darfur and israel

A few days ago a prominent rebel leader in Darfur, Abdel Wahid Al-Nur, the head of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), announced that his group was opening an office in Tel Aviv, Israel. Now the rest of the world probably took no notice whatsoever, but the Sudanese government saw what they thought was a chance to turn the people against a rebel leader who is only rising in prominence.

A few days ago, in the town where I now live in Darfur, the government went to great lengths to make sure the entire population knew of Abdul Wahid’s terrible transgressions and put all its power into organizing a street protest. Sound cars were sent down every street in every neighborhood – including the refugee camps – in an effort to stir up the population. And, as seems to be common practice in autocratic countries, the government strongly suggested if not required that its employees attend the planned protest.

Well, I think the government minions were probably the only ones who ended up going. The protest collected about 700 people – many half-heartedly chanting and carrying banners. State radio broadcast the speeches that followed. From the little Arabic that I have, every other sentence seemed to include something with reference to Islam or Allah.

I talked to one of my Sudanese co-workers, a “non-Arab”. He said, “The government thinks that we will be upset about this because Israel has killed Arabs. But we don’t care. We’re not Arab.” Not very diplomatic… but again, the people of Darfur seem to feel very little loyalty to or identity with the Khartoum government. Oh, and the religious manipulation didn’t seem to get very far either.

Read here for interesting reactions from others in Darfur.

And here for the government’s over-the-top reaction. Accusations of “foreign hands” in Darfur. How ironic.