The piles of dates and bowls of fragrant ginger and cumin at the entrance give a traditional Sudanese feel to Mohamed Osman Babkir’s dusty general store.

But step inside and the unprepared customer is transported to a trendy European foodhall. Bottles of olive oil from Spain, balsamic vinegar from Italy and jars of preserved cherries are stacked neatly on shelves.

While two million people languish in Darfur’s humanitarian camps, canny Sudanese businessmen are making a killing from the foreign aid workers who have flooded the region.

Land prices have rocketed and the boom is only expected to accelerate with an international peacekeeping force expected next year. “This is all for the expatriates and some for the rich Sudanese,” said Mr Mohamed, waving his hand at jars of Nutella, tins of Ovaltine and bottles of red wine vinegar that have survived the journey along rutted roads from Khartoum.

“There’s high demand ever since the African Union and the aid agencies came here.”

Darfur is the world’s largest humanitarian relief operation. The AU has deployed 7,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, and there are hundreds more United Nations staffers – with a daily living allowance that runs to £80 in some cases. Nowhere is the impact of that cash more obvious than El Fasher, the regional capital of northern Darfur. Outside the town more than 150,000 people live in tiny huts of sticks and straw in three cramped aid camps.

Inside the town though, tiny blue Daewoo and Hyundai taxis scoot through the streets, overtaking donkey carts. One of the town’s traditional grill-houses began serving pizza earlier this year. And construction sites are springing up everywhere. Darfur’s tallest building – a six-storey shopping mall and office block, is due to be completed early next year. All 14 of its shop units have been let to entrepreneurs keen to cash in.

Abduljabbar Abdellah Fadul, an economist who runs a consultancy from his simple office at El Fasher University, has watched with incredulity as plots of land have risen from $1,000 to $15,000 in the past four years. “Five years ago you would not see Cornflakes in El Fasher, It’s there today,” he said. “Where people are really making the money though is building homes. The demand is there for nice places so there’s a lot of investment.” That demand is only likely to increase. Next year the 7,000 strong AU force will be transformed into a 26,000 strong force with the UN.

Already new houses are springing up close to the razorwire fence of the AU headquarters in the dusty town.

Simple four-bedroom houses can fetch $2,000 a month.

Tajel al Din Dissa, an economics lecturer at the university, is among those investing in property. With one house already rented to an AU officer for $500 a month, he said he hoped a second would push his earnings from rentals above his university salary. But he was sanguine about the overall impact of the boom on Darfur. “Income has increased because many people are finding work,” he said, “But in the field of peace nothing has improved.”

The north Darfur town of Haskanita has been burnt to the ground and 15,000 civilians have fled since it came under the control of Sudanese troops this week, the UN said. A UN official, speaking anonymously, said: “There’s absolutely no doubt the army and janjaweed did it.” Government forces moved in after suspected rebels attacked the nearby African Union base a week ago. (AP)

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