Al-Mahdi calls on Darfur rebels to adopt "civil jihad" to press Khartoum into convening all-inclusive conference - Unused water and Roseires Dam

Sadiq al-Mahdi is the last elected prime minister of Sudan. He led a coalition government until he was toppled in a coup in 1989. The man who overthrew him was military officer Omar al-Bashir, who is now Sudans president.

The below copied report quotes Sadiq Al-Mahdi as saying elevation of Roseires Dam would be the most viable project in Sudan as it would avail it of 4bn cubic metres of unused water. Unused water? How interesting. Horrendous fighting goes on in the Sudan over the shortage of water for drinking, farming and livestock. As noted here at Sudan Watch many times before, water is key to the future development of the Sudan. Excerpt from Small-hydro Atlas:

Sudan needs to implement new hydro projects to overcome energy shortages and to reduce dependence on imported oil. Integrated Nile Basin development would allow for better use of the water resources of the Nile, increasing, electricity production. An interconnected power grid, involving hydro plants in the Upper Nile basin and the Egyptian grid could solve problems of instability and insufficient capacity supplied to the country.

June 3, 2006 KHM report (Khartoum) Sudan Tribune. Copy:

Former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Umma Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi, told over a million of his supporters at the town of Sinja, Blue Nile State that everyone should work to rid the Sudan of its problems.

He called on Darfur rebels to adopt what he termed "civil jihad" in order to press Sudanese government into convening an all-inclusive conference to realize just peace and install a national government to conduct fair elections.

Al-Mahdi welcomed all peace agreements but said that the way these agreements were signed would create dissension and discord as they were not built on national base.

States should be given their shares in power and wealth and boundaries of the states should be demarcated in accordance with their existing boundaries in 1956, Al-Mahdi added.

He lashed out at the government's policy of lifting health subsides, its exploitation of power for partisan purposes and its agricultural and industrial policy which has led to unprecedented deterioration in agriculture and industry.

Al-Mahdi compared Sudan to Nigeria, "the government is replicating Nigeria's experience where people were deprived of the fruits of oil."

Elevation of Roseires Dam would be the most viable project in Sudan as it would avail it of 4bn cubic metres of unused water, he added.

Further reading

Jun 1 2005 DPA - Sudanese opposition leader to boycott interim government.

Apr 25 2005 Sudan Tribune - Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister called for a South African model: Sadiq Al-Mahdi is an Oxford educated economist and, at 31, was the youngest Prime Minister of Sudan and the last to be democratically elected. He says Sudan is at the stage that South Africa was when the former president FW de Klerk freed Nelson Mandela.

May 7 2006 Sudan Tribune - Sudanese opposition describes Darfur deal as flawed : Umma Party Secretary General Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi said the Abuja deal "hinges on temptations" after failure of reaching agreement with the armed groups in Abuja noting that this deal should be discussed on a Darfur-to-Darfur negotiation table.