The North African Free Trade Zone—this was Crown Prince Friedrich's vision for Darfur's future. In a place like Darfur, developing commerce was the only proper path. As for agriculture, industry, and mining, there was very little Darfur could accomplish; its water constraints were impossible to resolve.
At the same time, service industries such as tourism were not thriving worldwide. Thus, for Darfur to gain another source of income through this route was very difficult at present.
Crown Prince Friedrich said, "Anchoring itself to the North African Railway and the future highway linking the Kingdom of Southern Germany with the Sudan region is Darfur's main path to sustainable development. It should become the crossroads of the four surrounding countries."
"At the same time, Darfur's current population should also be raised further. It should at least surpass one million people, so that the population and market scale along the southern end of the North African Railway can be expanded more easily."
"As for developing Darfur's mineral resources, Darfur should be encouraged to attract domestic enterprises through low taxes and more flexible economic policies. This will lay the foundation for obtaining the funds Darfur needs for development."
Darfur's mineral resources were only suited for development by East African domestic enterprises. Mining in a place like this inherently demanded higher technical standards, so only countries with relatively formidable industrial capabilities could manage it.
Take Darfur's uranium mines, for instance. They clearly held economic value only for a country like East Africa, which possessed a nuclear industry. At the same time, transporting Darfur's minerals required building transport routes through the desert and overcoming natural disasters such as wind and sandstorms, as well as water shortages.
That was only because Darfur was in East African hands. If it had merely been a neighboring country unrelated to