Sudan: Arab League-led Trade Delegation Visits Juba

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000328 SIPDIS DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ETRD SENV EFIN KISL SU SUBJECT: Sudan: Arab League-led Trade Delegation Visits Juba ¶1. (U) Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa arrived in Juba on February 23, leading a delegation of Arab investors and companies to participate in the first Arab Investment Conference in Southern Sudan. GOSS President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar attended the event's opening session, as did the Minister of Industry and Commerce, and Minister of Legal Affairs. The conference was co-organized by the GOS, GOSS, and the Arab League. Secretary General Moussa's special assistant told the Consul General that this event had been in the works since 2008. Visiting investors plan to tour Juba, Wau, Raja, Abyei, Malakal, the Upper Nile, and Jonglei. The GOSS is promoting approximately 20 different investment projects in the fields of health, education, animal resources, industry, and trade. Discussions also included bringing Arab bank branches to Southern Sudan and setting up a joint mechanism between the Arab League and the GOSS to follow up on the implementation of these projects. There was no timetable or discussion of when these efforts might begin, however. Moussa also announced that the Arab League will provide scholarships for South Sudanese students to be selected by the Government of Southern Sudan. ¶2. (U) Finally, on respecting the results of the 2011 referendum, Moussa remarked to the conference that "the Arab League, of course, wants Southern Sudan to continue to be part of the Arab world, but if separation occurs ... relations between the two sides will continue, just as the Nile continues to flow from South to North." ¶3. (U) Comment: Interestingly, the Arab League's statement issued in support of the conference touted, among other existing investments in Southern Sudan, a controversial safari resort that investors from UAE are attempting to establish in the savannahs around the National Park in Boma, Jonglei state. While the growth of an eco-friendly tourism industry would be welcome, local communities involved in this initiative have been sharply critical of it, claiming that the investors failed to fulfill pledges to invest in the community with schools, water, and other social services. Environmentalists were concerned that the initiative would result in degradation of the park, with unplanned roads built to access the lodge and no effective hunting controls. However, they state that these fears have not been realized, in part, due to the global financial downturn, which has kept visits to the park down. ASQUINO