INS Tabar is a Talwar-class stealth frigate and forms part of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet which is based at Mumbai under the Western Naval Command…reports Asian Lite News
Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tabar, on its ongoing deployment to Europe and Africa, conducted India’s maiden maritime partnership exercise with Sudanese Navy Ships Almazz and Nimer in the Red Sea off the Sudanese Coast on Friday.
The Indian Navy posted images of the maiden maritime partnership exercise between the navies of Sudan and India on Twitter.
“Maiden #MaritimePartnership Exercise between #IndianNavy & #SudaneseNavy. #INSTabar undertook wide range of Naval ops with Sudanese Navy ships, Almazz & Nimer on 10 Sep 21 in the Red Sea off the Sudanese coast.#Interoperability #MaritimeSecurity,” said the Twitter post by the Spokesperson of the Indian Navy on Saturday.
INS Tabar is a Talwar-class stealth frigate and forms part of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet which is based at Mumbai under the Western Naval Command.
Pic credits @indiannavy
The ship is currently commanded by Captain Mahesh Mangipudi and has a complement of over 300 personnel. It is equipped with a versatile range of weapons and sensors and is among the earliest stealth frigates of the Indian Navy.
INS Tabar’s participation in a maritime partnership exercise with Sudanese Naval Ships is in continuation with the Indian Navy’s practice to deploy Indian warships for overseas exercises.
INS Tabar is on a four-month deployment across Africa and Europe to participate in joint exercises with friendly navies and enhance military cooperation through naval engagements.
During its deployment, the Indian Naval Ship has already called on ports in Egypt, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden and France and has conducted naval exercises with the navies of these countries.
Last week, INS Tabar had conducted a maritime partnership exercise with an Egyptian Naval Ship in the Mediterranean Sea.
The exercise was significantly beneficial in enhancing interoperability between the two navies and widened the scope for combined operations against common maritime threats in future.
Though many economists differ on the exact figure and debt estimates, the Chinese direct and indirect investment in Sudan is alleged to be nothing less than 29 billion dollars….reports Asian Lite News
China has provided numerous interest-free loans and grants to the Sudanese government for diverse projects, but the country has now begun to sense the exploitation being meted out to them by the Chinese.
Mario de Gasperi, writing in the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA) said that media reports indicate that Sudan, the strategically located oil-rich African nation is facing one of its worst economic crises.
The country is apparently under a debt burden worth about 20 billion dollars to China. Though many economists differ on the exact figure and debt estimates, the Chinese direct and indirect investment in Sudan is alleged to be nothing less than 29 billion dollars.
Like many other African nations, unaware of the systemic form of the Chinese intrusion, Sudan too welcomed Chinese investments with open arms and allowed the Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to make massive inroads in the much-valued petroleum sector.
But now, Sudan’s Prime Minister called out the dubious role of Chinese entities in the oil sector by seeking a review of all agreements signed with China in the past.
In another significant development, much to the chagrin of the Chinese, Sudan also chose the AstraZeneca vaccine while neglecting the Chinese offer for vaccines to handle the Covid19 pandemic which is alleged to have emerged from the Chinese heartland.
China has been investing heavily in Sudan in diverse projects including the construction of oil pipelines, bridges in Hantoop, Singa, on the Nile River along with building textile mills, railway lines and a free trade zone in the Red Sea state.
CNPC even obtained significant concessions through the Sudanese oil ministry to access and utilize untapped oil reserves with almost no competition.
Taking a cue from CNPC, other Chinese companies too have heavily invested in the oil reserves of Sudan and are brazenly looting the country’s natural resources, said Gasperi.
Singularly, Sudan’s debt to CNPC with regard to exploration of oil at Block No. 6 of Muglad Basin of West Kordofan state is itself over USD 2.5 billion. One can only speculate the extent of Sudan’s debts when all the Oil blocks are taken into account.
In fact, so sordid are the state of affairs that CNPC, at present, holds 95 per cent rights in basin exploration while Sudapet, a Sudanese commercial entity has a mere 5 per cent, reported CPFA.
Not just in Oil, across multiple domains in over 200 projects in the field of agriculture, services and manufacturing including areas like farming, abattoirs, trade, mining, health, water supply etc more than 130 Chinese companies are directly involved in Sudan. Even construction and upgrading of numerous power projects is being done using Chinese money.
It is true that China has been consistent in the provision of loans and grants to African countries. However, these loans are driven by self-interests to usurp the properties they generate rather than aiding the welfare of the African nations.
This is also the reason why China provides loans through front companies and not through transparent mechanisms such as the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) meant to grant waivers for repayment of interest-free loans to help ailing African economies, said Gasperi.
In recent times, with the international community recognizing and calling out Chinese tactics of dominance in Africa, China is reportedly increasingly investing through private players who impose prior stringent agreements with the debtor parties rather than engaging with government entities on vague terms.
China has also been exercising
its influence on the Sudanese media with Chinese Ambassadors regularly interacting with media houses and contributing numerous articles praising China’s role in ‘developing’ the country’s economy.
This campaign is further accentuated by a regular feature of the Ambassador in the English newspaper ‘Sudan Voice’. It seems the Sudan News Agency (SNA) has an implicit understanding of the Chinese to spread the Chinese school of thought in Sudan. The SNA has also enhanced its exchange programmes with regular visits of Sudanese journalists to China, reported CPFA.
Of late, however, the tide has turned and many African nations including Sudan have begun to sense the exploitation being meted out to them by the Chinese. (ANI)
Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, is set to meet with top Sudanese officials including Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan…reports Asian Lite News
Samantha Power who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on genocide landed Saturday in Khartoum, aiming to support Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy before traveling to Ethiopia to press the government there to allow humanitarian aid to the war-torn Tigray region.
Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, is set to meet with top Sudanese officials including Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, the civilian face of Sudan’s transitional government.
She will also travel to Sudan’s western region of Darfur where she said she investigated atrocities in the its civil war in the 2000s.
“I first visited Sudan in 2004— investigating a genocide in Darfur perpetrated by a regime whose grip on power seemed unshakeable. I couldn’t imagine Sudan would one day be an inspiring example to the world that no leader is ever permanently immune from the will of their people,” Power wrote on Twitter upon her arrival in Khartoum.
Power’s visit to Khartoum is meant to “strengthen the US Government’s partnership with Sudan’s transitional leaders and citizens, explore how to expand USAID’s support for Sudan’s transition to a civilian-led democracy,” USAID said.
Sudan is now on a fragile path to democracy and is ruled by a military-civilian government after a popular uprising led to the military’s ouster of longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir in 2019. The Khartoum government, which seeks better ties with the US and the West after nearly three decades of international isolation, faces towering economic and security challenges that threaten to derail its transition into chaos.
The US official would also meet with Ethiopian refugees in Sudan who recently fled the conflict and atrocities in the Tigray region which borders Sudan.
Since the Tigray war began in November, tens of thousands of Ethiopians have crossed into Sudan, adding to the country’s economic and security challenges.
Power’s five-day trip will also take her to Ethiopia as part of international efforts to prevent a looming famine in Tigray, a region of some 6 million people that has been devastated by the months-long war.
Power will meet with Ethiopian officials “to press for unimpeded humanitarian access to prevent famine in Tigray and meet urgent needs in other conflict-affected regions of the country,” USAID said.
The world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade is unfolding in Tigray, where the US says up to 900,000 people now face famine conditions and international food security experts say the crucial planting season “has largely been missed” because of the war.
Ethiopia’s government has blamed the aid blockade on the resurgent Tigray forces who have retaken much of the region and crossed into the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, but a senior official with the US Agency for International Development this week told the AP that is “100 percent not the case.”
The latest US move was welcomed by Sudanese Foreign Minister Maryam Al-Sadiq, who hosted Baskett on Monday….reports Asian Lite News
The relations between United States and Sudan have returned to normal, according to an embassy spokesperson in Khartoum.
Amber Baskett, the Chargé d’Affairs at the American embassy in the Sudanese capital, confirmed the decision came as a result of the achievements of the interim transitional government, the Arab News reported.
The latest US move was welcomed by Sudanese Foreign Minister Maryam Al-Sadiq, who hosted Baskett on Monday.
The minister said the normalisation of relations was deserved for the progress the country had made since the ousting of Omar Bashir in 2019, according to the Arab News report.
She added that the US decision would support Sudan’s democratic transition efforts and address its challenges.
The US relations with Sudan have been on an upward trajectory since 2019, and included the removal of the African country from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2020, it was reported.
Last week, South Sudan had launched its first oil licensing auction, offering five blocks.
The Ministry of Petroleum said the Oil Licensing Round aims to attract interest from a diverse group of foreign investors.
The ministry said it has identified new exploration blocks with potential hydrocarbons and has compiled crucial data to provide to interested investors, operators and counterparties.
The oil companies operating in South Sudan include China National Petroleum Corporation, India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Malaysia’s PETRONAS.
According to statistics from the ministry, about 90 per cent of South Sudan’s oil and gas reserves remain unexplored, providing unprecedented opportunities to international investors.
