Dr. Albaqir A. Mukhtar

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Dr. Albaqir A. Mukhtar
Director of Al-Khatim Adlan Centre for
Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE)
Khartoum, Sudan
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Whats Going on in Darfur?

• How The Conflict is Perceived
• a. In the West
• b. The Arab/Islamic World

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Nuba Mountains
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North-South
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From Darfur African
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From Darfur Arab
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From Darfur African
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South-North
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North-North
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North
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North
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Darfur
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Beja Eastern Sudan
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The Current Situation 1

• Security is deteriorating by the day
• The conflict reached Darfurian cities Crimes in
  the Cities Recently the Janjaweed attacked
  Fashir and Kabkabiyya
• JEMs recent attack on Khartoum.
• Abductions assassinations inside the cities
• Crimes in the Camps
• Highway robbery

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The Current Situation 2

• Killing, rape displacement continues
• The latest Bombing on 3-4 May of the school in
  Shegeg Karo by Antonov planes
• 2 million displaced people living in about 100
  camps in Darfur
• 250,000 refugees in Chad
• 10,000 in Central Africa
• Thousands went into the Northern Cities
• Hundreds of villages burnt

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Historical Background 1

• An independent Sultanate for 700 years
• Joined the rest of Sudan in 1916
• Then started a History of
• Neglect
• Marginalization political, economic and cultural
• Exploitation
• Racism

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Historical Background 2

• Tribal conflict over resources
• Regional instability and spread of small arms
• Famine
• Armed Robbery

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Historical Background 3

• The Government became part of the conflict
• Recruited the Janjaweed from amongst the Arab
  tribes.
• 300,000 deaths according to the UN Secretary
  General t the UN Security Council.
• The attacks had compounded the extent of
  displacement, insecurity and untold human
  suffering.

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Western Media

• Revealed the atrocities in Darfur through
  Satellite images
• Gave it a human face
• Outrage of the public
• NGOs Campaigned
• Governments Responded

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Coverage in Western Media

• Example of Western Media Coverage
• BBC Panorama The New Killing fields
• Date of transmission 141104,
• Presenter Hilary Anderson visited a devastated
  village
• Interviewed Survivors among them
• Khadija, a woman from Darfur who lost all her 3
  children plus her husband and brother.

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Khadijas Words

• I found the body of my 4 year old son by the
  hospital. I picked him up and went looking for
  my other two children. I found them dead inside
  the school. They'd been hiding in the corner of
  the classroom. There were lots of dead children
  lying in front of the school. There is so much
  sadness. God forgive me, it would be better to be
  dead.

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NGOs

• Example Amnesty International
• PDF Template_Page 5.eps ... W hen Amnesty
  International delegates tried to discuss the
  extent of the problemof rape in Darfur with the
  Sudanese government in 2004, every member of the
  ... www.amnesty.org/resources/pdf/sudan_crisis_20
  06/svaw_casesheet-eng.pdf - 2007-05-04 - Text
  VersionSudan Surviving Rape in
• Darfur - Amnesty International ... SUDAN
  Surviving Rape in Darfur. ... On 19 July 2004,
  Amnesty International launched areport on Sudan
  Darfur, Rape as a Weapon of War, (AI Index AFR
  54/076/2004). ... web.amnesty.org/library/index/e
  ngAFR540972004?openofeng-sdn - 32k - 2004-08-09
  - CachedDay for Darfur 2 - 10 December 06 -

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Testimonies of 250 Rape Victims

• We heard the Janjawid decide to open fire on the
  Mosque, and so we decided to run out they
  captured the women The men were holding their
  throats and sitting on their bodies, so they
  could not move, and they took off their clothes
  and then used them as women. More than one man
  would use one woman. I could hear the women
  crying for help, but there was no one to help
  them.

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Human Face

• I was sleeping when the attack on Disa started. I
  was taken away by the attackers, they were all in
  uniforms. They took dozens of other girls and
  made us walk for three hours. During the day we
  were beaten and they were telling us "You, the
  black women, we will exterminate you, you have no
  god." At night we were raped several times. The
  Arabs(1) guarded us with arms and we were not
  given food for three days."
• A female refugee from Disa Masalit village,
  West Darfur, interviewed by Amnesty
  International delegates in Goz Amer camp for
  Sudanese refugees in Chad, May 2004

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Testimonies

• The testimony of the Sudanese woman given above
  echoes hundreds of others, collected by Amnesty
  International, other human rights organisations,
  UN fact-finding missions and independent
  journalists.
• They all describe a pattern of systematic and
  unlawful attacks on civilians in North, West and
  South Darfur states, by a government-sponsored
  militia mostly referred to as "Janjawid"(armed
  men on horses) or "Arab militia" and by the
  government army, including through bombardments
  of civilian villages by the Sudanese Air Force.
• These armed groups, mainly of Fur, Masalit and
  Zaghawa ethnicity were founded in 2003.

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Western Governments

• Tough talk No Action
• Bogged in Controversial Terminologies
• Spent a lot of time debating what to call it
• Instead of how to change the situation
• China Russia coming to rescue GOS

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Responses in the Arab/Muslim World

• The government of Sudan,
• The Arabic media,
• High profile Islamists leaders,
• Pro-Government northern Sudanese educated and
  intellectuals
• Denial, tolerance, indifference,
• Casting doubts, shadowing the reality

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Sudanese and Arabic media, as well as Islamic
  websites
• why is this focus on Darfur by the international
  media and western governments?
• in whose name and for whose agenda?
• whether there are huge mineral resources in
  Darfur that the west knows about
• These media outlets cast doubts on the wests
  sudden interest in Sudan
• They suggest that strategic and economic
  interests, and not humanitarian reasons, are the
  main motivating factors for action

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Arab Media

• In the Arab Media the main concern is
• the international intervention in Sudan.
• A big conspiracy against the Muslim and Arab
  worlds it started with Afghanistan, then Iraq
  and now Sudan while Syria and Iran in the queue.

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Al-Jazeera TV

• To give just the titles of the programs devoted
  by one satellite channel, al-Jazeera TV, for the
  Darfur crisis,
• Darfur and International Pressure on Khartoum
  aired 26/7/2004,i
• Among the sub-headings of this program are
  international and American focus on Darfur and
  the reasons behind it
• accusations against Sudan Government
• fears that Sudan may be occupied,
• the importance of a political solution and the
  risks of imposing sanctions.
• Another program was titled Darfur Opened the Door
  Wide for International Intervention in Sudan.
• A third program was titled Darfur between
  Humanitarian Motivation and Interests of Great
  Powers aired 6/8/2004.
• The fourth program, which was a sheer propaganda
  on behalf of the government, is titled the Causes
  of the Crisis in Darfur, which was a prolonged
  interview with AlAwwa aired on September 15,
  2004

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Muslim Organizations

• Example International Union of the Muslim Ulama
  (IUMU) headed by Sheikh Qaradawi
• The Sheikh accused
• Western governments of conspiring against Islam,
  and
• Western NGOs working in Darfur of using
  humanitarian assistance as a disguise for
  missionary work, aiming to convert the people of
  Darfur to Christianity, as part of their
  religious war against Islam.
• He also stressed the need to strengthen the
  religious knowledge of the people of Darfur, and
  to meet their material needs.
• He urged the fighting parties to stop this war,
  which gave the enemies of the Umma the
  opportunity to intervene in Muslims affairs

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Quote from Qaradawi

• the Zionists are behind what is happening in
  Darfur in order to cause turmoil in Sudan and to
  distract the Umma from its focus on Iraq and
  Palestine

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Mohammed Salim al-Awwa

• Quote 1
• we investigated the matter when we were in
  Khartoum with members of Parliament from Darfur.
  When we went to Darfur we interviewed many women
  who told us there was no any rape.

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Al-Awwa

• Qoute 2
• The fact of the matter is that the accusations of
  rape were made to defame the government and the
  people of Sudan, to make the case for foreign
  intervention in the country. The Sudan Government
  did not do any wrong. All these accusations are
  false. There is a plan to subjugate Sudan to the
  west. Darfur is rich with pure iron ore, uranium,
  and oil. Darfur is the Gate of Islam to Africa.
  The unified Muslims of Darfur are a threat to the
  west. That is why Darfur is a target. Now we must
  talk about the conspiracy. What is going on in
  Palestine and Darfur is a part of the conspiracy.
  The Zionist enemies are working in Darfur

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Common Denominator

• The common denominator among all the elements of
  this trend is as follows
• There is no genocide or ethnic cleansing in
  Darfur
• There is no mass rape of women.
• The Janjawid are not synonymous with Arab tribes,
  
• There are no Arabs per se in Darfur, for they
  all look alike.
• There is no relationship or coordination between
  the governments forces and the Janjawid.
• The crisis is a local problem a tribal conflict
  over scarce resources.

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The Three Ds

• Why then a limited problem blown out of
  proportion by the USA and western powers?
• It is a plot to
• Defame Islam,
• Divide Sudan,
• Distract the worlds attention from Iraq and
  Palestine

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Arab Muslim countries and organisations

• Once Arab Muslims rested on this understanding
  of the crisis, they turned away from Darfur
• Despite the fact that the victims and the
  aggressors are all Muslims, they did nothing to
  bring the crisis to a halt?
• Muslim institutions in the West appear
  disinterested in the whole affair.
• Some are merely paying lip service to fend off
  accusations.
• At least this is how I felt when I caught up
  with Dr Daud Abdullah, the Deputy Secretary
  General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB),
  the largest umbrella Muslim group representing
  over 400 Muslim organisations in the country.
  Ramzy Baroud _at_
• http//www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID
  29441

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Consequences

• An uncountable number of people are unnecessarily
  dying,
• Starvation and disease,
• Murdered with impunity,
• Two million live in refugee camps,
• Still targeted mostly by Janjawid militias
• Even those who cross into Chad _ 200,000 refugees
  are not safe.

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What is to be done?

• Easing the humanitarian Crisis
• Muslim and Arab governments must do more to help
  ease the humanitarian crisis both by increasing
  financial assistance and by raising the profile
  of the crisis. It is Muslims who are being killed
  yet many Muslim governments have failed to speak
  out about it. This is not good enough.
• Aid agencies on the ground in Darfur are there to
  help the most vulnerable, and targeted attacks on
  aid workers and their assets must stop now.
• Government restrictions on access to Darfur for
  aid workers must end.

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Immediate Measure

• Promoting a ceasefire and International
  Humanitarian Law in Darfur
• All sides - the rebels and government - must
  immediately respect and comply with the ceasefire
  agreements already signed since May 2004.
• The ceasefire should be monitored closely, and
  the international community must ensure those who
  violate it are held to account.

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Immediate Measures

• Ensuring effective protection for the civilians
  of Darfur
• As agreed at Abuja (with the African Union and
  Arab League in attendance), an effective AU-UN
  hybrid peacekeeping force should be deployed to
  protect Darfuri civilians (this should include
  female peacekeepers).
• This should be done as quickly as possible and
  with the consent of all sides.
• If any party tries to prevent the deployment of
  such a force the international community, and the
  Muslim World in particular, must convince and
  pressure them to change their minds. Civilian
  protection must come first.

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More Involvement of Arabs

• To ensure that the force is accepted and is
  effective Muslim and Arab governments should
  provide troops for it with a strict mandate to
  protect civilian lives.
• Arab states must commit funds to support AMIS in
  the shorter term as agreed in the Arab League
  summit March 2006 so far only 15m of the
  pledged 150m has been given to the AU.

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Long Term

• Supporting reconciliation and a longer term peace
  process
• Muslim and Arab Governments should play a more
  active role in developing and supporting a
  comprehensive and inclusive peace process for all
  parties. They should engage neutral parties such
  as South Africa to facilitate the process.