It has been almost 2 years since last I was in Sudan, and last I posted. I'm excited to see some of the changes in Khartoum that my family and friends have told me about. I'm just not sure if I'll make it in time, before things get really bad, and few planes will fly into country let alone the city. This might seem dramatic, but I am reminded of the recent battles in Abyei. Abyei is an interesting town and district. It literally straddles the traditional North-South border. On that border is a wealth of oil reserves. What in the past would have been simple, local border skirmish, is now transformed into a national struggle between the government in the North and the government in the South over the control of sizable wealth generating resource. It was once under the rule of the chief, prince if you will, of the Dinka Ngok. No one can doubt the legitimacy of the Dinka Ngok's claim to Abyei, the problem is where to draw the lines, where does their land stop and Misseria land began?
The Dinka Ngok are the proxy of the government of the South, and the Misseria ethnic group are the proxy of the government of the North. Sadly, armed and unarmed civilians on both sides pay the price.
On a hopeful note, an agreement was recently signed between the two parties, with the inclusion of peace monitors. Furthermore, the case of Abyei has been referred to the International Court, both sides vowing to accept its verdict.
Despite this slimmer of optimism, I cannot forget the images from the attempted coup nearly a month ago. They say bad things come in threes, and overseas nearly a month ago there were no exceptions. There natural disasters that claimed the lives of thousands in Burma and China, and the quieter man made, and failed coup in Sudan. The last was reported for a day or two, and then forgotten at least in the western media. In Sudan, and other countries pictures were aired on television, printed in newspapers. Some showed devastated civilian areas of Omdurman, but most showed captured rebels. For the most part they were dead, not shot to death by military, no bullet wounds to be found. Rather their horribly disfigured bodies reveal a darker and brutal death.
It is understood, implicit in Sudanese politics that a failed coup means certain death for the perpetrators. It is expected that after a trial of sorts, the death sentence is carried out by hanging, or firing squad. Although a flawed process, it gave us some semblance of order. It allowed us Sudanese to pretend that we were an organized, orderly, and honorable and law abiding people. It allowed us to forget the illegitimacy of the current Khartoum regime, as soldiers paraded the streets exclaiming God is greater. Perhaps we thought we are not as savage as we had been portrayed in history.
However, those days of burying our heads in the sand are long gone. Aljazeera, and countless online newspapers and blogs will not let us forget the brutal images of this failed coup. What is more sinister perhaps is the Khartoum regime’s apparent sanctioning of the pictures for public consumption. The regime apparently saw nothing wrong in its treatment of the “terrorists.” Extrajudicial beatings, tortures and other crimes were merely a “democratically” elected government’s right to defend itself against a terror group. There are rumors in the press that the American government tipped off the regime in Khartoum about the coup, and that Libya and not Chad was involved in heavily arming the rebels. Whatever the case, Sudanese in Diaspora cannot continue to wring their hands, and shake their heads in dismay. Many of us non-Darfuris have been silent about the civil war in the South, about the recent atrocities of Darfur, thinking they had nothing to do with us, except perhaps blackening our reputation and the name of our great nation. The rebels may have suffered defeat, but they promised that as long as the citizens of Darfur cannot dwell in peace, neither will those in Khartoum. And what seemed to many, a conflict in far off provinces, is now very much in danger of engulfing the oh so great elephant trunk known as Khartoum, the city where the two Niles meet.
It was particularly painful for many of us who had broken bread, laughed and discussed secularism versus Islamism in government with these so-called terrorists less than a year ago. Only to see their disfigured, bloodied and broken bodies on the television, on the internet and in print, I had avoided looking at the pictures, telling myself I did not want to dishonor their memories. But it was an excuse to help me sleep and finally I did look at the pictures, studying them carefully. I felt a great sadness and pain for them, for their families. I felt shame for the country, and for all of us who are silently complicit in the rape of women and children, the rape of the quintessential Sudanese character, albeit a sexist one, but one that is upright and honorable.
If Zimbabwe has taught us anything, by us I mean dictators and others hungry for power, it is to not post the results of individual polling stations. This makes it incredibly difficult to stuff ballots and generally steal the election. I wonder what lessons the regime in Khartoum will take from the catastrophe in Zimbabwe. I so admire the opposition they put their lives on the line; I just wish they had better neighbors that would be bold enough to step forth. The domestic troubles of Zimbabwe have spilled beyond its borders, and the arguments of sovereignty have lost all legitimacy.
