By Manish Chand, IANS
Khartoum : In Sudan, Africa’s largest country and oil mecca that evokes images of a nation in humanitarian crisis, say America and you get hostile looks. But the moment you say India, the Sudanese break into a smile and sometimes even begin to hum a Hindi song.
Ten-year-old US sanctions over alleged human rights violations may have squeezed the Sudanese economy, but it has only spurred a defiant Khartoum to seek new friends and business partners in China and India – both rising Asian powers.
Ashraf, a tall and handsome Sudanese businessman, sits in a luxury hotel and watches an MTV-style Arab song-and-music show on TV. He enjoys his Pepsi but it does not water down his dislike for America. His mind wanders and he starts talking excitedly about Indian actors Amitabh Bacchhan and Raj Kapoor.
“I love Indian films and songs,” he says and sings “Mera joota hai Japani …. phir bhi dil hai Hindustani.”
Hindi films are screened regularly at local theatres, especially in the old city of Omdurman, home to a large Indian diaspora.
The romance with Indian movies and children being named after Indian icons Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru is no freak trend. They are reflective of Sudan’s larger eastward turn as it pulls out all plugs to expand political and business ties with India, China, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea to shore up its economy and beat the onerous US sanctions.
The stakes are high and the stirrings of change are too obvious to be missed. Khartoum’s skyline is changing. This once sleepy city resonates with the noise of tower cranes busily erecting high-rise buildings. Its department stores flaunt designer labels and its roads brim with Toyota, Hyundai cars and Indian Tata buses and Bajaj scooters and auto-rickshaws. Indian Maruti cars are also set to hit the roads in a big way soon in this city where the Blue Nile and White Nile meet.
“We want to go eastward, not westward. We look at India as an independent country which has its own mind and is not a camp follower of any superpower,” Kamal Obaid, Sudan’s ruling party National Congress’ chief pointsperson on foreign policy, told a visiting IANS correspondent here.
“Historically, we have had very good relations with India. The Indian community is very famous and successful here. Around 10,000 Indians live here. We would like to strengthen relations with India,” said Obaid.
Abdalla Zakaria Idris, general director of local think tank International Centre of African Studies, said: “India and China can play a great role in the destiny of mankind in the 21st century. India is a knowledge power. We seek Indian help in the education sector.”
India’s business and energy ties with Sudan are on an upswing, said India’s Ambassador to Sudan Deepak Vohra. India’s bilateral trade with Sudan touched $620 million in 2006 and is likely to exceed $1 billion soon, he said.
ONGC, the Indian oil major through its overseas arm OVL, has got a 25 percent stake in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) and has invested over $1.5 billion in oil exploration in Sudan – one of its largest foreign investment.
Although China is way ahead of India in oil investments and Khartoum needs Beijing to shield it in the UN against broader sanctions, it is increasingly looking at India – with its proven prowess in knowledge industries – as a development partner.
China has invested over $10 billion in Sudanese oil, is Sudan’s largest supplier of arms and is its largest trading partner with bilateral trade touching $4 billion. But with its profit-driven approach, it has not invested in goodwill.
India, in contrast, believes in empowering Sudan by providing training to Sudanese youth. Some 4,000-odd Sudanese youths are already studying in India.
Besides, in a country that is still grappling with a fragile truce between the Arab-dominated north and Black-dominated south after a four-decade-long civil war, the presence of over 2,500 Indian peacekeeping troops, part of the multi-national United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), inspires a lot of goodwill.
The UNMIS is headed by Lt. General Jasbir Singh Lidder, an Indian Army officer.
Sudan is also rolling out the red carpet for Indian investment in the agriculture, transport and infrastructure sectors with tax concessions. India’s heavy industry major BHEL is in the process of setting up a $500-million 500 MW power plant – the largest power project in Sudan.
More business with emerging Asian powers like India coupled with an indigenous industrialisation drive, Sudanese officials say, could offset the impact of negative images about ethnic violence in the western province of Darfur which they see as a fight over resources rather than an Arab versus non-Arab conflict as portrayed in the Western media.