When diplomats lose pen and debate By: Abdulaziz Ali Omer

When diplomats lose pen and debate


By: Abdulaziz Ali Omer
The last week of January was momentous for two reasons: First, it witnessed the resignation of Johan Standford, the American chage de affaires, in Khartoum. There were rumours that he resigned due to his conversion to Islam . The American embassy dissmissed the hearsay by syaing it was personally motivated. Some of Sudanese writers whose articles I read described him as the last freed hostage in post-revolutionary Iran in 1979. Another one remarked on his openness to Sufi orders in Sudan as a part of American sufi-oriented policy rahter than being a apart of his private option .He questioned whether Washington dispatched Standford for his diplomatic experience or his narrow escape from Khomeni’ army. Second, Sudan climbed once again to the world news agend. The Russia’s consul and his wife were stabbed by a man at the embassy ‘s gate in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The police interrogation said the man has his alliegence in Central Africa. He was anaware of the identity of Russian consul. He came to Sudan to seek relief from an illness and then an idea occurred to him. That is retribution against the ambassador of France that intervened militarily in his country. Omer Daham.,Sudan’s ambassador to Russian federation expressed his sympathy and regret while the Russian foreign minster deemed the incident as an isolated , an indelibrate act of one man . He hoped that other foreign dilpmats in Khartoum would stay unperturbed .
Assaninations of diplomats in Sudan is a recurring phenomenon in Sudan. There is the memorable assasination of Mahdi Al-hakim on 17th january , 1988. He is an Iraqi, shiite dissident who fled Iraq in 1969. He came un-invited to Sudan to attend an Islamic confrence in Khartoum where he was shot to death in the buzzing lobby of the Hilton hotle.Fingers of accusation were pointed to Iran and Iran and eventually the case had been shelved.
There is also the event of Granville murder in 2007. Granville is an American diplomat. According to news reports, he was shot dead along with his driver upon their return from Newyear’s eve aprty. The official enquiry disclosed that perpetrators were inmates who absconded from Kobar prison. The Sudanese police arrested some of them in trans-desert pusuit some where west of Omdurman. As a precaution, American diplomatic cars were given special platenumbers to help them keep a low profile.
Black september operation is another story worth mentioning. It represented some palestinian armed group who held hostages several diplomats within the Saudia Arabian embassy in Khartoum . They demanded freeing some of fellow palestinian detainees. The captives were eventually shot after the negotiation came to nill. The Sudanese police referred the captors to court. They didn’t spend the rest of their lives rotting in prison. The then preident Niemeri reduced the spell of life imprisonment ot 7 years. After the elapse of the term came another more lenient sentence from the Sudanese judge with a presidential decree. That is the deal of their tranfer to the palestinian political bureau in Cairo to decide their fate.
Diplomats believe in pen and debate so let us protect their lives in order to help us in resolving disputes peacefully

Arabic Forum