4 - Oil, Water and Agriculture: Chinese Impact on Sudanese Land Use

Summary

Sudan is now at a special time in history, the fact of which China fully understands. I want to reiterate that no matter how the regional situation and Sudan’s domestic situation may evolve the policy of the Chinese government to develop friendship and cooperation with Sudan will remain unchanged. (…) we will expand practical cooperation for mutual benefit and win-win results. We would like to deepen oil cooperation. We will encourage and support more capable and reputable Chinese companies in investing in Sudan and exploring cooperation opportunities in agriculture, mining, energy, water conservancy, power generation, road and bridge construction, communications and other sectors. At the same time, we will continue to provide assistance to Sudan to the best of our capacity. […] the We wish to enhance communication and cooperation with Sudan on such major issues as the Security Council reform, climate change and food security to jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. We are confident that with the concerted efforts of both sides, our relationship will have an even brighter future.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yang Jiechi, in July 2011, shortly after the separation of South Sudan and Sudan (MFA 2011)

China is not a new actor in Sudan and Chinese interests in Sudanese resources compete with those of many international stakeholders. Their recent large-scale interventions in the land-based resource systems of oil, water and agriculture dramatically impact on the livelihoods of thousands of nomads and farmers (cf. Large & Patey 2011, Pantuliano 2010).

This chapter adds to recent studies by reviewing official documents, scientific publications, and corporate information published in Chinese and by analysing how they discuss large-scale projects. It focuses on Chinese interventions that are shaping settlement, farming and grazing land in Sudan. As previous scholarship has shown, the introduction of Chinese technologies and capital in combination with the coercive power of the authoritarian Sudanese regime has contributed to the upheaval of the traditional land use system since the mid-1990s. The implementation of large-scale oil and hydro-infrastructure has left visible and at times nearly irreversible imprints upon land (Verhoeven 2011a, Grawert & Andrä 2013). Similarly, agro-businesses managed by the Sudan Government and foreign investors are currently transforming Sudanese agriculture (see Umbadda in Chapter 2).