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RED SEA TO THE ATLANTIC

Posted on 15 January 2010 by Railways Africa Editor

A new rail project has been launched to link the Red Sea at Port Sudan with the Atlantic Ocean at Dakar in Somalia. Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu is quoted saying that the political will behind the project was confirmed during the first ministerial meeting on the scheme at Khartoum, Sudan, on 10 December 2009. Cooperation activities by OIC in Turkey and Islamic countries, he added, increased trade potentials, while the OIC Economic Summit hosted in Turkey had “opened new horizons”. New projects aimed at creating common trade areas and boosting cross border trade, are “on the way”.

John, I think you mean Senegal. But ..... (pinch me, is it April 1st?) ..... is this for real? This project would probably be the most ambitious, costly, and politically complicated project ever in the whole of Africa. It would rival 'Cape to Cairo', which, as we know, never quite made it!

Thanks, Tom, for the correction. I copied and pasted it straight from Railways Africa without proof-reading as I assumed they had already done so - apparently not!

I make no comment on the feasibility! Technically, I suppose it is feasible. It would be hugely expensive, but if Arab states wanted to make a big symbolic gesture (they are already talking about a bridge across the Red Sea) I suppose they could afford it. I wouldn't bet on it happening, though.