[wvns] Black media delegation returns from Darfur
U.S., British interference complicates Sudan crisis
Black media delegation returns from Darfur
By Jehron Muhammad
May 15, 2007
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_3486.shtml
The 32-member press delegation representing print and electronic media
outlets, which included The Final Call, The Arab Journal, Philadelphia
New Observer, The Jackson Advocate, Trumpet magazine, The Tom Joyner
Morning Show, Black Entertainment Television, TV One, and New York's
98.7 KISS-FM.
Photos: Jehron Muhammad
(FinalCall.com) - The truth concerning the atrocities and fighting in
Sudan's Darfur region—an area that is overwhelmingly Muslim and shares
a border and tribal heritage with Chad—is more complex than the U.S.
media would have you believe.
According to historian Douglas H. Johnson's Civil War analogy, Darfur
is a "mishmash of different forces—federal, Confederate, government,
regular, state, county and irregular, diverse militia—together with ad
hoc armed bands of raiders and criminal and semi-criminal gangs that
produces the likes of the James and Younger brothers, all within a
framework of national conflict, local grievances, and vendettas, the
Missouri border wars provide some sort of an insight into the Darfur
crisis."
But even Mr. Johnson's insight does not take into consideration the
extra complications of considerable external involvement in Darfur.
The external involvement includes the administrations of George W.
Bush in America, Tony Blair in the United Kingdom and Western press
accusations that Sudan's Arab population is pushing a campaign of
ethnic cleansing of "Black Africans" and supporting the Janjaweed,
Arab militias, to do its bidding.
What is actually happening in Darfur, and who are its perpetrators?
These and other questions were raised in Sudan recently by a Black
press delegation that included scholars and one Arab journalist. The
group headed by Abdul Akbar Muhammad, president of Youth For Africa
Foundation, wanted to get a "clear picture," especially of what is
happening in Darfur.
"If what they're saying is true, we should say that and report it back
to the American public. What they're saying is there are some Arabs
killing Black Africans trying to exterminate them, raping their women,
killing their children, pushing Black Africans off their land. But if
there is another side to it then we should report it," said Mr. Muhammad.
The crisis in Darfur has raged for four years, fed by rebel attacks
and government responses to armed struggle in its western region. An
estimated 2.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting and
400,000 people have reportedly died.
The 32-member press delegation represented print and electronic media
outlets, which included The Final Call, The Arab Journal, Philadelphia
New Observer, The Jackson Advocate, Trumpet magazine, The Tom Joyner
Morning Show, Black Entertainment Television, TV One, and New York's
98.7 KISS-FM.
During the press delegation's many interactions with government
officials, residents of Internally Displaced Persons camps (IDP) in
Darfur, and average Sudanese citizens, two questions were always
asked: What is the Janjaweed? And, why do the Sudanese call themselves
Arabs?
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Darfur. The Western press
calls them "refugee camps." (insert) IDP camp resident Hawa Adam
Muhammed and interpretor Yaya Abdulla.
Many said they called themselves "Arab" because Arabic is their first
language. If an African language was their initial language, the
Sudanese interviewed referred to either their tribe or described
themselves as African. The other response from many Sudanese citizens:
"Do I look like an Arab?"
The Junjaweed go back long before the Darfur crisis made headlines.
They were called nomadic "bandits, opportunists and criminals." At no
time did anyone interviewed link the Janjaweed to the Sudanese
government. One resident of a camp for Sudanese civilians caught in
the war zone and displaced by the Janjaweed, blamed the government for
not protecting him and his family from "the bandits."
An analysis of the situation in Darfur has also been given by the UN
media service: "The conflict pits farming communities against nomads
who have aligned themselves with the militia groups—for whom the raids
are a way of life—in stiff competition for land and resources. The
militias, known as the Janjaweed, attack in large numbers on horseback
and camels and are driving the farmers from their land, often pushing
them toward town centers."
During the group's tour of a IDP camp in the Nyala Province of
Southern Darfur, Nubia Wardford, an anthropologist/archeologist and
associate registrar at the Museum of African American History in
Detroit, had a clear belief about why anti-Sudan stories dominate the
U.S. media.
"How many people are going to be able to travel to Sudan and see for
themselves?" Ms. Wardford asked, and expressed outrage at camp
conditions, which included flimsy housing, lack of water, filthy
conditions, and no recreation or play areas for children.
"Instead of spending thousands of dollars purchasing ads in U.S.
newspapers defaming the Sudanese government, why not take that money
and formulate medical teams [and] go around to different places that
would give food?...Obviously they're not trying to do that," she said,
responding to ads purchased by "Save Darfur" organizations.
The objective should not be to defame the Sudanese government to
achieve "whatever their hidden agenda is," but to provide adequate
healthcare, water, food, improve living conditions, and create
appropriate educational and recreational facilities for displaced
children, Ms. Wardford stated. "One elder came to me and pointed to
her teeth and pointed to her eyes, she had noticeable cataracts over
her eyes as well as rotten teeth in her mouth. She was trying to tell
me that they needed help."
The Northern Darfur camp toured by the press delegation was much
better off than the southern camp because of aid received from relief
agencies. Because of the assistance available, some Sudanese from
surrounding areas have moved to the camps to take advantage of food
assistance and shelter.
Speaking through an interpreter, camp residents not only voiced
concerns about the camp's limited resources, but also expressed
desires to return to their village and fears of Janjaweed attacks.
"The government is here [and the camp is secure], but still the war is
going on. We went back to our place; we started doing our farms and
again they [Janjaweed] attacked us and we came back here," said a male
farmer, 40 years of age.
Sixty-year-old Hawa Adam Muhammed, a three-year camp resident, also
left her village after being attacked by "the Janjaweed."
Other issues raised by the press delegation included questions about
the Sudanese government's repeated insistence that the only ground
force in Darfur be members of the African Union and with 3,000-member
United Nations contingent only providing technical support.
Last August, a UN Security Council resolution was adopted that called
for a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. The
22,500-member force was to take over for an African Union force
presently in the region, which has been unable to quell fighting.
Though the Sudanese government conceded to peacekeepers on the ground,
the specifics of where those troops should come from has been a
sticking point.
African Union Peacekeeping Force outside Internally Displaced Persons
(IDP) Camp in Darfur. (insert) Sudanese President Omar El Bashir and
Akbar Muhammad Photo Insert: Monica Morgan
The Sudanese government has been accused of intransigence by U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, whose visit to Sudan caused
the delegation to make schedule adjustments. President Bush, using the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a backdrop, also threatened
Sudan with "sanctions," unless the country allows UN troops to come in.
During a very busy nine-day stay in Sudan, the African American press
delegation met with and questioned President Omar El Bashir about the
role of the African Union and United Nations peacekeeping force in
Darfur.
Preceding a ceremony in President Bashir's home village of Housh
Banga, the head of the Sudanese government, said, "The forces on the
ground are to be African forces related to the African Union. The
leader of the forces is to be an African appointed by the AU. There is
support from the UN represented with logistic support, financial
support, technical support, with experts and technicians (and) funding
is to be from the UN as well."
The Sudanese government said an African force will be more culturally
sensitive to the area. What they have not said is a UN force would
automatically suspend existing laws that govern the land and make the
UN, in effect, a kind of occupying force.
According to Mahdi Ibrahim Muhammed, former Sudanese ambassador to the
United States and a member of the National Assembly, the "external
involvement" of the U.S. and English governments in his country's
affairs is a major source of difficulties.
Western press reports that oversimplify Sudan's problem as "good guys
verses bad guys," without looking at its history of foreign
intervention and viewing Sudan as a microcosm of Africa, are
problematic, said the former ambassador, during a two hour session
that included legislators from all parts of the country. Such
reporting fails to take in account the complexity faced by the
government in Sudan and other governments in Africa, he said.
Sudan is the largest country in Africa and neighbors nine nations with
shared ethnic groups and open borders. It has over 400 dialects and
573 ethnic groups practicing Islam, Christianity and African animist
religions. "It is an enormous responsibility on any government to be
able to deal with such a country with such diversity," stressed Amb.
Muhammed.
But Sudan's problems go back long before Darfur became a headline.
Sudan fought and won its independence on January 1, 1956. Since that
time, the country has enjoyed only 10 years of stability. Many
Sudanese say the current atmosphere in the country is connected to the
rule of its former British colonial masters. The British sowed the
seeds for today's conflicts by developing certain regions in Sudan and
designating others as "closed districts," including the South, the
Nuba Mountains, and the Blue Nile areas.
"Where they [the British] were able to fully control those areas in
isolation from other parts of the country…ultimately they became time
bombs to the country's independence," said Amb. Muhammed.
During the fact-finding tour, Jacque Reid provided daily updates via
The Tom Joyner Morning Show and on Apr. 15, James Mtume, co-host of
New York's Open Line show on 98.7 KISS-FM, broadcast live from Sudan.
"On Sunday we gave our first historic broadcast from Khartoum," said
Mr. Mtume, whose weekly show reaches over 1.5 million listeners. When
it comes to the Darfur crisis, he has heard from different sides. "The
truth is always (somewhere) in the middle," he said. Mr. Mtume, who
helped coordinate the fact finding mission, is also the son of famed
jazz musician Jimmy Heath.
"The fact is, Black media has never come to Sudan to check it out for
ourselves. How can we claim a connection with Africa and not
investigate the situation in Sudan for ourselves? CNN, ABC and NBC
should not be the only vein through which our information is pumped.
It is our responsibility as media people and politicians to go see and
decide for ourselves," he said.
(Richard Muhammad contributed to this article.)
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