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 Bright future for Port Sudan
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Bright future for Port Sudan
By the BBC's Jim Corrigall in Port Sudan
BBC News
Tuesday, 5 March, 2002, 21:58 GMT
The famed coastal city of Port Sudan has a rather faded look these days, but is hoping for a big revival in its fortunes.
A series of economic developments, combined with renewed prospects for tourism, are making the difference.
From this March, Sudan's landlocked neighbour, Ethiopia, will be moving almost all its exports and imports through Port Sudan.
Sudan is beginning to fulfil its role once again as the main port not only for Sudan, but also for the wider African hinterland.
Busy port
It could well be part of a wider revival for Port Sudan, a city of around a million people, which has clearly seen better days.
The years of economic and political isolation for Sudan and its Islamist government have taken their toll, as has the devastating 19-year-old civil war between the north and south, the longest-running in Africa.
However, Port Sudan had remained busy even during the lean years serving as the main port of the country.
It is a crossing point for pilgrims to Saudi Arabia and also for livestock.
The Sudanese exports of crude oil, which began just over two years ago, have now reached 230,000 barrels a day.
This is piped directly to tankers from a terminal just south of Port Sudan.
All the activity is leading to renewed bustle in Port Sudan, and the city now boasts a gleaming new international hotel.
The authorities are looking at developing air links from the port directly to Europe.
Ocean treasures
The return of tourism, after years of political isolation and economic decline, would be a big prize.
In the Red Sea beyond the harbour lie coral reefs and some of the richest marine life in the world.
It has long attracted divers and underwater photographers, including the infamous French Jacques-Yves Cousteau and German Leni Riefenstahl.
A boatman who takes divers out to the coral reefs, Captain Abdul Halim Mohamed, told me why the area off Port Sudan is particularly rich in sea life.
It is the widest part of the Red Sea, and the plankton driven by strong sea currents through the narrow Gulf of Aden begins to settle on the sea bed in the quieter waters off Sudan.
Environmental fears
Captain Mohamed said further north off the Egyptian coast, pollution had spoiled the marine environment. The captain, who used to be in the merchant navy, helped found a Red Sea conservation group.
He welcomes the new economic activity, but says his group is concerned about the dangers of pollution and that they are working with the local authorities to try to contain these.
Captain Mohammed me told that the biggest thrill for divers out among the coral reefs is swimming with sharks.
He assured me that there were no dangers here because "all Red Sea sharks are friendly ones".
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