Foreign Affairs committee  Not fully, but I know of some of them.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. I believe that any pressure on our government is important. However, governments effecting such embargoes have to be more aware of how they will affect the Sudanese people. For example, we had a strong discussion on the sanctions by the U.S., and whether they were affecting

Foreign Affairs committee  We believe they do. They are not necessarily affecting the people in the government.

Foreign Affairs committee  For example, not being able to bring in goods, services, and dollars is affecting the Sudanese people. It is affecting the quality of our imports. It is also affecting the small investors in Sudan. But it is definitely not affecting the people in the government, mainly because th

Foreign Affairs committee  Pressure on the Sudanese government, particularly on human rights, works. It has worked before. They have moved a little bit from being very brutal in the treatment of human rights defenders to not doing the same things they used to do, mainly because of resistance inside and pre

Foreign Affairs committee  The separation has definitely affected the women's movement in Sudan. Before the separation, and particularly during the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, there was quite a strong women's movement. Women from the north and south were working together, coordinating with each other, a

Foreign Affairs committee  We are getting good support for the constitution, but not to the extent we expected. But I must admit, acknowledge, and appreciate that we are getting support. Most of the work the civil society is doing on the constitution is supported from outside. We are not getting any suppo

Foreign Affairs committee  There are different businesses, depending on where the women are. In urban settings, mostly it is small trades and selling food and so on. That is in urban settings. In rural settings, they have to do a lot with agriculture and livestock, such as raising small animals and poultry

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, we are working in a rather difficult situation. We are a non-governmental organization. We have a legal presence. We are registered. We are following the procedures that are described by the government to legally exist in the country. Having said that, our activity is not

Foreign Affairs committee  Microfinance projects led by organizations are very successful, and they are really helping women. Women prove to be quite serious when they work with microfinance and microcredit projects. Having said that, there is also a huge microfinance project that is led by the Central B

Foreign Affairs committee  There are now two parallel processes for drafting constitutions. One is led by the government and government-affiliated bodies working on drafting an Islamic constitution. This has also been asserted in al-Bashir's latest speech—we are going to go for an Islamic constitution. A d

Foreign Affairs committee  The federal system in Sudan is very well identified. Health and education are state responsibilities. Each state has full authority and the full right to decide, of course within a national framework. But in terms of investing in education, in terms of the quality of education an

Foreign Affairs committee  I think, given this framework, I would advise investment at the state level. States are more responsive than the central government, and the needs for these services, such as education and health, are most pressing. They take priority over the political agenda at the state level,

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. That's a very important question. First of all, let me say that the context of South Sudan is completely different from the context in Sudan. Most of the diaspora, particularly in Canada—I hope I'm not taking their name—are here because of political reasons. The polit

Foreign Affairs committee  After the referendum we observed, with a lot of concern, the withdrawal of many donors and international organizations from the north to the south. I have, personally, talked to missions from different countries that have decided to move to the south, and some of them have alread