'Manhattan of Darfur' dreams of better future

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

NYALA, Sudan (AFP) — Darfur's biggest city and historic trade hub, Nyala, is a gateway to Sudan with business prospects to entice the intrepid and a cinema keeping light entertainment alive in the dark days of war.

One aid worker described it as "the Manhattan of Darfur" in the sense that 60 percent of the population in Sudan's vast western province -- the size of France -- is concentrated in the city and outlying villages.

Nyala has the best infrastructure in Darfur and so for Sudanese and the odd expatriate, the town is a focus of cultural and business opportunities, however fragile in the fifth year of a tribal and ethnic war.

South Darfur, around Nyala, also has the largest melting pot of fractious rebels fighting the government and the highest...