFRICA AIR TRANSPORT 168 668 52,11% 5 488 – UCS GROUP SOUTH AFRICA ICT 168 204 29,89% 3 489 – ELB GROUP SOUTH AFRICA CONSTRUCTION 167 961 48,66% 7 490 466 CADBURY NIGERIA NIGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 167 844 -2,57% -8 491 – SEMOULERIE INDUSTRIELLE DE LA MITIDJA ALGERIA AGRIBUSINESS 167 821 ND 0 492 359 METOREX SOUTH AFRICA MINING 167 409 -35,02% -203 493 – CFAO MOTORS MAROC MOROCCO AUTO DEALER 165 985 ND 0 494 361 INDUSTRIES CHIMIQUES DU SENEGAL SENEGAL MINING 165 466 -35,66% 0 495 476 CASA GRAINS* MOROCCO AGRIBUSINESS 165 417 ND 0 496 491 LEONI TUNISIE TUNISIA AUTOMOBILE 163 795 3,44% 7 497 – AGRA (CO-OPERATIVE) NAMIBIA AGRIBUSINESS 162 933 ND 3 498 481 BARID AL MAGHRIB* MOROCCO POSTAL SERVICES 162 826 ND 34 499 407 SOC. AFR. DE PLANTATIONS D’HEVEAS COTE D’IVOIRE AGRIBUSINESS 161 803 -27,10% 13 500 486 MOQUETTE MAC (EX – MISR AMERICA CARPET)* EGYPT TEXTILES 161 390 ND 14

2009 RESULTS IN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS – *IN ITALICS 2008 RESULTS – ND: NO DATA

Country Profile: SUDAN

FRIDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2010 00:00

This country profile was published in November 2010 in our annual ‘Africa in 2011’ issue. The next edition, ‘Africa in 2012’ will be on sale in November 2011. One word sums up the issue that will dominate Sudan in the coming months: referendum. In fact, two referenda are scheduled for 9 January 2011: the Southern Sudanese will vote on whether the south should secede from the north, and the people of Abyei will choose whether to stay in northern Sudan or to join the south. If Khartoum allows the polls to go ahead, southerners are expected to vote for independence. As The Africa Report went to press, Khartoum was trying to delay both polls. As Sudan stands on the brink of division, fear of war is being voiced even by normally-cautious church leaders. Although it signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 which envisaged the possibility of secession, the National Congress Party (NCP) government in Khartoum does not want the south to secede. The other CPA signatory, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, governs the semi-autonomous south and it expects the referendum to lead to secession, so it does not want war or any delays.  The CPA stipulates that the referenda in the south and Abyei be held simultaneously. This has enabled Khartoum to block the overall process by attempting to delay the Abyei vote. This obstruction is being aided by Ahmed Mohamed Haroun, the governor of South Kordofan, where Abyei lies. Haroun is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. The politics of destabilisation will persist. Except for strongman Hassan al-Turabi, who lurks in the wings, the same people who launched the Islamist party’s 1989 coup against the government of Sadig al-Mahdi now rule: Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Nafi’e Ali Nafi’e, Awad Ahmed al Jaz, Mustafa Osman Ismail, Gutbi al-Mahdi, General Bakri Hassan Salih, General Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein and President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir. In 1989, Field Marshal Omer was merely a frontman to keep the army in line for the party, but he has since gained ground. Nevertheless, it is the party that rules and Beshir is circumscribed less by the ICC arrest warrants for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity than by the NCP’s organisation, dedication and financial clout. Operationally, the regime can easily survive without him. Politically though, his arrest would have a major impact, raising the hopes of the public and the opposition. Yet African, Arab, Asian and Western governments appear to tolerate the NCP, partly because they fear national instability. For ordinary people in Darfur and the South, instability is a way of life. They live in fear of being attacked either by anti-government rebels or, more often, by the regime’s regular or irregular forces. The Government of South Sudan, headed by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, has meanwhile persuaded some renegades (including Lam Akol Ajawin and General George Athor Deng) to come into the tent. In Darfur, the Khartoum government has a new strategy which involves forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced people out of refugee camps, which afford them a little protection, and into new areas determined by the regime. The UN and foreign governments have essentially left Darfur alone and this may continue as Washington, London and others seek to protect the CPA Fighting by insurgent groups is therefore likely to increase and Khartoum will respond with increased force. Many think the government forces are too weak to fight a war in the south and the west, but Khartoum has repeatedly shown its organisational skills as proxy forces enable it to pursue several goals at once. The prospect of the independence of Southern Sudan in January 2011 is causing Sudanese policy makers to re-evaluate their economic strategies. With both the northern and the southern governments reliant on oil exports, agreeing a deal on how to manage them will be crucial for both Juba and Khartoum. The north would have a difficult period of adjustment if the south, where most of the oil is located, votes for independence. Negotiations on future revenue-sharing terms have already begun. A division of the north and south is also likely to lead to the northern government’s having to bear sole responsibility for the country’s more than $37bn in external debt. Revenue sharing and transparency were a cause of conflict between Juba and Khartoum in 2010. After UK-based NGO Global Witness reported that there were millions of dollars of discrepancies between the northern government’s and the oil companies’ production statistics, Energy Minister Lual Deng announced in August that the government would order an independent audit and publish daily production figures. The oil sector continues to attract the most investor interest. In late 2010, the petroleum ministry announced targets to double production from about 470,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1m bpd in 2013. New projects and improved techniques should boost production to close to 600,000 bpd in 2011. To try to meet the medium-term goal, the ­Petrodar consortium of Asian companies has started work to drill new wells on Blocks 3 and 7. The risk posed by the prospect of southern independence has not stopped new investors. Luxembourg’s Star Petroleum and Norway’s Hamla signed an exploration agreement for Block E, in Southern Sudan, in August. At the same time, Finnish company Fenno Caledonian signed a deal to explore for oil and gas at Block 10 in the northeast. Based on assumptions that unity will remain the status quo, the IMF predicts strong economic growth of 5.5% and 6.2% in 2010 and 2011. Growth is hampered by a growing fiscal deficit and a strong reliance on oil exports to generate revenue. In late 2010, the government in Khartoum suggested several different strategies to help diversify the economy away from oil, a trend that will become increasingly necessary based on the estimated longevity of the country’s oil reserves. The IMF estimates that production will peak at around 547,000 bpd in 2012 before a gradual descent to about 151,000 bpd by 2030. The Sudanese government is working with the French state-owned Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières to map the country’s geological resources so as to attract more international investment. In September, mining minister Abdel Baqi al-Jailani said that Sudan would attempt to double gold production to more than 40tn per year by 2012 through licensing small-scale producers and inviting interest from foreign mining companies. Leasing land for export-focused agriculture is also an area targeted for revenue creation. The banking sector is still a drag on the overall economy due to persistent high rates of non-performing loans which are due in part to government arrears, but also to the sector’s weakness in comparison to regional competitors. Deposits and credit to the private sector both doubled over the 2005-2009 period, but from low levels. State-owned banks represent the majority of business in the sector, but also the majority of bad loans. The government has continued to drag its feet over the rehabilitation of Omdurman National Bank, the worst offender The modalities of separation It has been nearly six years since a peace deal ended the north-south war in Sudan, but with southerners finally set to vote on whether to become an independent country, many details have yet to be worked out. An estimated 8 million people live in Sudan’s southern region, most of whom are expected to register to vote in the January 9 referendum. A north-south referendum commission continues to squabble over the details, and there are still no firm logistical guidelines for voting day. At least 2 million southerners living in the north and abroad should also qualify to vote, but there is no clear method to determine which members of the diaspora qualify as southerners, leaving the vote open to manipulation. Setting up polling stations is proving to be a burden, with much of the region difficult to access. Southern Sudan has only 60km of asphalt roads and any delay could push proceedings into the rainy season, when many roads become impassable. A delay could also prove explosive. The 9 January poll has huge symbolic value in the south, where independence is widely seen as a foregone conclusion. Should the south opt for independence, Sudan will enter a six-month transition period until 9 July, allowing time to negotiate the modalities of separation. Sudan’s Top Companies Rank 2010 Rank 2009 Company name Country Sector Turnover (Thds $) Turnover change Net profits 125 131 ZAIN SUDAN SUDAN TELECOMS 994 300 14,26% 351 202 174 SUDANESE TELECOM CO. SUDAN TELECOMS 550 340 -15,79% 38 481 469 MTN SOUDAN* SUDAN TELECOMS 172 104 ND 0 2009 RESULTS IN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS – *IN ITALICS 2008 RESULTS – ND: NO DATA Sudan’s Top Banks Rank 2010 Rank 2009 Company name Country TOTAL ASSETS NET EARNINGS CREDIT DEPOSITS 101 100 BANK OF KHARTOUM* SUDAN 1 300 341 62 624 – – 124 143 FAISAL ISLAMIC BANK SUDAN SUDAN 1 030 760 66 351 – – 164 – TADAMON ISLAMIC BANK* SUDAN 581 961 44 923 – 208 582 187 – FARMER’S COMMERCIAL BANK SUDAN 427 779 6 735 224 336 351 338 200 194 ISLAMIC CO-OPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT BANK SUDAN 379 535 27 673 – 237 111 FIGURES FOR 2009. US$ THOUSANDS. *2008 FIGURES.

Backpack Farm Launches KUZA Doctor: Mobile (sms) Farmer Tech Support in Partnership with Mercy Corps

Kenya’s smallholder farmers to boost food production and increase capacity with cutting edge mobile training content – SMS content & animated movies – a for social enterprise in East Africa

The Backpack Farm Agriculture Program (BPF) and Mercy Corps are pleased to announce the launch of “KUZA DoctorSM,” a mobile based (SMS) tool providing text-based, technical support to smallholder farmers in Kenya. Farmers voluntarily register to receive messages in either English or Swahili. In support of these efforts, the BPF team and Mercy Corps have joined forces to market the training tool to more than 17 million smallholder farmers inKenya, consistently challenged by drought, poor yields and post harvest losses. “Mobile solutions hold the potential to positively transform the lives of smallholder farmers and build more productive, equitable, and environmentally-sound food and farming systems in a cost-effective way. Helping to facilitate the growth of commercially sustainable social enterprises that develop and service these technologies is a scalable and sustainable way to build access to a wide variety of vital technical and financial tools that can decrease hunger, increase incomes, and improve environmental sustainability for millions”, states Mercy Corps’ Director of Agricultural Development, Keith Polo.

Training is the key element to transforming the lives of smallholder farmers not only in Kenya and East Africa but around the world. Training is a particularly important element when new technologies such as mobile extension services are introduced. It is essential in enabling farmers to effectively interact with the basic agronomic, financial, and green agri-tech information delivered via mobile phones. In addition to providing cost-effective, mobile-delivered technical information to smallholder farmers, access to face-to-face training is key to transforming the lives of smallholder farmers and is available via a network of rural training farms, a uniquely designed franchise program.

More than just simple text (sms) messaging, the team is fundraising to support a series of more than thirty (30) 2D/3D animated training films developed in partnership with ‘Scientific Animators without Borders.’ Films will be published in four (4) regional languages including English, French and Swahili, made publically available as part of a database of open source, training materials.

Additionally, the Backpack Farm program is engaging with local, financial institutions to incubate new, fair termed financial products and extension services to support Africa’s smallest green farmers in both Sub Saharan Africa and other regions.

Mercy Corps will apply its expertise in building pro-poor, mobile financial services to develop technology-based solutions such as whole-farm budget planning and micro-insurance ensuring a sustainable network of local agents to support these operations. .

The goal of this unique partnership of social enterprise and non-profit sectors demonstrates how challenges associated with hunger and poverty can be overcome cost-effectively, at scale in a self-sustainable manner. Rachel Zedeck, MD of the Backpack Farm believes, “only through cooperative development can we launch the most practical training services. By increasing the basic capacity of farmers, we will prove that Africa’s smallest “green” farmers have the potential to significantly contribute to feeding regional and global value chains while maintaining environmental integrity.”

The team is actively incubating an expansion throughout the East Africa region eventually targeting West Africa specifically targeting Ghana and farmers within specific value chains such as palm oil and cocoa.

Mercy Corps, a registered 501c3 charity exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. To achieve our mission, we apply our vision for change that engages the private, public and civil society sectors to effect positive change. In the agriculture sector, annually, Mercy Corps assists 700,000 smallholder farmers and 3,000 agri-businesses improve their productivity and profit while spurring sustainable food security and local economic development 30 countries, with significant operations throughout East and Sub Saharan Africa. Mercy Corps has uses more than 90% of its resources for programs that help people in need.

Scientific Animations Without BordersSM: Based at the University of Illinois (Urbana), the initiative is dedicated to the development and deployment of animated educational materials to better the lives of people in developing nations. Innovative solutions exist that can help the poorest people on the planet in a variety of scientific literature, primarily published scientific journals difficult for rural poor to access. The organization’s primary goal is to increase access of important development, health and environmental sustainability information and training to the approximately one billion low-literate learners on the planet that are in need of this important knowledge. The team has a system for creating video-based learning tools easily dubbed in any language, delivered through the Internet to most places on the planet, viewed and shared on mobile phones and other electronic devices on the ground.

For more information visit KUZA Doctor at www.Backpackfarm.com

for more information, visit: BackPackFarm.com

Chinese FM Yang Jiechi meets with South Sudan President

Chinese FM meets S Sudanese FM to enhanceties

JUBA – Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks Tuesday with his counterpart inSouth Sudan Deng Alor Kol, offering proposals for developing relations between China and thenewly-established state.

At the beginning of the meeting held in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, Yang sent Alorwarm congratulations on the independence and establishment of the Republic of South Sudan.

The relations between China and South Sudan started well, as leaders of the two countriesattached great importance to the development of their ties and mutual respect for andunderstanding of each other’s core concerns, Yang said, expressing China’s appreciation forSouth Sudan’s adherence to the one China policy.

China is willing to develop a comprehensive and friendly partnership with South Sudan on thebasis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, he said.

China welcomes the embassy of South Sudan to be established in Beijing as soon as possible,Yang said, adding that the two countries should enhance the contacts at all levels tostrengthen the mutual political trust, and should set up a legal framework for the exchangesand cooperation in all areas.

China is ready to assist South Sudan in its development and hopes to effectively cooperatewith South Sudan in the areas such as energy, agriculture, mining, housing construction,communications, water conservancy and transportation, the minister said.

Yang also suggested to boost the friendly exchanges between the two peoples as well as thetwo countries’ collaboration in the international and regional affairs.

Yang urged South Sudan to maintain peace with Sudan and settle the outstanding issuesthrough dialogue and coordination, saying that a neighborly relationship between the twocountries is not only beneficial for the fundamental interests of the two peoples, but also helpfulfor the lasting peace and stability in the region.

Alor said South Sudan has a traditional friendly relationship with China and hopes that Chinabecome the new republic’s main partner in its development.

BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhuanet) — Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has met with the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his counterpart Deng Alor Kol.During the meeting with South Sudanese President, Yang Jiechi said China will continue to develop friendly cooperation with South Sudan, taking its independence and the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations as a new start. Yang also said that China will support South Sudan to play its own role in the United Nations and other international and regional organizations. Kiir welcomed Yang as the first Foreign minister from a permanent member country of the UN Security Council to visit South Sudan. When meeting with South Sudan Foreign Minister, Yang offered proposals for developing relations between China and the newly-established state, saying China is ready to assist South Sudan in its development and hopes to effectively cooperate with South Sudan in the areas such as energy, agriculture, mining, housing construction, communications, water conservancy and transportation.

South Sudan central bank says has reserves for a few months

August 10 2011 at 02:49pm

UBA (Reuters) – South Sudan has enough reserves to pay for the basic needs of the state for a “few months” even if it does not receive oil revenues, the central bank governor said on Wednesdsay.

Governor Elijah Malok said the new currency, the South Sudan pound, which was issued after secession from the north in July, had weakened possibly because some people were hoarding U.S. dollars but said there was no cause for alarm.

Asked about the central bank’s reserves, Malok told reporters: “I will not give it to you but we are ok. Even if we do not receive the oil money for the next few months, we can survive at the rate of $50 million expenditure per month for goods and services coming to the South.”

“We are alright, we can pay for the basic services of the state,” he said.

The South took 75 percent of the united country’s 500,000 barrels a day of oil production when it split away. But it depends for exports on a pipeline that runs through the north.

The two sides have yet to agree a transit fee. The north said on Friday it had halted a shipment from the south because of the dispute.

On the new currency, the governor said: “The rate when we broke off was 2.70 (to the U.S. dollar). After briefing the government of South Sudan, we put it at 2.90. It has moved since then to be 3.30.

“Why is that? We believed having put in $28 million thus far, there are people who like to hoard this money and possibly take it … outside, either to the north or outside, so the dollar is in demand,” he said.

But he added: “We do not need to alarm people, it is under control.”

South Sudan: Reserves for a few months

August 10 2011 at 02:49pm

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REUTERSA man waves South Sudan’s national flag as he attends the Independence Day celebrations in the capital Juba, July 9, 2011. Tens of thousands of South Sudanese danced and cheered as their new country formally declared its independence on Saturday, a hard-won separation from the north that also plunged the fractured region into a new period of uncertainty.

South Sudan has enough reserves to pay for the basic needs of the state for a “few months” even if it does not receive oil revenues, the central bank governor said on Wednesdsay.

Governor Elijah Malok said the new currency, the South Sudan pound, which was issued after secession from the north in July, had weakened possibly because some people were hoarding US dollars but said there was no cause for alarm.

Asked about the central bank’s reserves, Malok told reporters: “I will not give it to you but we are ok. Even if we do not receive the oil money for the next few months, we can survive at the rate of $50 million expenditure per month for goods and services coming to the South.”

“We are alright, we can pay for the basic services of the state,” he said.

The South took 75 percent of the united country’s 500,000 barrels a day of oil production when it split away. But it depends for exports on a pipeline that runs through the north.

The two sides have yet to agree a transit fee. The north said on Friday it had halted a shipment from the south because of the dispute.

On the new currency, the governor said: “The rate when we broke off was 2.70 (to the US dollar). After briefing the government of South Sudan, we put it at 2.90. It has moved since then to be 3.30.

“Why is that? We believed having put in $28 million thus far, there are people who like to hoard this money and possibly take it … outside, either to the north or outside, so the dollar is in demand,” he said.

But he added: “We do not need to alarm people, it is under control.” – Reuters

South Sudan struggles with graft, rights abuses

South Sudan’s Kiir tells MPs graft must stop as UN chief asks Japan for engineers to help new state.

Middle East Online

Faces a host of daunting challenges JUBA – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Monday told lawmakers at the opening session of parliament that corruption in the world’s newest nation must be curbed if the country is to succeed. "The people of South Sudan will not sit idly and allow corruption and abuses of public resources to continue unabated," he said, adding that for the state to succeed, "we need to abide with the principles of accountability." "We must focus on delivery of basic services to meet the great expectation of our people," Kiir told the gathering of MPs, ministers, diplomats and religious leaders. "This is only possible if we have a government whose first and last priorities are public interest." Kiir said he would ensure that, within its first 100 days, the new government passes "five essential laws to establish full transparency and accountability in the management of our financial resources, natural resources and oil." Parliamentary speaker James Wani Igga said the anti-corruption commission, which was established in 2006, but had no powers to prosecute until this year, would now play a key role in tackling graft. "The anti-corruption commission has been toothless and henceforth it will be kicking and biting. From now onwards, it possesses prosecution powers. It only needs to quickly equip itself with the required and qualified personnel," he said. South Sudan, which gained formal independence from the north on July 9, is one of the poorest countries on earth. It was left in ruins after five decades of conflict between southern rebels and successive governments in the north. The fledgling nation faces a host of daunting challenges, including the rampant corruption Kiir has repeatedly vowed to confront. Other key objectives, Kiir said, were providing education, which "only a minority of our children in South Sudan have access to," and turning the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) into a national army, with former soldiers being provided with new opportunities. Literacy rates in the fledgling nation are appalling: the education ministry says 73 percent of the population cannot read or write, and a much higher proportion of women are unable to do so. Separately, there are serious concerns about human rights abuses committed by the SPLA as it struggles to transform itself from a rebel to a regular force. Igga, the parliamentary speaker, stressed the need to boost security, especially by disarming former soldiers and removing weapons. "We must therefore disarm, disarm and disarm, until a woman can work in her farm without fear of rape at gunpoint, and until a trader can open his shop even up to midnight without fear of robbery at gunpoint," he said. Meanwhile, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon asked Japan on Tuesday to consider sending military engineers to South Sudan to help with nation building efforts as part of a UN mission. Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa was reluctant to offer immediate help, saying Tokyo was still relying on its soldiers to help clear and rebuild the region devastated by the March 11 quake and tsunami. But he agreed that Japan, which deployed members of the military for work in quake-hit Haiti, could consider sending Self Defense Forces command centre personnel to South Sudan, which gained independence last month. Ban later told local media the UN still hoped Japan would consider sending engineers to the African country to build badly needed infrastructure. He earlier made the same request to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan. The UN chief is in Japan for a three-day tour and Monday visited areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant hit by the March disasters.

Serial Genocide in Sudan

By: Nina Shea
Ever since taking power, Bashir has waged total war against his own people.
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Sudan’s president, Gen. Omar al-Bashir — an indicted war criminal — is now ferociously targeting the 1 million Nuba and various other peoples of oil-rich Southern Kordofan. Though this area sided with South Sudan in the civil war that raged from 1983 to 2005, it was, under the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, left behind when the South seceded last month. Bashir wants to ensure that Southern Kordofan’s oil fields remain under Khartoum’s control.

Ever since Bashir seized power in a 1989 military coup, with support from the National Islamic Front, he has waged perpetual, total war against his own people — first the Nuba, then South Sudan, then Darfur in the west, then the Beja people in the east, and now again the Nuba.

Since fighting broke out in Southern Kordofan on June 5, Khartoum has made it impossible for foreign aid groups to go there, and the region has never been on foreign journalists’ beaten path. Nevertheless, we have glimpses of the atrocities now taking place thanks to leaked U.N. reports and intermittent accounts by church representatives.

One such leaked U.N. human-rights report from late June describes the regime conducting

aerial bombardments resulting in destruction of property, forced displacement, significant loss of civilian lives, including of women, children, and the elderly; abductions; house-to-house searches; arbitrary arrests and detentions; targeted killings; summary executions; . . . mass graves; systematic destruction of dwellings; and attacks on churches.

Veteran Sudan analyst Prof. Eric Reeves writes:

Strong evidence is growing of house-to-house searches for Nuba people and those sympathizing with the northern wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army [SPLA]. Also, compelling evidence points to roadblocks that have similarly targeted Nuba. Most Nuba found were arrested or summarily executed. This has occurred primarily in the Kadugli area, capital of South Kordofan. . . . Most disturbingly, a great many eyewitness accounts of mass gravesites are being reported.

Reeves also refers to an incident described in an earlier leaked U.N. report (see the Associated Press), in which members of Khartoum’s security services, disguised as Red Crescent workers, led 7,000 refugees, including women and children, out of U.N. protective custody in Kadugli on June 20. They have not been seen since, and the U.N. has no idea what happened to them.

Christians are singled out because they are presumed to oppose Bashir’s government. Brad Phillips of the Persecution Project and Voice of the Martyrs, who entered the region in July in a privately chartered plane (one of the few outsiders to have gone there since the new offensive), attested to this development before an August 4 emergency hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights:

I spoke with Reverend Luka Bolis, an Episcopal priest and Western Regional Chairman of the Sudan Council of Churches, who escaped from Kadugli and told me that “The NCP [National Congress Party — Bashir’s party] is targeting the church in this war.” Rev. Luka received a call from some friends in Kadugli warning him not to return. They told him the SAF [Sudan Armed Forces] had a list of all church leaders and suspected SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] sympathizers.

Phillips also testified:

The daily bombings have terrorized the local population to the degree that normal cultivation is not taking place during this crucial planting season. The Nuba Mountains are isolated, cut off, and facing a humanitarian crisis within 60 days unless relief flights are allowed to recommence. And this will not happen while SAF MiGs and Antonov bombers and gunships patrol the skies. The NCP refuses to allow U.N. observers into the Nuba Mountains to document what is happening, which should not surprise anyone.

Indeed it should not. As Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.), who chaired the hearing, concluded: “Whatever the numbers involved, we can be sure that the suffering of the people in Southern Kordofan, especially the Nuba people, has been catastrophic.”

Bashir has already been indicted for genocide and war crimes against the tribes of Darfur. Many observers believe that the campaign he directed against the now-independent South Sudan in an attempt to impose Islamic law also rose to the level of genocide: It took the lives of an estimated 2 million people, mostly Christians and animists. The Nuba also took a heavy toll in that war, and the U.S. Committee for Refugees documented genocide there too. Though the Nuba are mostly Muslim, they refused to wage Bashir’s proclaimed jihad against the South. For their resistance they were declared “apostates,” which meant that it was deemed permissible to kill them along with non-Muslims, according to a 1993 fatwa sponsored by the government. As a consequence, tens of thousands of Nuba people were starved to death under the regime’s two-pronged strategy of conducting saturation bombing and banning international relief flights — the same strategy being used now.

Bishop Macram Gassis, Catholic bishop for the Nuba, leads a church that remains active in the war-wracked area. He states that the attacks now underway amount to “ethnic cleansing.” He reports that Khartoum is bringing to his diocese from across the border in Chad and Niger the Janjaweed, the genocidal militias that ravaged Darfur, and that the government is preparing to import mercenaries from among Somalia’s al-Shabaab terrorists.

The monstrous Ahmad Harun — an accused war criminal wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for having managed the Janjaweed’s systematic murder, rape, and mass deportation of Darfur’s Fur people in 2003 — is the new governor of Southern Kordofan. According to Bishop Gassis, he is now threatening to use chemical weapons on his Nuba constituents if SPLA troops do not turn over their guns and equipment.

In the interest of bringing peace to Sudan, the U.S. has, over the past decade, engaged in innumerable hours of negotiation and diplomacy, sent $9.8 billion in humanitarian and other aid, supported international peacekeeping operations and indictments by international courts, imposed trade sanctions, and undertaken a heroic effort to arrange for the secession of the southern third of the country. None of these policies has deterred Bashir from unleashing the current horrors.

Roger Winter, a former U.S. special envoy to Sudan and a longtime humanitarian activist, earlier this summer addressed Southern Kordofan at a hearing of the House subcommittee on Africa. Winter called for immediate military action against Khartoum. “Take a military action against a Khartoum military target now,” he urged, “to strengthen the SPLA in meaningful ways as a deterrent against Khartoum aggression, provocation, and attacks against civilians.”

Even antiwar voices are desperate for real protection. Bishop Gassis pleads for a no-fly zone over the Nuba region and for international help in opening the borders so that aid can avert government-made famine. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has repeatedly called for security guarantees for South Sudan in order to deter Khartoum from renewing war, such as improving the South’s ability to detect air attacks in advance.

The Obama administration, though well staffed with Sudan experts and anti-genocide activists, has essentially abdicated. It is taking a back seat to the impotent ICC and to the U.N. Mission and its peacekeepers, whose mandate requires a posture of principled neutrality even as Khartoum goes about bombing civilians and manufacturing mass starvation (thus the need to prepare secretly, but then leak, its damning reports).

The Obama administration, possibly still not giving up on its promises to give Bashir trade carrots for allowing the South’s secession, also assumes a neutral stance. It does not even muster outrage when Khartoum targets the blue helmets on whom its policy so depends.

Last week, after four U.N. peacekeepers in Southern Kordofan were wounded by landmines and then left to die when the government threatened to shoot down any U.N. helicopters sent to rescue them, Secretary Clinton issued a short, perfunctory statement expressing “concern.” She urged the governments of both Sudan and South Sudan “to fulfill their agreement to withdraw their forces immediately from the Abyei area, and to allow full and unrestricted access to UNISFA [U.N. Interim Security Force in Abyei] personnel.”

This mild statement no doubt gives Bashir succor, with its implication that the U.S. lays equal blame on the aggressor and the defender. Be braced for spreading conflict and staggering numbers of innocent victims.

— Nina Shea is a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute and director of its Center for Religious Freedom. She is the coauthor with Paul Marshall of the forthcoming book Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Sheboygan native aids in birth of new nation, South Sudan

Sheboygan native Michael Eddy celebrates with South Sudanese residents on July 9, when the new country was granted independence. Submitted photo

ZOOM

Written by: Josh Lintereur

Inside a Sheboygan coffee shop, Michael Eddy is on his laptop computer sorting through the tens of thousands of photos he took in the past year while helping establish the world’s newest nation — South Sudan.

In one, Eddy, a Sheboygan native and foreign service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, stands arm in arm with Sudanese people waving flags during the country’s independence celebration last month in the capital of Juba.

He then quickly flips through a series of photos where he’s seen with a number of high-profile dignitaries, including Sen. John Kerry, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and former President Jimmy Carter, before stopping at the photo he’s been looking for.
In it, a Sudanese woman has burst into tears following the country’s historic January independence vote that few thought was possible during a half-century of civil war and oppression that left more than 2 million dead.
"It was a moment of release. They all broke down," Eddy said, pointing at the photo. "I’m already rationalizing to myself to get used to the fact you might never experience this kind of emotion again."

For Eddy, 43, who’s spent the past week visiting family in Sheboygan, it’s hard to convey all he’s seen and done in the past year, easily among the most rewarding in his 12 years in international development work for USAID, a federal agency that provides economic and humanitarian assistance around the globe.

Starting in July 2010, the North High School graduate was assigned to Sudan and put in charge of coordinating a historic election that would cap South Sudan’s successful push toward independence, which was made possible by a 2005 peace deal between war-torn Sudan’s north and south.

The accomplishment was no small feat given the country’s dispersed, migratory population, of which about 85 percent can’t read or write.Working with a more than $75 million budget, the USAID team — led by Eddy — got more than 4 million people registered to vote and established more than 2,600 polling centers.

The work required long days with little time to rest. At one point Eddy worked 105 straight days, including Christmas and New Years. It was also dangerous, including the time a airplane he wastraveling in landed and was surrounded and held for several hours at gunpoint.

But the payoff came on Jan. 9, when South Sudanese residents overwhelmingly voting in favor of independence. South Sudan officially became its own country July 9, breaking Africa’s largest country into two.
Eddy’s photos show one rural polling station during the January vote consisting of a plastic folding table that poll workers had walked several days to set up beneath a tree. "That’s what overwhelmed me, how important this was. It was everything for them," Eddy said.

Eddy first became interested in international work after studying abroad while attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He later completed his master’s degree in international affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., and held several positions, including with the World Bank, before joining USAID.

Following the January election in South Sudan, Eddy has helped run a variety of programs providing technical assistance to the fledgling nation as leaders there set up laws, a constitution and civil programs. He’s also gave the thousands of photos he took in the past year to the people of South Sudan, as he was often the only non-media member there photographing historic moments, such as a photo he has of South Sudan President Salva Kiir casting his vote in the January referendum.

Going forward, Eddy said the country still faces its share of challenges, as it’s one of the poorest and least-developed places in the world. There are also unresolved problems between the south and its former foe in the north, and there are tensions between the country’s 170 different ethnicities. But Eddy, who previously oversaw development work for the U.S. government in Macedonia, Bolivia and Nicaragua, said that South Sudan has already come a long way.

"For the region and for the world, it is in the U.S. people’s interest that there be stability there, that there be a democratic representative government that listens to their people," Eddy said. Throughout his travels, and no matter how remote his assignment, Eddy is periodically reminded of home.

Sometimes it’s in the most unlikely of ways, such as the Fourth ofJuly party he attended in Juba this year, where they served Johnsonville brats. "It was a miracle," he said. "Sheboygan brats served in South Sudan. It was a big deal." Eddy returned to the United States just two weeks after South Sudan’s July independence celebration, traveling to Sheboygan to see his parents with his wife, Sharane, and two children, Isaac and India, ages 8 and 6.

It’s a trip he makes once a year, and as always it’s been an adjustment returning to American culture after being so immersed in the developing world. "I’ll be at the grocery store and go into the cereal aisle and be stuck for a while," Eddy said. "Your head can’t comprehend there’s this many choices of cereal. It’s reverse culture shock back to what it’s like to live here." Eddy is scheduled to leave Sheboygan today.

His work in Sudan complete, he’ll soon begin a four-year assignment in Thailand, doing regional development work. He’ll be joined there by his wife and kids, who spent the past year living in Washington, D.C. While visiting Sheboygan, he was scheduled to attend his 25th high school class reunion, the first he’s attended since graduating from North High School in 1986.

He conceded there was really no short answer in updating his classmates on what he’s been up to. "That’s my predicament," he said. "There’s no short answer. I can only give the 30,000-feet version."