ABSTRACT
The Kenana factory was officially inaugurated on 3 March 1981 by the President of Sudan, H. E. Gaffer Mohamed Nimeiri. Sugar Y Azucar, a sugar industry monthly magazine published in New York, London, Brazil, Japan, Hawaii and Australia, and in three different languages (English, French and Portuguese) devoted its February 1981 issue entirely to the official inauguration of the Kenana sugar factory. Its editor, Donald K. Luke, wrote:
In a departure from our normal editorial policy we are devoting this entire issue to one subject – a vast project in Sudan known as Kenana. It is the largest single undertaking ever attempted in the long and dramatic history of the sugar industry.
From its inception, the entire Kenana Project has garnered international controversies and criticism, all of which were consistently and sensibly ignored by the founders though in the process the major founder member Lonrho was axed from its managerial role. Difficulties have abounded and when they have come, everyone has tackled them, beaten them and cast them aside much as one does when one is hacking a way through the jungle. By any international standard in any part of the world, Kenana must stand out as an example of perseverance comparable to anything of this size attempted anywhere.
