KHARTOUM, SUDAN — Sinking back in a poolside lounge chair at Khartoum's first five-star hotel, Sitona Abdalla mused recently about whether U.S. sanctions were hurting Sudan.
"I guess they must be," said Abdalla, one of Sudan's new elite, who can afford to bring her nephews to Al Salam Rotana Hotel's $42-a-plate weekend brunch. "But I would have to say," she added, smiling at the children splashing in the pool, "life here is better."
Ten years after the U.S. imposed an economic boycott against what is territorially Africa's largest country, it's hard to see much effect on the streets of Khartoum, the capital. Unlike the case of Iraq, which was crippled by United Nations sanctions in the 1990s, Sudan has blossomed economically since the sanctions were put in place in 1997 because of its alleged support of terrorism and attacks against southern rebels.
President Bush tightened sanctions in May, citing the military regime's failure to resolve the crisis in the violence-plagued western region of Darfur, where an estimated 200,000 people have died, mostly from disease and hunger in the early days of an ethnic conflict. An additional 2.2 million people have been displaced.
But by most measures, Sudan's economy is booming, expected to grow 13% this year, far faster than those of most other African nations. Oil exports are generating more than $4 billion a year, and heavy investment by China and other Asian nations has allowed the country to escape crippling economic pain.
"We are not afraid of sanctions," Interior Minister Zubair Bashir Taha said. "Not at all. We have been able to develop our oil industry, our communications. No country has leapfrogged the way we have."
Surging investment
Foreign investment in Sudan has quadrupled since 1996 to about $2.3 billion last year, according to figures from the Investment Ministry. China, which buys about two-thirds of Sudan's oil, has invested $7 billion, mostly in oil projects, roads, bridges, dams and other infrastructure projects, officials said.
Such growth has transformed Khartoum. Three years ago, the Nile River city resembled Baghdad before the war, with dusty roads, dilapidated government offices and moldy hotels.
Today, giant construction cranes are busy all over town, promising to give Khartoum a skyline. In addition to the $300-a-night Rotana, an egg-shaped hotel is being built near the river with Libyan capital. At the outdoor Ozone cafe, Palm Springs- style water misters cool patrons in Khartoum's 100-degree heat.
