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 Look at Darfur situation with both eyes
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Look at Darfur situation with both eyes
By SHAHANAAZ HABIB
Journalists on a trip organised largely for the Intelligence Communities of African Countries had Sudanese officials telling them that the situation in Darfur was actually improving - contrary to what the West has been saying.
DARFUR (Sudan): I was at the stricken area of Darfur for a few hours yesterday but do not have much of a story to tell. For a journalist, this is unfortunate.
Some 450,000 people here, which is about 25% of the 1.76 million who have been displaced, are living in camps.
I saw some of them, albeit through a window of the bus that was driving pass the camps.
The women wore colourful clothes and looked curiously at our entourage, which had armed escorts.
The children smiled and waved while the men, in their traditional white long robes, just watched.
There were also some cattle, goats and donkeys and a semblance of activity at the camp.
I was among a group of about 30 journalists who were on a trip organised largely for the Intelligence Communities of African Countries, ahead of their Committee for Intelligence and Security Systems in Africa (Cissa) meeting in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
We would have been pleased to stay a while to chat with and find out from the affected people about their lives, the security situation and if they planned to return to their home villages.
However, the bus did not stop.
The hours in Darfur were spent at briefings by Government and military officials, who gave us a positive picture on what was happening on the ground.
For instance, North Darfur governor Ismail Kibr gave statistics – based on information from the police, judiciary and the Attorney-General’s office – that showed declining incidents of violence in recent years.
In 2003, he said, there were 1,275 cases of robbery, 251 of armed robbery, 99 murders and 69 rapes.
In 2004, however, the situation worsened with 2,763 robberies, 462 armed robberies, 194 murders and 57 rape cases.
Things improved in 2005, when robbery cases reduced to 1,688, armed robberies (354) murders (127) and rape (43).
The situation further improved last year, when it was down to 384 robberies, 112 armed robberies, 75 murders and 27 rapes.
“I challenge any information that says the situation is deteriorating or becoming bad,” said Ismail.
The United States and the West had said that more than 200,000 people have died in the four-year conflict in Darfur, even calling it genocide and claiming that a pro-government militia is responsible.
The Sudanese government vehemently denies this, putting the number of dead to no more than 9,000.
Ismail said that to understand the Darfur conflict, one had to know that there were more than 100 tribes, each with its own native system of management.
He said more than 80% lived in the rural areas and most of them were nomads and farmers.
He added that over the past 50 years, there had been 26 conflicts here, with the root causes due to competition and disputes over natural resources, land and power.
“It is well known that there are rebels fighting against the Government,” he said, adding that there were 18 political parties trying to exploit the situation.
Lashing out at some big countries, Ismail said they were using the humanitarian issue in Darfur for their own hidden agenda.
It is no secret that he meant the United States, which last week announced fresh sanctions against Sudan to pressure the government to halt the bloodshed in the Darfur region.
Later, I thought of what Ismail told the reporters during the last briefing of the day.
He said: “Look at the Darfur problem with two eyes and hear with two ears.”
It made me wish that we should have stopped at the Abu Shouk camp that we passed earlier on.
We would have seen the situation with “two eyes and hear with two ears” and not confined to glimpses from a bus window.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/6/8.../17963942&sec=nation
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Mahathir
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