Breaking News – New capital city for South Sudan?

NEW CAPITAL FOR NEW COUNTRY?

Reliable sources in Juba, the present capital of the autonomous region of South Sudan, have given a stronger indication than ever before that a new capital city may become reality after independence has been achieved on the 09^th of July this year.

Juba, also the state capital of Central Equatoria State, is located on the river Nile where one of the rare bridges spans the river and where an international airport – albeit due to technical constraints only operating during day light hours – connects the city to Nairobi, Entebbe, Addis Ababa but also to Khartoum.

Soon after the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) was signed in January 2005, the Government of South Sudan was set up in Juba, although at the time there were persistent rumours, at least while ‘the father of the South Sudan nation’ Dr. John Garang was still alive, that the capital might be moved to Rumbek. Over the years though the investment in infrastructure like roads and in particular government buildings, were significant in Juba and it is only in more recent days that the idea of a new capital has re-emerged, probably as a result of major investment projects failing to secure enough land in the area around the present capital.

However, the new plans gained momentum when the South Sudan cabinet, aka ‘council of minister’ last Friday agreed to seek a new place for a new capital city ‘somewhere in the South’ – with presently only speculation fueling the rumours where it could be set up. It is however likely that a more geographically central location may be favoured to make access to a new capital easier for the populations of the presently 10 states but ultimately it will be the cost of construction and moving the capital which may be the deciding factor when it comes to making such an important decision.

Said one regular and very senior source in Juba: ‘yes, we know about cost issues and maybe private public partnership can come in and take care of some portion of the required finance. But then land in Juba is a big issue and the state (Central Equatoria) has been somewhat slow in facilitating the settlement of industries, manufacturing etc and as a central government our objective must be the good of the entire nation and not just one state alone. Investment is important for the future of our new country and land is a big issue when it comes to find investors from abroad. Our land is traditionally owned by our communities and we need to find ways and means to find solutions and compromise between them and the need for land for agriculture and other projects. You in Uganda, and elsewhere in East Africa, you have had years of peace to find investors with big projects, but for us it is new, we must give them reasons and facilitate the many issues investors seek assurance on before they bring big money in here. Constructing a new capital would be an opportunity for investment, but give us some more time, we only just had this principle decision taken and we need to study all the aspects of it, finance, land, time frame, infrastructure like roads, rail, airport but also hospitals, schools, hotels and so much more. There will be a team looking at all of this and more and when the time comes we will tell our neighbours and the world what we have decided to do.’

In closing, this is both exciting news but also cause to ponder and many of those who invested over the past years in Juba will probably scratch their heads and begin to wonder what such a decision might ultimately mean for them – a viable new alternative for additional investment, the ‘downgrading’ of what they have invested already, the creation of a ‘white elephant’ as other inland capital cities built after independence have become or the start of a bright new future with great momentum for the new country, the Republic of South Sudan.

Time will tell, so watch this space.

Rwandan students airlifted back home from Cairo

RWANDAIR BRACES CAIRO UNCERTAINTIES

A special charter by RwandAir was operated over the weekend to airlift some 44 students back home, as the situation in Cairo and other parts of Egypt remains tense. The operation was supported by the Egyptian civil aviation authority and Cairo airport authorities – RwandAir is not flying otherwise to Egypt – and all permits were swiftly granted and the students then assembled and brought to the international airport, from where otherwise mayhem has been reported.

Once there the students were promptly checked in and the flight then returned to Rwanda to the relief of the students, their families and the entire country. Well done RwandAir, stepping in where others failed.

Breaking News – Hunting in Tanzania, a guarantee for more controversy

RENEWED CONTROVERSY OVER HUNTING IN TANZANIA

Information was received from Dar es Salaam that government will open tenders for hunting block concessions on the 10^th of February this year, when bids will become known for the now 190 hunting blocks created across the East African country. While some areas are set aside apparently for subsistence hunting of game to help feed the nearby populations – a buffalo permit for such reportedly goes for only 100.000 Tanzania Shillings while a foreign hunter has to pay almost 2.000 US Dollars for the same ‘privilege’ – others are exclusively set aside for the foreign clientele of hunting companies.

In an almost bizarre twist have in connection with the bid opening announcement a number of hunting companies complained to government that ‘there is hardly any game left’ in the areas they ‘occupy’ under their present concessions, a question a conservation source in Dar said should be directed at themselves and their ‘trigger happy clients’ in particular in areas where ‘royalty from the Mid East come in and blast away at anything which moves’. It is understood that almost two dozen such ‘empty hunting block’ owners are planning to vacate their concession in view of the cost involved to keep it up and running when in fact no more revenues can be extracted in the absence of roaming wildlife.

Government sources however were swift in putting the blame for the lack of game in some areas on the increase in poaching, itself an interesting explanation as the same government keeps singing its own praises how much they do in anti poaching measures – claims however disputed by most conservationists and CITES, which had a year ago published a damning report about the laxity in Tanzania over enforcement of existing rules and regulations and for being a convenient transiting country for blood ivory and live animals and birds from other countries on the continent. It is here in particular that Tanzania has to return to basics of wildlife conservation and allocated sufficient funding from tourism receipts to anti poaching units, both inside and outside the protected areas – a task made harder by the ongoing controversy over the routing of a new highway through the most sensitive migration area of the Serengeti, which has seemingly upset donors and development partners to a point of withholding further funding until the controversy is resolved.

At the same time did government departments published a figure of 25 billion Tanzania Shillings, earned from hunting activities during the period of July 2010 till end December 2010, ostensibly to defend the ‘benefits’ of hunting. Watch this space.