Sudan’s Minister of Finance Gibril Ibrahim attends an emergency cabinet session in the capital Khartoum, on October 18, 2021 [AFP via Getty]
Sudan has cancelled a $6 billion deal with the UAE to develop a new port and linked enterprise zone on the Red Sea coast, according to reports.
The planned port, named “Abu Amama”, was one of an array of joint trade investments planned between the two countries, which included the creation of an economic, tourism, industrial, agricultural and commercial zone on the Red Sea coast, centred around the port.
The cancellation, announced on Sunday, comes amid growing accusations by the Sudanese government against the UAE whom they claim is supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in its war against the Sudanese army, which broke out in April 2023.
“After what happened with the UAE, we will not give them a single centimetre of Sudanese land,” stated Sudan’s Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim at a press conference held in the government’s administrative capital in Port Sudan on Sunday.
Sudanese officials who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister edition on condition of anonymity said they expected Khartoum to cancel proposals for a joint agricultural project which would have been linked by road to Abu Amama.
A memorandum of understanding was signed in Abu Dhabi by the Sudanese and Emirati governments regarding the investment projects in 2022, but work had not yet commenced.
The deal would have seen Abu Dhabi’s AD Ports Group and Dubai-based Invictus Investment build and operate the Abu Amama seaport, located about 200 km (124 miles) north of Port Sudan, which it would be linked to by road.
While based in Dubai, Invictus Investment is managed by Sudanese business tycoon Osama Daoud Abdellatif, who owns the DAL group, a private Sudanese conglomerate.
Ibrahim said Khartoum was dropping the deal as it was not legally binding on Sudan, and the move would protect the country’s sovereignty.
Last April, the Sudanese government filed an official complaint with the UN Security Council against the UAE, accusing it of aggression and interfering in the country’s internal affairs.
This article is based on an article which appeared in our Arabic edition by Hala Hamza on 5 November 2024. To read the original article click here.
