Strategic Planning Expert, Abu Saleh, Stresses Priorities Reformulation 

* The concentration of development in Khartoum is an indicator of the absence of strategic planning

* War is an opportunity to reformulate priorities

Interview – Nahid Oshi

Is Sudan implementing the vision of strategic planning in its various fields?

In fact, there are efforts made in planning, but unfortunately they are considered very modest. Sudan does not have a plan for the country?.

In 1955, we gained independence without a strategic vision and without a founding period. The absence of a vision led to confusion and the implementation of government plans without achieving consensus on them.

It can be said that Sudan’s experience in planning is weak, and it is one of the disasters facing Sudan. The absence of the idea of planning created several wills represented by political and military groupings, and not a single national will.

The multiplicity of wills creates a multiplicity of armies and military coups. In order to prevent conflict and war, the multiplicity must be transformed into one will, one army, or a military doctrine that protects the strategic vision.

The war that broke out and is still raging in some states of Sudan, does weak planning play a role in its negative impact?

-The war in Sudan broke out not now, but since the Torit rebellion in 1955. It is considered the first war in Sudan, and the wars continued in southern Sudan, then in the west, east, south Kordofan, and the Blue Nile, and tensions on Gezira ended with the war that reached Khartoum and extended to the city of Wad Medani, Sennar, and the White Nile.

Unfortunately, we find that the basic feature of the Sudanese political scene since independence has been the exclusion of others, along with the lack of a national vision. We have lived through 68 years of war only because there is no strategic planning with a rational mind that achieves the interests of Sudan and then ensures human dignity, justice, and balanced development in all parts of Sudan. Wars are not a military action, but they are weak political, civil, economic, and social performance.

The concentration of industries, services and all institutions in Khartoum. In your opinion, does it lack proper planning?

The biggest indicator of the absence of strategic planning is the concentration of development in Khartoum, where it produced about one million tons of oils, while it did not grow sesame, groundnuts, or sunflowers. Rather, it imported sesame from Gedaref State (600) kilograms, then pressed the oils and exported it to Port Sudan (200) kilograms, whereas if Gedaref was allocated as the capital of oils, development and services included Gedaref State, and products from sesame derivatives are produced in the state at a cost 65% lower than their cost in Khartoum. Likewise, the textile industry should have been carried out in Al-Hasahissa and South Kordofan, where cotton is grown, as well as the manufacture of furniture, wood and paper, which takes place in the Blue Nile. The same applies to the rest of the states, so that Khartoum becomes specialized in government administrative work and research.

The war is an opportunity for the states to reformulate priorities and restore industries. The states of the Nile River, Gedaref, and Al-Jazeera have begun to establish final industries and transfer some industries from Khartoum, thus restoring balance.

After the war, dysfunctional planning will not be repeated, but rather a strategic vision that will create productive urban centers in all states fairly, and each state according to its relative advantages, and this is what will achieve peace.

There are 38 countries in the world that succeeded in rising again after the World War thanks to the presence of a comprehensive strategic vision and the presence of a strategic mind for the country that issues strategic decisions based on knowledge and the national interest. This is what made countries that do not have the advantages and huge natural resources that we have in Sudan, but they succeeded by virtue of the strategic vision.