In south Sudan, Arab League chief Amr Moussa made a last ditch appeal for continued Sudanese unity, Dina Ezzat reports from Juba The Nile will continue to flow from the south to the north, said Salva Kiir, first vice-president of Sudan and president of the Government of South Sudan (GOSS). What Kiir alluded to, but never quite added, was that this flow will not be interrupted by any potential secession of the south of Sudan following a referendum on Sudan's unity in January 2011. The South Sudan leader was addressing the Arab Investment Conference in Southern Sudan that was held in Juba on Tuesday on the initiative of the Arab League. Participating in the conference were Arab businessmen, mostly Egyptians, a few representatives of the central government in Khartoum, and a wide representation of the GOSS. The target of the conference was to give the government and people of south Sudan the feeling that Arabs care for them and that they have much to gain from a united Sudan. The one-day conference that was convened in a pre-fabricated hotel in the middle of the otherwise underdeveloped Juba, the capital of the South Sudan, aimed to encourage Arab business initiatives for the south and to establish hard-to-break economic ties, regardless of if or when secession takes place, but with a firm eye to lessening its chances. "Our objective in being here today is to promote the cause of development in South Sudan, and -- maybe it is not too late -- to make unity attractive," Moussa said. Moussa acknowledged delays on the part of the Arabs, especially the business community, to invest in south Sudan. "In every Arab capital I have been to [since the signing of the 2005 peace deal] I have urged investments to go to the south of Sudan," the Arab League secretary-general said. "There has not been that much of an Arab presence. The majority here are Chinese and Indians," said Emad, a Lebanese entrepreneur who has been working in Juba for the past 18 months. According to Emad, foreign investment in Juba is helping to pick the city up. By the time Juba and the rest of the south become a real investment hub, he added, it might be too late for Arab investment to take a proper foothold. Low Arab compared to non-Arab presence is not confined to the business community. It also goes for diplomatic representation. Of Arabs, only the Arab League, Egypt and Libya have embassies in Juba. Meanwhile, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Congo and Eritrea all have embassies there. Also present in the city are embassies of India, China, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, France, the UK and the US. The same applies for trade services and financial institutions. Most of the commodities entering the markets of south Sudan are provided by neighbouring African states, especially Uganda whose workforce presence in Juba is unmistakable. Almost only African institutions are operating in Juba. The city, Sudanese officials from north and south alike acknowledge, is potentially the capital of a would-be independent republic of south Sudan. According to a peace deal signed in 2005, to end a two-decade war between the regime of the National Congress Party (NCP) of the north and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the south, a referendum on the unity of Sudan should be held in January 2011. The peace deal stipulated that the NCP and the SPLM/A in cooperation with concerned powers should work to make "unity attractive" for the people of the south. Officials of south and north -- as for Arab officials -- agree that not much, if anything at all, has been done to make unity attractive to the people of the south. Meanwhile, the GOSS, with the support of some African and Western capitals, has declined initiatives, essentially promoted by Cairo, to defer the date of the referendum to later in 2011. They also reject calls for a delay to allow state institutions to be readied in the south. On Tuesday, GOSS officials reminded participants, including the Arab League delegation, that the meeting was taking place less than 10 months ahead of the scheduled referendum and possible independence. Arab investors examined potential investment opportunities, especially in domains set by the GOSS as priorities. A total of 50 projects were presented by the GOSS, especially in agriculture and infrastructure. A few tentative pledges were made. Possible tourism and construction projects were also examined pending feasibility studies and investment facilitation -- especially in the form of tax reductions and fund transfer regulations. GOSS officials said none of the projects were strategic. They suggested that businessmen think about what they really wish to do: invest in the south to promote the unity of Sudan, or invest there to keep good ties with the potentially independent state of south Sudan. "What we are thinking now is that if they want independence so much then let them have it," said a Khartoum official who asked for his name to be withheld. "We spent decades in war and negotiations, and now we are thinking that we have our own economic and political means, and we could be on our own if independence becomes inevitable," he added. (see p.10)
