Surely one of the most singularly fascinating places I have ever been to. I should have been an Egyptologist. No matter how many times I walk past the Luxor Temple, I can’t get over its staggering grandeur. A shame to perceive, though, the amount of modern concrete that has been used to bind the stones together. But that’s normal, I guess; after all, the origial work is almost three-and-a-half thousand years old.
A tourist town with surprisingly little hassle, too.
So, the deed is done. Finally, after almost a year’s slog, our guidebook to Sudan is ready for publication. Tomorrow, it will be sent to the printers and we can relax for two weeks (the plan being to do so in Egypt).
The past week has been pretty gruelling, as we have read and re-read the book. Packaged it up, then spotted a crucial mistake, and repackaged it. Again and again. Seemingly ad infinitum. Until today, when, finally, we are pretty damn happy with the finished product. Let’s hope future travellers to Sudan are, too.
My obsession with this book over the past couple of weeks explains why I have been so lax in updating this journal, something that will change in the coming months (I hope).
I am now in England, where I plan to stay for the next couple of months (sorting things out here) before returning to Sudan. It is a very strange thing how far away Sudan really does seem, now that we are back in the lush greenery of the Wiltshire countryside. Perhaps further away than any place I have ever visited has seemed to me.
This was a thought that struck me, with no small amount of force, the other day when I took our guidebook to our local pub (a charmingly friendly place, pictured in the photo above) for the final proof-read. Thinking, of course, that munching on porc scratchings (a terrible addiction I still have, which Sudan has not been able to ween me off) and quaffing good old English cider would add an additional layer of creative zest to the finished product.
Distracted by the local patronage discussing boils, bunyans and falling out with the wife - “I’m in the dog house now, really I am, but, yous knows what, I’m beyond caring. Mine’s a double scotch.” - it occured to me how really far I am away from where I was last week. I looked at the pages before me and thought: Did I dream all of this?
For that is certainly how it feels.
I have become a big cynic when it comes to the activities of NGOs in Africa. I know that some of them mean well, and green university graduates often think that they can do some good in the world for a few years before earning the real money, but I just think that all these good intentions could be put to much better use. (I apologise in advance to all my NGO readers, of which I am sure there are many).
The other day, as part of our research for this book which is now achingly close to completion, I got hold of a map of Juba from the United Nations operation for the Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a name almost as unweildy as the institution itself.
The key of the map lists, astonishingly, amost 100 NGOs - and these are just the NGOs that a) would fit on the map and b) that the OCHA deemed worthy of inclusion (i.e., not the innumerable smaller outfits). This is absolutely astonishing, given that the civil war is now supposed to have ended and the former rebels are power-sharing with the government. Let’s not forget the countless UN personnel who operate out of Juba, too.
Now, I know that I am probably the last one to write favourably about NGOs in Africa and am rather of the mind that the operations of UNMIS should be suspended and the organisation relaunched, in due course, as a holiday club for aging civil servants.
But, still, even I am startled by the amount of money that is being thrown at the various conflicts and wars now taking place in Sudan. And on what exactly?
Answers on the back of a postcard, please, for I would surely love to know.
Logging on to Google News UK this morning, I see the top story is an article from the Telegraph about the EU. I didn’t bother to read the story, since I find EU news rather boring and turgid these days, but the intro line caught my eye: “Ireland has voted No to the Lisbon Treaty, throwing the future of European integration into question.”
This might very well have been a cut-and-paste job from news stories of some years ago, when I was there and cutting my journalistic teeth on the bureacracy of Brussels.
I just wonder how many times can the future of Europe be questioned before people finally realise that ever closer union is not necessarily a good idea.
It always seems to be those good Guinness-drinking folk of Dublin that seem intent on derailing the European locomotive. Unfortunately, that old European train just keeps on charging ahead, cutting down the wishes of its citizens along the way.
I got a call from a good friend of mine from Omdurman yesterday, who I haven’t seen in awhile, and in fact have been trying unsuccessfully to meet for weeks now.
He is from Darfur. In fact, he once suggested to me that his family and friends own most of Souq Libya, which (alarm bells ringing) has earnt something of a reputation for facilitating arms trafficking to the region.
So, one can imagine, that when the fighting in Omdurman broke out the other week (between the rebels and government forces), he might have been a little concerned as to how such an attack might reflect upon him and his community. Human Rights Watch, an organisation that I am not a big fan with, wasted no time in putting out a statement warning of the imminent dangers of government repression towards the Darfuri community living in Khartoum. I tried to set up a meeting with him immediately after the attack, to discuss his views on it, but this proved extremely difficult.
He now tells me some of his uncles are in gaol and a number of cousins. Maybe they were involved in the whole planning of the operation, or maybe they weren’t. But either way he is now looking for a cheap way to get to El-Fasher, which he has not been back to since he was a kid. He sounded pretty shaken, and said he just wanted to go to El-Fasher because he had some stuff to do there. But one suspects that it might also be a nice way of avoiding the attention of the authorities in Khartoum. It seems pretty logical that, in their ongoing investigations, they are going to be looking for dark-skinned Darfuris and not so much at the Arabs who are originally from north Sudan.
I don’t really think my friend had much to do with the attack, so probably wouldn’t be sad to see this government go. However, such is the size of Sudanese families that it seems quite feasible that at least some members of his family had connections to the rebel movement in Khartoum (and therefore, by implication, him).
This is class. News correction from the AP:
—
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — In a May 11 story about Sudan severing ties with Chad, The Associated Press, relying on a state television report, erroneously reported the dollar value of a reward offered by the government for Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim.
The reward is valued at $122,000, not $122 million. The state television said the reward was valued in new Sudanese dinars, or pounds, which are worth 1,000 times the value of the currency before it was revalued more than a year ago.
On Tuesday, a government spokesman said the reward was being offered in the old currency.
—
Just shows the sort of difficulty we encountered when we first came to Sudan, albeit with much smaller amounts. Just no one here seems to be able to get the currency right. The number of zeros they add on to the end of figures is quite arbitrary. You just have to use your common sense to work out exactly what they mean.
When news stories break, there is always the danger that reporters write about them too early. Usually because they see others doing so and don’t want to appear to be flagging. We all do it. This happened in the Gillian Gibbons case. And it happened over the weekend, too, during the rebel attack on the city.
At first, I wasn’t going to write about it. As interesting as it was, I had other things on my agenda. But inevitably, since there are actually so few journalists over here, I did become embroiled in covering it – this time for the Economist – and in so doing learnt a tremendous amount. I only write this blog entry now, however, since I didn’t want to pre-empt anything that the Economist might publish.
When the attack happened, I, and many other commentators, dismissed it as a show of strength by JEM, to show to the government that they are still very much alive and kicking in Darfur, and should be considered in any future peace map. The government have been secretly talking to the SLA, the other major rebel group, and more openly to the internationally community.
JEM clearly are feeling sidelined, but that didn’t just attack the city to get noticed. They attacked because they thought they could bring the government down in one fell swoop. As Al-Tayeb Zein Al-Abdin, political commentator and old friend of Bashir, told me: “In this, they seriously miscalculated.”
They had thought that, if they made a stand against this government, which they are presuming to be deeply unpopular (I think they need to re-evaluate that, too), factions from within the city would rise up against the regime and join them in their struggle. Well, it’s happened before.
But it didn’t happen this time. Some Darfuri students from Al-Nilein and Sudan university gathered in the centre of town to demonstrate, but government troops quickly dispersed them. There were also isolated disturbances in other parts of the city – usually heard about by an erroneous text message from a friend that the rebels are attacking again – but these were far from a mass uprising. Yet JEM genuinely believed this is what would happen.
Two days ago, I was taken on a fascinating tour of Omdurman, where most of the fighting took place, and, by rifling through the belongings left behind by the rebels, was able to piece together what happened. There was, in particular, a very interesting diary kept by one of them. The government, of course, had its own motivation for letting me into the area: right from the start, they wanted to make it clear that Chad was behind the attack. After all, how could such a ragtag bunch of soldiers get so far without outside help?
There was definitely Chadian involvement. I’ve seen and studied all the ID cards, and the caps with the Chadian flag stitched on and the artillery shells. Well, on this last point, the evidence is less clear since, not being a military man, and having no military expert next to me, there was no way I could tell whose stamp the shells were marked with. A shell is a shell is a shell, surely.
Whilst there was clearly Chad memorabilia in the kit, this of course in no way proves that Idriss Deby was behind the attack. It just proves that members of the group had some relationship to Chad, which is inevitable given that the border is so porous, and the tribal ties so strong.
The diary I saw gave details about the advance. The rebels started in Abéché, in eastern Chad, where they held their last meeting before beginning their long journey. They started the journey with 1231 soldiers and 191 land cruisers. Their route took them north of El-Geneina, then on to El-Fasher, where they took the back streets. At El-Fasher, the convoy separated into six different convoys, so that they would confuse the government and avoid being wiped out in a single attack.
They continued in this fashion towards Khartoum, regrouping every six or seven hours. When they were 100 km from the city, they paused for a final meeting and for a rallying speech from their leader. Meanwhile, the government, contrary to speculation, knew of their advance and sent out planes to dispatch some of them. But they couldn’t send out a large military vanguard, seeing as this would then leave the city undefended. So their best option was to wait things out and prepare for the attack in Omdurman.
When they attacked, the heaviest fighting was in two key areas. Um Badda, site of the Whirling Dervishes, and Karrari, where the famous battle between British and Mahdi forces took place in 1898. Ironic that it was Karrari where I was taken, to probe the belongings of the rebels at the security station, when only a few months ago I was arrested for an hour by the military there.
The government reckon that they killed 200 rebels in the desert and a further 100 within Omdurman. They tell me that they have arrested 300 rebels. Get the calculators out, and you will see that, if these figures are correct, the rebels have lost half their number and are down to about 600 men. Unlikely to attack again in the near future, despite what Khalil Ibrahim might be saying. I spoke to a couple of JEM contacts and they repeated parrot-fashion what Ibrahim has been saying: that the rebels are still in and around Omdurman, and that they will keep attacking until this government falls. JEM also sent me countless statements, which I’ll try and get translated and put here. I’m extremely curious how JEM can justify this attack. Commentators are saying that they committed political suicide. On this, I’m inclined to agree. The government say they have now severed ties with the rebels.
I am not a huge fan of the regime in Khartoum. I know that they do some rather underhand things in this country. But then, I am not really a fan of governments in general. The cynic in me says that governments are very much like an enactment of A Clockwork Orange: absolutely no one is good. They want power just for themselves. Fortunately, in Europe and America, we have developed a good system of checks and balances, which limits the powers that individuals can seek. This is not the case everywhere in the world.
But, to be fair to the government, they are holding this country together. If they go or they weaken then, as we have just witnessed with JEM, expect civil war brought on by a gaping power vacuum.
I would think it extremely worrying if JEM ever gets two close to the seats of power, for a few reasons. One, let’s not forget it is an Islamic movement (I have seen some dreadful coverage recently which just calls JEM ‘the Darfur rebels’, with no indication that they are actually Islamic: this is the most important facet to their character). Therefore, if they came to power, they will just be replacing one Islamic regime with another – and, not just that, but a particularly extreme variety. This would bit JEM against other rebel groups in Darfur, especially the SLA, and result in further marginalisation of the region. Not just that, but any newcomer to power, especially when such power is taken by force, feels vulnerable and needs a way of consolidating their base. This is usually done by killing people. It will, in short, be 1989 all over again.
This government may not be all that good, but right now it is the best option available to the country. As I’ve written in the past, the government is pretty sure of itself right now, and therefore can concentrate on finding a solution to the problems of this country rather than fret about having to give up all the perks and privileges of office. Let’s not try and destabilise things, guys.
Oh yes, and thanks to everyone that pointed out that Khalil was in fact a doctor (not a teacher) before he become a rebel leader. I have now removed the error, but the lingering guilt at such sloppiness remains. I guess, then, perhaps a career as a rebel is not for me. I know nothing about the health profession.
You can see the article I wrote for the Economist here.
All is earily quiet here in Khartoum this afternoon, following the Darfur rebel attack last night in Omdurman, just across from the Nile. Everyone seems pretty shocked that JEM managed to get so close, though they were far outnumbered by government forces and had no real chance of ‘taking the city’, as they claimed they had done. I have just spent some minutes trawling through the press coverage of this incident - which I was just far too busy to contribute to - when I see, once again, how so many outlets in the UK and America have missed the essence of the attack, by cobbling together snippets from news wire stories and pretending that the copy is their own.
So here, for what it’s worth, is my take on things.
Firstly, although I am rather astonished by the speed and logistical finesse of the attack (get out a map of Sudan to see the distances involved), I am not actually as shocked as many other people seem to be. For months, I have been writing that JEM is the only real threat to peace in Darfur, and now it looks as though they have validated my position. It is nice to feel smug.
So, what did JEM hope to achieve in their attack? Did they really think they could bring the government to their knees?
Far from it. What this attack represented was a warning strike against the government, a sort of cry that JEM should be taken seriously. I have it on good authority that the government have been holding long negotiations with the SLA rebel group in Darfur, and despite constant whinging and whining from Adbul Wahid, the rebel leader, were close to making quite an attractive deal. This was a very clear message to the government that it is not just the SLA they should worry about. It is JEM that represents the real threat. And at least, whatever you want to say about Dr Ibrahim Khalil (the JEM leader), at least he is in Sudan and not wining and dining in the Champs Elysee of Paris. Abudul Wahid still won’t grant me an interview - and after that snide comment, I’m not sure I favour my chances in the future.
And, yes, Chad probably did give some support to the rebels. How much is anybody’s guess, but it is well known that there are strong ties across the border.
The coverage about this attack has really irritated me, in general, and I don’t know if it is the journalists fault or the editors. The one thing that has not been made clear is the set up in Darfur. VERY briefly, there are numerous rebel factions in Darfur, all fighting for different reasons. Many of these have not converged, at the insistence of the UN, and can basically be boiled down to around five. The four that are prepared to play ball and JEM, who most definitely wants to be the one to score all the goals. The biggest groups are the SLA and JEM (though both can be sub-divided into smaller factions). The SLA was formed to call for more rights for Darfur, in the fear of encroaching Arabisation. JEM was formed in the late 1990s, when harliner Hassan al-Turabi and his cronies were thrown out of the government. In other words, JEM are pre-dominently Islamic - though you would wonder to see the news coverage today. Al-Turabi denies that he is pulling the strings behind JEM, but inner-circle speculation on this is rife. I daresay that this is where the suggestion of an attempted military coup comes from, as I saw in a few American papers. Personally, I have nothing that makes me think the attack was a coup - I just think it was JEM saying “I am here”.
Rob Crilly, a Nairobi-based freelancer, kindly thought to pick up my comments about how too many journalists cover Sudan from Nairobi - and did so in that gentlemanly manner so befitting of an Irishman abroad, where he declined to offer any counter-attack.
But his posting made me think that I really must dispell a myth that seems to have surrounded my time in Sudan. And that is that I am a teacher here and occasional freelancer.
The same thing happened with a blog post during the Gillian Gibbons affair, with some blogger (I have lost the link) assumed I was working at Unity High School.
Then, the other week, at the Queen’s Birthday in the British Embassy (Lawd bless you, ma’am), the head of Reuters in Khartoum introduced me to someone as a teacher and part-time journalist.
The reality is that I now spend far more hours writing than I do teaching - which includes, of course, this book we’re just finishing.
So, in reality, I am a freelance journalist in Khartoum and an occasional teacher.
I don’t often shy away from subjects with my students, who tend to be university students or young professionals. Alcohol, the stupidity of Western politics, why John Garang died, whose to blame for Darfur, the pros and cons of polygamy. We have great fun discussing all these subjects and more. Things don’t usually get too heated. Steering clear of teddy bears probably helps.
Today, I had a new bunch of elementary students, so I took them through my usual introductory lesson on nationalities and asking where people are from. I wrote a load of countries on the board and asked them to say what they were famous for.
Argentina - football
Brazil - coffee and football
Italy - pizza
Germany - cars
Japan - technology
“So,” I said at length. “I hesitate to ask this question, but what is America famous for?”
“Killing people,” said one young lad sitting at the back, without hesitation.
Come on, don’t hold back, tell me what you really think.
