INDIA AND SUDAN PARTNERS IN DEVELOPMENT

India-Sudan relations go back in history to the time of the Nilotic and Indus Valley Civilzations. There is evidence of contacts and possibly trade almost 5,000 years ago through Mesopotamia.

The ancient Kush kingdom of Sudan, just south of the first Nile cataract (modern Aswan), reached its apogee some 2,000 years ago. Its pre-eminent deity Apedemak, associated with war, is depicted in the famous temples of Naqa (30 km east of the Nile) as a triple headed god emerging from a lotus. Some archaeologists confidently claim Indian influence through the ancient Red Sea port of Adulis!

What is certain is that in the 17^th century, Sinnar, capital of the Funj “Black Sultanate”, had regular trade with India through the Red Sea port of Suakin, and many rich women wore silk, silver armlets and anklets and lined their eyes with kohl. Indian merchants came to the major market town of Shendi (infamous as the centre of the slave trade) northeast of Khartoum to sell spices, sandalwood and textiles and buy leather, gold, wood and animals (camels and horses).

The pastoral Beja, some 5% of Sudan’s population, are a Hamitic people, one of Sudan’s oldest groups. Immortalized for their martial spirit by Rudyard Kipling as the “fuzzy wuzzies” for their shock of curly hair, the Bejas claim origin from India. Their language, spoken from the chest (heart) rather than from the lips, could be related to ancient Prakrit.

The settled Indian community in Sudan is about 150 years young. The first Indian, believed to be one Luvchand Amarchand Shah, a Gujarati trader who imported goods from India, probably came to Sudan from Aden in the early 1860s. When his business expanded, he brought his relatives from Saurashtra, who in turn invited their own friends and family.

An Indian community grew and developed. From the small towns in the eastern part of the country, (Port Sudan and Suwakin) the early Indian pioneers moved into the interior of the country and settled down in Omdurman, Kassala, Gedaraf and Wad Medani.

Two famous steel suspension rail bridges in Khartoum and Atbara were imported from India in the first decade of the last century and are still in use.

In 1935, Mahatma Gandhi stopped over in Port Sudan (on his way to England by boat) and was welcomed by the Indian community there. In 1938, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (and his daughter) halted in Port Sudan on his way to Britain and was hosted to a function at the Home of Chhotalal Samji Virani.  

The leaders of Sudan's independence movement were inspired by the Indian experience. The Graduates Congress (Established 1938) modelled itself on the Indian National Congress. Jawaharlal Nehru's letters from prison to his daughter were read and analysed in intellectual circles.

Sudan's first parliamentary elections in 1953 were conducted by Shri Sukumar Sen, Chief Election Commissioner of India. India also provided budgetary support to compensate British civil servants replaced in 1954-55. In April 1955, the interim Prime Minister of the Sudan Ismial Al Azhari and several Ministers transited through New Delhi on their way to Bandung for the first Afro-Asian Relations Conference. At the Conference itself, the delegation from a still not independent Sudan did not have a flag to mark its place. Taking out his handkerchief, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote Sudan on it and put it on a chair, thus reserving a place for Sudan in the international community.

India opened a liaison office in Khartoum in March 1955 (well before Sudan’s independence) with Shri M.A. Kidwai as the first Liaison Officer. He subsequently became India’s Charge d’Affaires.

India and Sudan have maintained cordial and friendly relations. India’s National Defence Academy is partly funded with a gift of one hundred thousand pounds from a grateful Sudanese Government for the sacrifices of the Indian troops in the liberation of Sudan in the North African Campaign during  World War II.  The two countries have several institutional arrangements

Sudan Block at National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla

Bilateral Visits

Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru visited Sudan in July 1957. In April 1963 Vice President Dr. Zakir Hussain visited Khartoum and in December 1975 President Fakruddin Ali Ahmed came. 

The first ever visit by a team from the National Defence College was in May 2003. 

President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam paid a State visit to Sudan from 20-22 October 2003, a Presidential visit after 28 years.  Apart from meetings with President Omar Hassan Al Bashir, Rashtrapatiji addressed the Sudanese Parliament and delivered a talk at the University of Khartoum.  Two agreements, Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), and an MoU on Cooperation in Information Technology were signed. Rashtrapatiji extended an invitation to President Al-Bashir. 

Minister of State for External Affairs Shri E. Ahamed led a 20-member business delegation to Khartoum and Juba in November 2005. Indian companies from energy, power generation, agriculture, railways, civil construction, mining, urban development, consultancy and trading were represented. The delegation met with political and business leaders including the President. The Minister of State came again in March 2006 for the Arab League Summit which he addressed.

From Sudan, the Prime Minister of the Interim Government, Ismail El Azhari, visited India in 1955 and again in 1967 as President of the Sudan.  President El Ferik Ibrahim Abboud went to India in May 1964 and President Jaffer Nimeiri in 1974.  Foreign Minister Ali Osman Taha (presently the Vice President) visited India in 1995, and again in April 1997 for the Ministerial Conference of NAM countries. President Omar Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir transited through India in July 1999 and again in 2002. First Vice President Ali Osman Taha transited New Delhi en route Jakarta in July 2002.

The Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly Ahmed Ibrahim Al Tahir visited India in January 2003 to participate in the celebrations of the 50^th anniversary of India’s Parliament.  He was the only leader received by Prime Minister Vajpayee.

Senior Ministers and officials from Sudan regularly visit India for bilateral and international events.

India-Sudan Joint Ministerial Commission

An Indo-Sudanese Joint Committee (formed in January 1995) was upgraded to a Joint Commission at ministerial level in June 1997 during the visit of Foreign Minister Ali Osman Taha. 

Bilateral Agreements

India and Sudan have signed several Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding. Agreements on Economic, Technical and Scientific Cooperation and Cultural Cooperation were signed in November 1974. Other cooperation agreements include Science and Technology, Avoidance of Double Taxation, Promotion and Protection of Investments, Agriculture, Small and Medium Industries, Foreign Office Consultations etc.

Humanitarian Assistance

India gifted 22,560 tonnes of wheat in 1985 and another 6,000 tonnes in 1987.

 Mother Teresa visited Sudan in October 1986 and opened several homes for the poor and destitute.

 India donated tents and medicines for flood victims in Gezira state in 1878 and gifted medicines to control the leishmaniasis (kala-azar) epidemic in South Sudan in 1983

 Following devastating floods in Khartoum in late 1996, India airlifted urgently needed medicines. In October 2003, India announced a grant of US$ 50,000 of medicines for the victims of the floods in Kasala region.

In response to the Sudanese government’s request, India offered 20,000 tons of wheat as humanitarian assistance to the people of Darfur in March 2005.

In April 2006, Central Electronics Ltd of India installed a complete solar electrification system, funded by the Indian Ministry of Nonconventional Energy Sources, in remote Khadarab village in Gezira state, thus bringing light for the first time into the lives of over 2,000 villagers.

In November 2006, Sudan became the 18th African nation to sign the Indian-funded Pan-African E-Network Country Agreement with India for the establishment of a satellite and fibre-optic network that will provide effective communication and connectivity among the 53 members of the African Union. When complete, the leaders of Africa will be able to video-conference instantly while the people will benefit greatly from tele-medicine and tele-education.

In January 2007, Sudan's President inaugurated the country's first solar photo voltaic module manufacturing facility at the Energy Research Institute established by Central Electronics Ltd with Indian equipment and technology.

In early 2008, in response to an appeal from the Government of Sudan, India sent relief supplies for the victims of the worst floods in living memory.

Indian companies such as ONGC Videsh Ltd operating in Sudan have also contributed generously for developmental purposes.

ITEC & OTHER TRAINING

Sudan is a major beneficiary of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme, and over 150 Sudanese nationals train in India annually. India trains Sudanese diplomats at the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi and offers Graduate and Postgraduate scholarships.

Sudanese Students in India

Over 30,000 Sudanese have graduated from Indian universities. About 5,000 Sudanese students study in India each year.  

Bilateral Trade

(In US$ million: official Sudanese figures)

India, which in the seventies was Sudan's largest trading partner, sells engineering goods, drugs and pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals, machinery and instruments, transport equipment and vehicles, textiles, etc. India buys raw hides and skins, gum arabic, cotton, leather and metal scrap.

Bilateral economic relations reached an inflection point in 2003 with India’s investment of more than US$ one billion in the oil sector. Indian investment in and loans to Sudan are estimated to be around US$ 3 bn.

India is now the second largest exporter to Sudan. India is everywhere in Sudan through the ubiquitous Bajaj auto-rickshaws, scooters, Tata buses and trucks, pumps and pharmaceutical products (not to mention Indian films) found in all towns and cities. Maruti cars entered the market in mid-2006. Indian Basmati rice was formally launched in November 2006 and Mahindra Scorpios in November 2007.  

Much water has flowed since the Rs. 120 mn Line of Credit from India in 1980 disbursed by Exim Bank in 1982 (still to be repaid). During Rashtrapatiji’s 2003 visit, a US$ 50 million line of credit was extended to Sudan (the first ever on a Government-to-Government basis) for Indian goods and services in power, solar energy, railways and laboratory equipment.

At the Donors' Conference on Sudan in Oslo in April 2005, India (as its contribution to making unity attractive) announced a grant of US $ 10 million and a concessional Line of Credit of US $ 100 million. While the credit has been used for agriculture, industry and education, the grant is for state-of-the-art hospitals in north and south Sudan.

India has provided generous support to development projects in the energy, cement, railways and sugar sectors.

The first ever exclusive "Enterprise India Advantage Sudan" trade fair in Khartoum in August 2006 in which 78 Indian companies participated gave a new thrust to commercial relations, with business worth US$ 150 mn reported.

Indian tractors and three wheelers are increasingly evident in South Sudan. Enterprise India Advantage Southern Sudan is planned for 2009 in Juba (capital of South Sudan).  India opened its Consulate General in Juba in October 2007, the first Asian country to do so.

To give a sustained focus to India-Sudan trade relations, the Mission’s commercial focus is a non-exclusive five-plus-one policy. The five priority sectors in which India can respond to Sudan’s developmental requirements are infrastructure, agriculture, human resource development, information & communications technologies, and small & medium industries. The “plus-one” is commercially viable investment in the energy and manufacturing sectors (oil, electricity, gas, pharmaceuticals, small and medium industry). To achieve this, the Embassy has formulated a Target and Introduce Programme (TIP) under which one new Indian product is introduced every semester.

In November 2008 the world famous folk songs and dance ensemble from Goa “Pioneers of Quepem” performed in Sudan (Khartoum, Malakal and Kadugli).

Sudan’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports led his country’s delegation to the launch of the India-Arab Partnership Forum in New Delhi in December 2008 which coincided with the India Arab Cultural Festival.

For further information contact the Embassy of India in Khartoum. We respond to all email queries within eight working hours.