War In Sudan? Not Where the Oil Wealth Flows (NYT)

Via Radar Online 24 Oct 2006:

This, too, is Sudan:

Just a few hundred miles from war and destruction, the New York Times reports "young, rich Sudanese, wearing ripped jeans and fancy gym shoes, sit outside licking scoops of ice cream as an outdoor air-conditioning system sprays a cooling veil of mist. Around the corner is a new BMW dealership unloading $165,000 cars."

New investment in Sudan is literally redrawing Khartoum's skyline. A 24-story, five-star hotel being built by the Libyan government on the banks of the Nile is nearly finished. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times)



A $140 million Coca-Cola factory churns out 100,000 bottles of Coke, Sprite and Fanta per hour, with Coke syrup legally exported to Sudan under an exemption for food and medicine. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times)



As one of the world's worst atrocities unfolds in Darfur, some 600 miles to the west, young women enjoy the good life at the Ozone Cafe in Khartoum, including ice cream and outdoor air-conditioning. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times)



A Khartoum resident shops to piped-in Sudanese elevator music at the Hypermarket, a superstore in the city's first real mall. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times)

Source: NYT report by JEFFREY GETTLEMAN 24 Oct 2006.