Bretton Woods institutions adopt initiative to offer Sudan debt relief - Arab League joins Darfur ceasefire monitoring body

Last week I wrote a vent about the following article that appeared at the Sudan Tribune online. I vented against the invisible mysterious "suits" that quietly give such important initiatives the nod without explaining what it is all about to us the general public. After I cooled down, I decided against posting it. Here is a copy of the article that triggered the vent:

KHARTOUM, Dec 23, 2004 (MENA) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) adopted an initiative to exempt Sudan from its debts and lure international finance for reconstruction operations and arrangements for the post-peace stage.

An IMF-WB Joint Assessment Mission (JAM), at the end of talks it held with a host of Finance and National Economy Ministry officials, underlined a strategy to combat poverty with a view to macro-economy regarding economic growth rates and fair distribution of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The mission discussed with the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Sudan institutional reforms to apply the government statistics system in the budget and upgrade the efficiency of cash flow management.

Further reading:

Dec. 23: Jim Moore writes: "What? Unbelievable, if it weren't true: Great time for the World Bank and the IMF to show support for the genocidal regime in Sudan. ... on the same day that Kofi Annan called for emergency help to stop the fighting in Darfur, and just after George W. Bush signed into law a new set of sanctions against Sudan, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund gave Sudan a high sign!"

Dec. 29: Sudan Tribune article: The Arab League head visits Sudan and denies discussing troop deployment: as for the role of the Arab League in settling the Darfur problem, he said the Arab League attended Abuja negotiations between the Sudanese government and the Darfur rebels and took part in all the follow-up committees of the negotiations. When asked about the Arab League reform file, he said new reform steps will be discussed during the Arab summit in Algiers in March, pointing out that the main step is to establish a joint Arab parliament and the formation of joint Arab troops. He called for unifying Arab ranks in confronting dangers facing the Arab world.

Dec. 2: Sudan Tribune article: The Arab League joins Darfur ceasefire monitoring body: the Arab League will now become member of all three international mechanisms following up the situation in Sudan's troubled region. Members in the cease-fire monitoring committee are the African Union, Chad, Libya, Nigeria in addition to the US, France, Britain, the EU, the UN and now the Arab League.