His excellency, the highly-indicted President of Sudan, Omar el-Bashir is traveling in Darfur today. Reports are that he will visit El Fasher and Nyala.
This visit is widely perceived as a publicity stunt, to shore up his support among government aligned groups in Darfur and to seek to prove, to the rest of Sudan and to the world, that Darfur really loves him, despite what the ICC may say. To that end, people are being paid 50-100 Sudanese Pounds ($25-$50) if they will attend the rally and listen to the President’s speech. Bashir’s lackeys are sending buses and trucks to pick up people from all the surrounding villages. Further, posters are being put up all over town sporting a dignified picture of the President and slogans such as “Down with Ocampo!”. (This is just a small part of a large government propaganda campaign against Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC chief prosecutor. The other day a local paper called him a “pedophile”.)
The President is reported to have invited ambassadors from the UK, US, France, China, and Russia, among others, as well as senior UN/AU officials, to travel with him on this trip. I don’t know if anyone cared to come along.
The humanitarian community is in a delicate situation with regard to this visit. There are expectations that some agencies, especially the UN, will be invited to meet with the President. While a meeting with a sitting Head of State is generally not a bad thing, this is not your garden-variety president. Given the extreme hatred that many in Darfur feel towards this man, it is imperitive that we do not further the perception that our organizations are government-aligned or government-sympathetic, as that will imperil our work in other areas of Darfur. Neutrality is such a tricky thing sometimes.
Update, 1:05 pm:
Upon arrival in El Fasher, the President’s address was preceded by pro-Bashir speeches from Fur, Masallit, and Zaghawa leaders. These were the three tribes against which Bashir is alleged to have committed war crimes, according to the ICC indictments. Yet here they are seeming to support the President!
I asked some of my Fur and Zaghawa staff about it. Apparently it is common knowledge that these men are members of the government and are very handsomely rewarded for maintaining their loyalty. One of my staff members said: “They have weak hearts.” Ah, Sudan… never believe you understand it!
2 responses so far ↓
Gump // July 23, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Do you know the names of the three pro-Bashir speakers from Fur, Masallit, and Zaghawa tribes? (just curious)
doug // July 26, 2008 at 11:45 am
Gump,
No, sorry, I don’t know their names. Wish I did. I’ve asked a few people but these gentlemen seem to not have been significant enough representatives of their people for the population to merit remembering their names – which may say something in and of itself!