News from Sudan.

Gedarif State Exports 1.5 Million Head of Sheep and Camels

Khartoum - Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in Gedarif State confirmed its intention to eliminate all diseases of herd by launching vaccination campaign in the state.
Minister of Livestock, Osama Al-Hassan reviewed, before the Legislative Council, the performance statement of his ministry for the first quarter of 2013, indicating that the performance reached 97% of the planned.
The minister pointed out that the state had exported more than five hundred thousand head of sheep and six hundred and fifty camels, in addition to the training of cadres, care of fish breeding and animal health.
Members praised the statement, calling for the need to pay attention to the provision of water for the livestock sector. The council referred the statement to the competent committee to write a report about it and present it to the Council for endorsement.

By Najat Ahmed, 03/06/2013

UNDP Says Sudan Qualified to be Development Pioneer in Region

Khartoum - Magdi Hassan Yassin, State Minister of Finance, pointed out the importance of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in supporting the efforts of development and humanitarian aid in Sudan.
Meeting with UNDP's resident Country Director Seyad Agha, The Minister revealed a strategy prepared by his ministry and other concerned government bodies to organize foreign aid and benefit from it in supporting development, financing real sectors, and realizing added value from them.
Yassin explained that the strategy is in latest preparation stages and he called on The UNDP to continue its cooperation with Sudan and provide more assistance. He also commended the efforts of Agha whose mandate in Sudan has come to an end.
Sudan, given its various resources, is qualified to be one of the pioneer countries in the Arab and African regions in different development fields, said Agha and he expressed readiness to provide more support.
He pointed out the importance of the coordinating UN agency and international donor efforts to help Sudan implement its plans in economic and social fields as well as coordinating humanitarian aid and taking it from the relief phase to that of development.
Sudan, Agha added, is qualified to realize an added value in the agricultural field through agricultural manufacturing and opening up new opportunities for labor and employment.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Yousif Abdallah Alhussein, stressed the significance of The UNDP in coordinating humanitarian aid efforts in the country and he pointed out the importance of its efforts in supporting the government's effort to direct investment towards productive sectors.

By Ibrahim Al-Jack, 11 hours 35 minutes ago 

HISTORY OF SUDAN IN PICTURES.

Eternal Sunshine of the Bionic Mind.

Eternal Sunshine of the Bionic Mind: Prosthesis Could Restore Memory

NEW YORK — In the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," the characters undergo a scientific procedure to erase their memory. But what if instead of erasing memory, you could restore it? One neuroscientist aims to do just that.
Theodore Berger of the University of Southern California is developing a prosthesis to restore memory, by replacing a circuit in the brain's hippocampus. Berger described the device at the Global Future 2045 International Congress, held here June 15-16. Already successful in rats and monkeys, the prosthesis is now being tested in humans.
Memory machine
The hippocampus, a brain structure tucked deep in the brain's temporal lobe, converts short-term memories to long-term ones. Epilepsy or other neurological disorders can damage the hippocampus, preventing a person from retaining new memories. [5 Crazy Technologies That Are Revolutionizing Biotech]
The device Berger and his colleagues are developing could replace parts of a damaged hippocampus, and even enhance an intact one. A tiny chip of electrodes implanted in the hippocampus records signals representing a short-term memory; the signals are sent to a computer that mathematically transforms them into a long-term memory; and signals representing the long-term memory are sent to a second set of electrodes that stimulates another layer of the hippocampus.
The point of the device is not to identify individual memories, but to learn how they are transformed into long-term memory. "It's like learning rules for translation," Berger said, adding that the memories are like words, and the mathematical transformation is like a translator.
Berger's team tested the device in rats trained in a simple memory task. Each rat (with the prosthesis) was placed in a chamber with two levers. First, the lever on just one side was presented, and the rat would push it. After a short waiting period, the levers on both sides would appear, and if the rat pushed the opposite lever from the one it pushed before, the rat got a sip of water. Performing the task successfully required the rat to remember which lever it pushed originally.
To test their memory prosthesis, the researchers injected some of these rats with a drug that impaired the rats' natural memory function, and tested the animals in the lever experiment. The rats were still able to push the correct lever to receive their drink, suggesting they were able to form new memories. In other words, the rats' brain implant was remembering for them.
Remarkably, the researchers found that the prosthesis could enhance memory function in rats even when they hadn't been given the drug that impaired their memory.
Replacement recall
Berger's team found that the device was similarly effective when they tested it in monkeys. The researchers are now running a human trial on patients with epilepsy. They haven't gotten much data yet, Berger said, but he thinks it will be fascinating.
Figuring out how to mathematically transform a short-term memory into a long-term one is a major challenge, Berger said — you only have one shot at getting it right.
The brain's adaptability, or plasticity, is going to be hugely important for the device's effectiveness in humans, Berger said. "There's going to be more influence of the human on the device than the device on the human."
Ultimately, the hope is that memory prostheses could restore or enhance human memory. But the philosophical implications of meddling with memory are immense: If humans could control memories, could they also alter them? Could memories be decoded and used as evidence in a courtroom? And could people erase memories and replace them with new ones altogether? For now, at least, these are questions for the future.

By LiveScience.com, 24/06/201

Eritrea provides Ethiopian “terrorist” organisation with $500,000.

THIS NEWS ARE VERY DANGERIOUS SHOLD HAVE TO BE TAKEN IN CONCIDERATION.......azim

Home | News    Friday 28 June 2013

Eritrea provides Ethiopian “terrorist” organisation with $500,000

June 27, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) - The Eritrean government has offered $500,000 to Ginbot 7, an exiled Ethiopian opposition political organisation designated by Ethiopia as terrorist entity, according to a report on a US-based Ethiopia opposition media outlet.

Dr. Berhanu Nega the chairman of the Ethiopian opposition group Ginbot 7 (Source: Awramba Times)

In an audio recording of an interview with the group’s chairman, leaked to Awrambatimes.com, Berhanu Nega admits that he received the the funds.

Nega has since accused the ruling party the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of trying divert the attention of the public from the problems facing the country.

In the 2005 general elections Nega was elected as mayor of Addis Ababa after the but was sentenced to death, in absentia, along with four others after Ethiopian government revoked his pardon request.

In the audio Nega says that $200,000 of the total funds will be used for military and intelligence activities.

Ginbot 7 has established its new military wing known as “Ginbot 7 popular force”, which is based in Eritrea for cross border attacks against Ethiopia.

Ethiopia and Eritrea who fought a border war between 1998 and 2000 trade accusations of supporting and harbouring respective rebels to destabilise one the other.

Ethiopia is a crucial US ally in the war against terror in the East African region.

Ethiopian politicians say although the United States is the front runner in the battle against terrorism, the country however is sheltering “terrorists” like Nega.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body, has previously approved Ethiopia’s request that Ginbot 7 be classified as a terrorist group.

In the leaked recording, Nega also said that $100,000 will be used to finance what he said was to a peaceful struggle and diplomacy activities.

However it is not clear how the group is going to execute a peaceful struggle inside Ethiopia, where it is a banned organisation.

Ginbot 7 often use Eritrean media as well Amsterdam-based opposition channel, Ethiopian Satellite Television (EAST) to broadcast anti-regime campaigns.

(ST)

colonies.

TWO FLAGS WHERE UP IN THE ROOF OF THE ANGLO EGYTION SUDAN....

They call it Anglo Egyption Sudan but who commanded all the period of colonization where only English because even the flag of Sudan was English

Roots of Sudanese conflict are in the British colonial policies

By Savo Heleta

January 12, 2008 — What is wrong with Africa? Why is the largest number of failed states on the continent? Is something fundamentally wrong with Africans or could there be another explanation? Trying to find answers to these questions, let’s see what historians and social scientists believe are the roots of the conflict in Sudan, an African country where peace lasted for little over a decade since 1956.

Like in all other parts of the world, there was always some form of conflict in the region that became Sudan at the Congress of Berlin in 1886, where the European colonial powers drew the borders of African countries. Bechtold (1976) writes that the animosity between the northern and southern Sudanese can be traced back to the Arab slave raids when northern tribes had been contracted by the Arabs to conduct raiding activities in the south. However, before the late 19th century, the Sudanese conflict was not strictly ethnic, between the Arab north and the African south, writes Prunier (2005), but tribal conflict over territory and resources. Similar fighting occurred all over the continent and around the world throughout the history.

Since 1899, Sudan was ruled by the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. However, Egypt had little influence in reality (El Mahdi, 1965; Albino, 1970; Holt and Daly, 1979). Deng (1978) calls the Condominium a "British rule with Egypt as a rubber-stamp half."

Trying to control half of the world at the time, the British did not have the force to occupy Sudan. Like in other colonies across Africa, they had to institute the "divide-and-rule" policy in Sudan. They wanted Sudanese to distrust, fear, and fight each other, instead of their colonizers.

The "divide-and-rule" policy separated southern Sudanese provinces from the rest of the country and slowed down their economic and social development. The British authorities claimed that the south was not ready to open up to the modern world (Chapin Metz, 1992 ). At the same time, the British heavily invested in the Arab north, modernizing and liberalizing political and economic institutions and improving social, educational, and health services (El Mahdi, 1965, Eprile, 1974; Chapin Metz, 1992; O’Ballance, 2000).

The British Condominium government had nothing against Islam in the northern parts of Sudan. In fact, the British encouraged Islamization of the north through financial help for building mosques and pilgrimage travels for Muslims (Holt and Daly, 1979). In southern Sudan however, with the help of Christian missionaries, they wanted to prevent the spread of Islam (O’Ballance, 2000) and "preserve purely African way of life of the southern people" (Albino, 1970). Wenger (1991) claims that the British at this time planned to attach southern Sudan to the British colonial East Africa.

Another colonial experiment that slowed down development of southern Sudan had been the "indirect rule" policy. In order to prevent educated urban class and religious leaders from influencing social and political life in southern Sudan, the British authorities gave "power" to the tribal leaders and ruled through them (Holt and Daly, 1979). While the "divide-and-rule" policy separated the north and south, the "indirect rule" divided the south into hundreds of informal chiefdoms. The British authorities made their "indirect rule" policies official through the "Southern Policy" document.

The Southern Policy stated that, "the policy of the government in southern Sudan is to build up a series of self-contained tribal units with structure and organization based upon indigenous customs, traditions, and beliefs" (Albino, 1970). These southern tribal units were to be completely separated from the rest of the country. Under the Policy, northern officials were transferred out of the south, trading permits for northerners were withdrawn, and speaking Arabic and even wearing of Arabic dresses were discouraged (Albino, 1970; Eprile, 1974; Deng, 1978; Holt and Daly, 1979; Chapin Metz, 1992).

Deng (1978) notes that the period of the British rule in the south was the "longest period of peace and security [in history], at least from invasion and the use of crude force." Toynbee (quoted in Albino, 1970) believes that, while the British had prevented the oppression and exploitation of the southern Sudanese by their northern countrymen, they did little to help the south "to learn how to hold their own in the modern world."

The British administration reversed its Southern Policy in 1946, stating that the southern Sudanese were "inextricably bound, both geographically and economically, to the Arab north as far as future development was concerned" (Eprile, 1974; Bechtold, 1976; Chapin Metz, 1992). One of the reasons for this abrupt decision, writes Eprile (1974), was a need to repay northern Sudan for helping Britain during World War II.

The tensions and mistrust between the northern and southern Sudanese that had been building up over decades culminated into a large scale armed conflict in the mid-1950s (Eprile, 1974). Fearing marginalization by the more populous and developed north, southern army officers mutinied in 1955 (Bechtold, 1976). This was the beginning of the first long civil war in Sudan. Toynbee (quoted in Albino, 1970) believes that the British policies in the Sudan were the primary cause of conflict:

The British differentiated the northern and southern Sudanese from each other without separating them politically. This made it virtually inevitable that, if and when the British abdicated, the northerners, being by far the stronger of the two sections of the Sudanese people, should attempt, as they have done, to assimilate the southerners by force. This, in turn, has made it inevitable that there should be a southern resistance movement.

Similarly, Cohen (1996) believes that the British "indirect rule" policy retarded interactions among different groups in the south and lead to divisions and conflict between them, thus helping the northerners:
The protective umbrella of indirect rule made it possible for some tribal groups to develop vital interests while other groups became relatively underprivileged. When the British withdrew, an intense struggle for power ensued. The privileged became exposed to the danger of losing power and had to mobilize their forces in defence, while the underprivileged aligned themselves to gain power.

Historians and social scientists, both Western and Sudanese, believe that the post-independence conflict in Sudan was largely caused by the ethnic divisions created by the British colonial administration between 1899 and 1956. The south became economically underdeveloped and cut out from the rest of the country due to the British segregationist policies. As a result of underdevelopment and the lack of political organizations and unity, the southern region was not prepared to actively participate in the Sudanese government after independence.
Regional differences resulted in a deeply divided and economically differentiated Sudan – an Arab-dominated north, economically and politically stronger than an underdeveloped and weaker African south. The southern provinces, sidelined during the British rule, continued to be marginalized and underdeveloped in independent Sudan controlled by the northerners. This consequently triggered the southern rebellion and two civil wars that ravaged the country for the most part of the second half of the twentieth century.

So, what is wrong with Africa? Why there are so many failed states, like Sudan, on the African continent? While Africans are to blame for corruption, despotism, and the lack of rule of law since independence, the root causes of the majority of conflicts in Africa lie in the policies implemented by the former colonial powers, from South Africa, Rwanda, and Sudan, to name only a few. In the case of Sudan, the primary cause of mistrust, divisions, and conflict between the north and south lie in "divide-and-rule" and "indirect rule" policies implemented by the British colonial authorities.

* The author a postgraduate student in Conflict Transformation and Management at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He is the author of Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia. The book will be published in the United States by AMACOM, New York, in March ’08. More about the book on www.savoheleta.com

High debt when and how did Bashir government spent this money???!!!!

Sudan’s external debt projected to hit record $46 billion in 2013: IMF

September 27, 2012 (WASHINGTON) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released figures on Thursday projecting that Sudan’s external debts will hit an all-time high next year, the latest evidence of a growing economic crisis engulfing the East African nation.

Sudan’s external debt are estimated to have grown by 27% since 2008 from $32.6 billion to $41.4 billion in 2011. The IMF forecast that the debt level will reach $43.7 billion in 2012 and $45.6 billion in 2013. The latter represents 83% of Sudan’s 2011 GDP, which was $55.1 billion.

In its annual review of the Sudanese economy, the IMF Executive board urged Khartoum to "step up their dialogue with creditors and donors to garner support for debt relief".

Around three quarters of Sudan’s external debt are owed to the Paris Club of creditor nations and other non-member states. The remaining balance is equally divided between commercial banks and international and regional financial bodies.

Sudan’s economy was hit hard since the southern part of the country declared independence in July 2011, taking with it about 75% of the country’s oil output.

On Thursday the negotiating teams from the two countries signed an agreement in the Ethiopian capital by which Khartoum will "retain all external debt liabilities". This will be in return for both countries working jointly on reaching out to international creditors to cancel the debt.

Should the two countries fail to secure a commitment from the creditors on debt relief, new negotiations would commence to split up the liability. This is believed to be a thorny issue as Juba asserted in the past that the loans taken by Khartoum were used primarily towards financing military efforts during the north-south civil war.

Several countries such as United States, United Kingdom and Germany expressed readiness to offer debt relief but political conditions attached will likely slow down the materialization of the pledges.

This year Sudan announced that China - a major investor in oil, construction and other sectors of the Sudanese economy - had agreed to extend Sudan’s debt maturity by an extra five years in light of the loss of revenues.

The loss of oil revenue severely curtailed Sudan’s foreign currency inflows putting pressure on the Sudanese pound and pushing inflation rates even higher.

Sudan’s low levels of foreign currency reserves held by the central bank also meant the latter could do little to intervene to support the pound against other currencies.

The IMF is expecting Sudan’s international reserves to drop from $1.3 billion in 2011 to $1.1 billion in 2012 before rising slightly to $1.2 billion in 2013. These levels are enough to cover a little under two months of imports according to IMF calculations.

Sudanese officials traditionally treated the amount of reserves held in foreign currency as a heavily guarded secret refusing to make it public.

In recent months there were news reports attributed to government officials saying that they have received billions of dollars from Arab nations namely Qatar and Libya.

But critics allege that the government intentionally spread the "false" news for the purpose of pushing the price of the dollar on the black market lower as the pound continued to slip.

A year ago, the Bank of Sudan governor called on Arab states to provide up to $4 billion in deposits to shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

The nationwide Forex shortfall hammered the value of the Sudanese pound on the black market, causing it to fall to as low as 6.2 pounds to the dollar last April while the official rate has remained at around 2.7 pounds.

"In order to stabilize the domestic currency and stop the draw-down on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, the authorities introduced various administrative restrictions. These measures were, however, unsuccessful in preventing the depreciation of the exchange rate in the curb market" the IMF said in its assessment of Sudan’s handling of the deteriorating exchange rate.

Authorities in Khartoum decided last May to devalue the pound in a long awaited bid to stabilize the local currency and reverse the chronic shortage in Forex that has plagued the market and frustrated businesses.

However, the devaluation of the pound that was coupled with lifting other restrictions on Forex trade has yet to bear fruit which analysts attribute to the drop in exports and investment levels.

’MORE ECONOMIC REFORMS NEEDED’

The IMF lauded Sudan’s austerity measures which included raising certain taxes, reducing fuel subsidies and cutting non-priority spending but said more is needed to achieve full potential.

"These measures are a positive step towards restoring macroeconomic stability and addressing Sudan’s macroeconomic imbalances. However, reaching fiscal sustainability and enhancing growth potential will require a determined continuation of the reform momentum. Stepping up structural reforms will also help address the underlying structural challenges facing the economy. Key reforms include: (i) a comprehensive civil service reform, (ii) banking sector restructuring, (iii) ambitious privatization program, and (iv) improving governance" the IMF statement said.

The measures triggered a rare but small outburst of protests in the country last summer demanding that the government rollback the new policies.

IMF figures project a sharp drop in revenue to 12.9% of GDP in 2012 compared to 18.7% last year. Expenditures however fell at a slower rate from 20.0% to 16.6% during the same period leaving a negative net balance that is expected to continue throughout 2013.

Last week the Sudanese finance minister complained that the government is facing a number of obstacles in slashing its spending as planned primarily due to non-responsiveness by state governments in adopting the measures and suggested that this may require an intervention by the central government to force compliance.

The government said it would downsize its bureaucracy through a reduction in the number of constitutional post holders in both federal and regional governments from 572 to 318. It also announced elimination of five ministries, mergers between others, sacking of six presidential advisers and reductions in official perks.

The IMF appeared critical of Sudan government for resorting excessively to the banking sector to finance its budget deficits saying it resulted in reserve money growing at 28% and subduing credit to other sectors of the economy.

But today’s agreements signed between Juba and Khartoum could offer a relief to the beleaguered economy since it will allow the landlocked South Sudan to resume oil exports though Sudan, which will provide both ailing economies with desperately needed cash.

Last January South Sudan suspended its entire output of 350,000 barrels a day over a dispute over transit fees.

The former central bank governor Saber Mohamed Al-Hassan said that the deal will provide Khartoum with $2 billion annually and will enhance trade between the two nations.

(ST)

Chinese Space Capsule Lands Safely

Chinese Space Capsule Lands Safely

A Chinese space capsule with three astronauts has landed safely on the country's northern grasslands after a 15-day trip to a prototype space station, marking the latest success for its manned space programme as it enters its second decade.

The Shenzhou 10's descent module landed by parachute in the vast territory of Inner Mongolia early today with the three crew members smiling and waving on live television after wriggling through the blackened capsule's narrow hatch.

"Space is our dream, the fatherland is our home. Thanks to all compatriots who supported us and best wishes for the wealth and success of our fatherland and the ever greater happiness of our people," mission commander and two-time space traveller Nie Haisheng said to the cameras.

Wang Haiping, China's second female astronaut to complete a mission, said the trip had been especially worthwhile for the opportunity to conduct China's first science class in space, beamed live to 60 million schoolchildren across the country.

"I hope all our young friends may wish beautiful dreams and may their dreams come true," she said, still clad in her space suit and seated under bright sunshine in a white folding chair in front of the round-edged module.

Back at the Beijing command centre, manned space programme director Zhang Youxia declared the mission a "complete success" and said all three astronauts were in perfect health.

He was followed by the Communist Party's seventh-ranking official, Zhang Gaoli, who conveyed congratulations from the party leadership and declared that the manned programme was entering a new and more challenging stage.

The programme has "tremendous significance for the advance of our country's economic and technological strength and ethnic unity, and displays the great Chinese path, spirit, and power," he said.

China's military-backed space programme is a source of massive national pride and the successful mission stands as the latest milestone in the party's smooth consolidation of support under its new leader, President Xi Jinping, who also commands the armed forces.

China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the US to achieve manned space travel independently, and has powered ahead in a series of methodically timed steps.

By Press Association, 16 hours 24 minutes ago 

Sheikha Mozah.

06/26/2013 11:54
Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-wife of the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. He holds a degree in sociology at the University of Qatar to 1986. Known that Sheikha 'Bananas' has a strong and influential inside and outside of Qatar, and it seems that he wanted to secure the throne for her son in a peaceful manner, in what has been described as a quiet coup Prince Ahmed , "who turned his father in 1995, taking advantage of its presence outside the country to continue the series of coups in the quiet small emirate controversial, and is said to have a role in the coup of her husband on his father.
Although the prince of Qatar did not specify a clear reason for the transfer of power to the crown prince, but we talk about pressure suffered by the prince of his country wife "banana" With the help of an American to give up the throne for her son spoiled 'Tamim', for fear of the occurrence of any conflicts between the four children Prince, if exposure to the death of a stretch, especially since there are reports of his illness, as there are fears of a banana suction Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister to jump on the power, especially since there are conversations about the differences were between Hamad bin Jassim and Prince Tamim.
The sources expect to be the first decision after receiving the new emir of power to get rid of Ahmad bin Jassim, "and the appointment of a new prime minister.

Electric Fish

Electric Fish Offer Insight into Human Central Nervous System

Electric fish, which have electric receptors in their skin that serve as a kind of radar system to help them navigate, communicate and locate food and mates, could provide insight into how our own central nervous system works.  

Electric fish live mostly in fresh water in tropical rivers and are found primarily in only two parts of the world.

There are two main groups, one in South America, the Gymnotiform, and that’s about 200 species that are known," said Rudiger Krahe, associate biology professor at Canada’s McGill University. "And then there is a second group in Africa, the Mormyri fish, and there are also about 200 species.” 

These two groups evolved independently, yet share the same ability to generate and sense weak electric waves. Their electric fields can be recorded with simple devices that pick up the signals in the water. 

This mean-looking adult electric male brown ghost knifefish hunts at night in the murky dark fresh waters of South American rivers. (Guy l'Heureux)“We can observe electrically, observe the activity of these fish continuously because they produce these signals non-stop, day and night," Krahe said. "And so we can monitor what they do, what their signals look like, how they modulate them  in different context such as communication and then we can play them back artificially to them in experiments.”

While humans never developed this electric sense, our nervous system processes signals from our environment in much the same way as these fish do.

“How information is transmitted, how different aspects of the sensory information are extracted, that’s extremely similar to what happens in the auditory systems, so, in our hearing, and also, in many ways, what happens in vision,” Krahe said.  

The Gymnotus omarorum, an electric species, in its native South American environment, is nestled in the roots of floating plants called camalotes. (Angel Caputi) Fish don’t have brains nearly as complicated as humans, but many of the structures and pathways are quite similar. That link offers a new approach to understanding human physiology.  

“How we extract sensory information, how we use that to guide our behavior, how our nervous system accomplishes that and of course we do experiments with fish that we cannot do with humans," Krahe said. "And we’re trying to learn general principles of nervous system action, basically, and how behavior is controlled. ”

This research could be applied in studies on the impact of serotonin, a hormone in the central nervous system believed to influence mood and depression.

By VOA, 18 hours 4 minutes ago 

Sudanese makeup stile and heritage.

Sudan: Aesthetic Heritage, Story of the Scars and Beauty

KHARTOUM   (Sudanow.info) – The Sudan is distinguished with a cultural diversity and possesses a tremendous heritage of customs and traditions that differ from one environment to another. A considerable share of this heritage goes for the adornment of women. Facial scars, tattoo, hair-braiding were symbols of beauty for the Sudanese woman but due to the growing health awareness and risks of transmitted diseases through the tools used for facial scars and tattoos, those practices, which were regarded part of beauty in the last century, have now diminished, though traces of them still remain, particularly in the remote rural areas.

Beauty and Distinction

Amnah Sidahmed, a housewife in her mid-age, says she will never forget the horrible moments when a number of women caught and flung her on bed and firmly pressed down her hands and another bulky woman came along carrying shaving blades. Amnah says she felt extremely frightened when the bulky woman held her chin and drew three black lines on each cheek and began cutting the flesh along each line. “I began bleeding heavily while I was crying loudly before I felt fainting,” Amnah said.

“After she was through with the process, the woman began putting on the scars dung paste the stinking smell of which made me wake from the shock,” she said.

“The women released me and I began to hear ‘mabrook, how pretty!’ when I began to lose consciousness gradually,” Amnah added.

“I woke up unaware of how long I was unconscious and when I made an attempt to rise, a woman commanded me not to move, although I was in fact unable to move due to the deep pain, my face swelled and I cried out painfully. My mother tried to pacify me and brought me juice and made me drink it with a spoon because I could not open my mouth and drink it by myself. I remained lying on my back for 10 days, having only water and juice. The pain and the swelling diminished gradually and my pretty scares s showed up and I became among the pretty girls in my village with the vertical scars which distinguish the tribes of north and central Sudan.”

She explains that in her time there were  other girls carrying horizontal scars symbolizing the northern tribes.

 Heritage

She related that there are other vertical scars with one scar across them, inspiring the poets. This form prevailed among the women of Omdurman. In the east, the scars are vertical and fine and are carried by both men and women to distinguish the tribe.

 “In the northern and central regions of the Sudan, the men carry scars of an H shape, found on the men of the Ja’alis tribe, and another T shape in the central region. So you could tell a person’s tribal affiliation from the shape of his or her scars.”

The tattoos and scars, which were a form of beauty in the last century, have now almost disappeared due to the growing health awareness and the risk of diseases transmitted by the flesh-cutting and tattooing instruments. The religious awareness was another factor for cessation of this practice as a verse in the Holy Koran prohibits changing God’s creation.

In this verse, the Satan, after he was driven out of paradise along with Adam and Eve, asked God to let him live until doomsday and he threatened to make mankind to disobey God, saying: “I will mislead them, and I will create in them false desires; I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and to deface the nature created by God,” The Women Sura, verse 119. Nowadays no trace of the facial scars can be seen, at least in urban areas and main towns in central Sudan.

Painfulness & Prettiness

The tattoo was regarded a feature of beauty for women, the most common of which was the one applied on the lips, with the tattooist gaining fame for her work that required a demanding personality on women to be able to drive a number of needles into the lips. The tattooist applies kohl on the bleeding lips as a permanent make-up.

Aisha Osman, now a housewife,  said she fled and hid in the neighbors’ when she saw her elder sister being firmly held by a number of women from the head and hands while a fat woman inserting needles in the lower lip. Blood was bleeding profusely from the lip of the frightened girl who was crying loudly. Aisha said when she was brought back home; her grandmother passionately embraced her and asked if she didn’t want to be beautiful like the other girls. Aisha said she had a look at her elder sister who was exhausted, with her lip swollen; her tears mingled with the blood and an ugly face and was in the lap of my mother.

“I wept and said she is ugly and I don’t want to be like her,” Aisha said, adding that her grandmother told her that all girls are beautiful with the tattoo and that they would not let her go and she held me firmly and the women repeated the process during which Aisha said she went unconscious.

Batoul Mohamed, another women in her late sixties in Omdurman said she looked for the tattooist by herself to make a tattoo in the form of small birds, a current fashion at the time, on her right cheek and another tattoo of small shapes that from other women on the inner sides of her arms.

Tattooing is a culture brought into the Sudan by the Egyptian gypsies called by the Sudanese as ‘Nagadah and Halab’. This habit has now abated, except among a few tribes that practice it shyly, clinging to the traditions. The women have now opted for the contemporary make-up styles such as the multi-colour rouge.

Exceptional Interlacing Session

Sudanese women take much care about their hair and its inherited interlacing which developed and has taken diverse shapes over time and it still practiced.  In the past, it had rules and a special ceremonial session held on a specific day and the woman neighbours and friends were invited to it.

According to Hajjah Fatimah Abdul Mutalab, the event starts with contacting braiding woman expert to set a date for the session and preparations are made for the event which usually begins with a breakfast banquet in honor of the expert.

The woman neighbours are invited to the exceptional breakfast and cordial chatting. The interlacing tray is then brought in loaded with a container of ‘dilkah’ (local massage paste) and a container of hair cream in addition to sweets, dates and cigarettes. The interlacing expert woman brings along her instruments which consist of a long needle which is usually wrapped with a cloth ribbon for easy clinching. It is used for separating the braids.

After breakfast was consumed, the expert and the host sit on a bed with the former sitting on pillows for full view and control of the hair. The process has to be finished and the women leave the house before men return from work. If it happens that a man enters during the interlacing session, he has to pay a fine as a gesture of fun and humour.

The expert is paid an agreed upon remuneration or, in other cases, the friends interlace the hair of each other.

Heritage

The Bride’s Braiding

In the past a special day is devoted for braiding the hair of a bride on which the neighbourhood women were invited to get together and sing to entertain the bride during the difficult and long sitting that lasts for two to three days, depending on the quantity of the silky, soft, black threads used to make longer the hair of the bride to reach her posterior to help her lower her head backward in performing the bridal dance which was the most important rite of the wedding programme. Liquefied, perfumed grease was applied on the added artificial hair to make soft and easy for the bride to bear.

The bride would forget the suffering from the added hair and long exhausting session upon standing on the red carpet with pieces of gold stuck on her hair to perform her long awaited dance amongst the gathering.    

This kind of interlacing has now changed and, in order to perform her dance, the bride places on her head a braid of artificial hair bought from a well-known merchant in Omdurman market called Abu Murrain whose shop contains all things a traditional Sudanese woman requires.

Mohamed al-Amin, an Omdurman merchant working with Abu Murrain, said that they always look for development and that their commodities are connected with the Sudanese culture which the Sudanese women will never abandon. The bridal dance is a very important part of the Sudanese wedding, Amin said, adding that in the past this event was held at home after the bride gets her hair interlaced. But now that time has become pressing, their trade has intervened to fill in the vacuum, Amin said.

“We previously engaged into making the dancing braid in the tradition shape and when the dancing style has developed to be held in reserved halls and the bride performs different styles of dancing, we began to manufacture braids studded with crystal, silver and coloured stones. The bride changed her style by dancing with w braids, one studded with silver and another with crystal. Now you can see an Indian-like braid with Indian make-up and dress and also a pharaonic- or Nubian-style bride and we manufacture the relevant braids and import the accessories from the countries of origin to sell for the coiffeurs who in turn rent them for the brides,” said Amin. The prices depend on the fashion, he said, adding that they have introduced a new shape for the ‘Jirtiq’ (make-up) to cope with the development. “Our trade is flourishing because it is difficult to abandon the heritage,” Amin said.

Coiffure v Interlacing

The interlacing has contended the latest coiffure and several locally invented fashions have dominated the scene.

Khartoum’s Coiffeur Hajir al-Tayeb said she has skilful hairdressers from Ethiopia and the considerable presence of the Ethiopian community is instrumental in the interlacing business in the coiffure. The Ethiopian interlacing experts everyday invent a new style on their special occasions and festivals. You do not find a Sudanese interlacing woman experts in the coiffures, because they cannot compete with the skilful and swift Ethiopians. The Ethiopians introduced men’s interlacing and nowadays you can see young men with braids on the back of their necks.

Najla’a Ahmed, an employee, said she has got three daughters but she has no time to take care of their hair-dressing and therefore she takes them to the coiffure where they will have their hair braided in a beautiful style that lasts for nearly a month, relieving her from the burden.

Sara Mohamed, a Medicine student, also complains that she has no time for her hair and, to save time, she always interlaces it. Interlacing is dominant among the girl students during examinations, she said.

The New Look fashion also contributed to the spread of interlacing, especially on occasions, because, unlike the coiffure, it is varied in style.

Mothers and grandmothers, meanwhile, until now stick to the fashion of making a broad braid on each side of the head, winding each behind the ear, while the remaining hair in the middle is interlaced by itself or connected with artificial hair.

DAM BENEFICIAL to EGYPT

Sudan’s Bashir leaves door open for re-election, backs Ethiopia’s dam

June 21, 2013, (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese president, Omer Hassan al-Bashir has hinted today that he could run for re-election in the upcoming presidential elections on the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) ticket.

Sudan’s President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous)

Last March, Bashir reiterated his past intentions to step down at the end of his term in 2015 saying that Sudan is in need of “fresh blood” and that he spent enough time in power.

At the time several officials, including Bashir’s second vice-president al-Haj Adam Youssef, said that it is not up to Bashir to make a decision on his political future but the NCP.

Al-Bashir, who was addressing the NCP’s Shura Council seventh session on Friday, said that the media made conclusions on the issue of his candidacy without being fully informed adding that his re-election will be determined by the NCP’s General Convention and the Shura Council.

The head of the NCP’s Shura Council, Abu Ali Majzoub, on his part asserted that the NCP will nominate Bashir again in 2015.

“We will not approve any candidate other than Bashir”, and addressed Bashir saying “We will only accept you, and we want you to continue holding the torch”.

Bashir said that the NCP will review its statute in preparation for the 2015 general elections and urged the opposition parties to get ready for the polls instead of working overthrow the government.

He went on to say that if the opposition aims at organizing mass street protests with the aim of having army will take its side "we tell them that we are not the Socialist Union (SU)".

The Sudanese leader was referring to the SU which was the ruling party during the regime of Sudan’s ex-president Gaafar Al-Nmeiri who was deposed after a popular uprising in April 1985 prompting the army to abandon him.

On the economic front, Bashir pointed out that the government’s tab for subsidizing fuel, wheat, and electricity amounts to 14 billion pound SDG ($ 3.2 billion), while the government budget is 25 billion pound SDG ($ 6.4 billion).

Last year, the government launched a package of tough austerity measures, including scaling back fuel subsidies to close a fiscal gap, sparking short-lived protests.

Earlier this month, Sudan’s minister of finance and national economy Ali Mahmoud Abdel-Rasool urged the parliament to authorize gradual lifting of subsidies in order to reduce inflation.

Sudan’s finances have tightened since oil-rich South Sudan seceded from the north in July 2011. The new state contained 75% of the country’s pre-partition oil reserves.

Bashir also spoke of the new constitution that is being formulated and said that government is consulting several stakeholders so that the law of the land accommodates all political forces “except those who refuse”.

The opposition vowed not to take part in the process unless the NCP agrees to cede power and form a transitional government that prepares the country for elections.

Sudan is currently governed by an interim constitution which was ratified following signing the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with South Sudan rebels.

Bashir stressed that Sudan will continue its fight against the world which is he said controlled by the Zionist alliances and scoffed at the concept of “international justice” saying it is run by the U.S.

“We continue to exist against their will” said Bashir who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on genocide charges related to the Darfur conflict that broke out in 2033.

The Sudanese president acknowledged that his government had in the past provided support for rebel groups fighting the government of South Sudan.

“We will not deny that we used to arm and support the southern opposition as South Sudan does [now to Sudanese rebels], however we ceased our support after signing of the cooperation agreements”.

In September of last year, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, border trade among others.

Last March, the two countries signed an implementation matrix for these cooperation agreements.

Earlier this month Sudan’s president ordered halting the flow of Juba’s oil through Sudan’s territory. He said the decision was in response to Juba’s continued support to rebels battling Khartoum.

The move was seen as a major setback to the agreements.

DAM BENEFICIAL to EGYPT

In his first public endorsement for the controversial Ethiopian renaissance dam, Bashir said that the dam “will not stop the water from Egypt” and added that it will only be used for electricity generation, calling for continuation of consultation among all concerned parties.

He acknowledged the “sensitivity” of the water issue for Egypt, saying that Sudan and Egypt’s water shares will not be impacted during the dam filling period.

The Sudanese president also expressed doubt the Nile Basin Initiative (Known as Entebbe agreement), which he said “ came from the World Bank not from the Nile Basin countries.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, formerly known as the Millennium Dam is being constructed on the Blue Nile 40km from the Sudanese border.

Egypt and Sudan had previously argued that the construction of the dam would negatively affect their water shares and insisted the project should be blocked, calling on international donors against funding it.

Egypt believes its “historic rights” to the Nile are guaranteed by two treaties from 1929 and 1959 which allow it 87 percent of the Nile’s flow and give it veto power over upstream projects.

But a new deal (Entebbe agreement) was signed in 2010 by other Nile Basin countries, including Ethiopia, allowing them to work on river projects without Cairo’s prior agreement.

(ST