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At long last, after four days of drifting in front of Port Sudan, we are given authorisation to enter the port and start discharging our cargo. We enter the port at night. The city on either side seems extraordinarily quiet: no lights, no cars in the street, the only visible building is the Hilton Hotel near the harbour. I am later told by the agent that it is the only 5 star hotel in the country. It looks quite unremarkable from here.<br/><br/>
Atlantic Express, Port Sudan, 07/09 – 08/09
Degrubenc2005-12-09 16:42:15
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there is too much poverty, inequality, political instability and corruption for it to happen.
On the first day of discharging the cargo, I notice that an American ship, the Speeding Marilyn from New York, has berthed not far from us. They are unloading wheat given as aid from the US. The ship has been chartered by charities and the wheat is a kind present from the Department of Agriculture, or something of the sort. When they start discharging the wheat, there is much discontent amongst the Sudanese workers. I later learn that it is due to the quality of the wheat. It is uneatable, barely better than dust. Even the hundreds of goats wandering about the harbour refuse to go anywhere near it. It is the reject of the American production. What cannot be sold nor consumed in the US is sent to Sudan as a generous gift. A pointless gift, as the cargo will not even be stored anywhere but dumped in the desert and the bags sold on as the only valuable commodity to the poor people of Sudan. On the other side of the harbour, in the container port, real help in the form of agricultural machinery is unloaded, it is a gift from Saudi Arabia.
The UN also maintains a strong presence here. There are about 15,000 soldiers and workers stationed in the country as a peacekeeping force. They require on average 300 containers worth of equipment and food per week. An army of white trucks and armoured carriers comes and pick it up every week.
On the second day of our stay in Port Sudan, I have the feeling something happened somewhere as the agents comes to me with a shore pass, obtained for free.
The only condition for me coming on shore is that I do not bring with me any cameras or recording equipment of any kind. The whole country is under a military regime and everything is classified as secret, even the market and the dirty streets. Cameras are not allowed in the entirety of the country. No one is allowed
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See photographs from:
United Arab Emirates Gallery
