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 Re: ماذاحدث فى امدرمان و من هو خليل ابراهيم بقلم صحفية ايطالية مغربية الاصل (Re: بكرى ابوبكر)
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What happened in Omdurman, and who is Khalil Ibrahim?
By Anna Mahjar-Barducci
Commentary by
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Khalil Ibrahim
Sudan is complex and its conflicts are much more complicated than an Arabs vs. Africans clash. A tribal country, Sudan's conflicts have been mainly been characterized by power struggles and tribal struggles. On May 10, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - a movement from Darfur led by Khalil Ibrahim - staged an unprecedented attack on Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman. This was the first time that the Sudanese capital had been touched in decades of regional fighting. However, the army managed to stop the JEM attack before it could develop into a serious threat for the Sudanese government, even though more than 200 people were killed in the clashes.
After the raid, the media described JEM as a movement fighting for freedom. But to really understand the Sudanese political scene, it is important to know the background of the main players. Ibrahim was born in Darfur and belongs to the African tribe of Zaghawa - more specifically to the Kobe Zaghawa sub-group - which is spread between Darfur and Chad. He later moved to central Sudan to pursue his medical studies. In those years he became fascinated with the views of the Islamist ideologue Hassan al-Turabi, at the time leader of the National Islamic Front. Khalil played an active political role as president of the student union. After graduation, he moved to Saudi Arabia to practice medicine.
Meanwhile, in 1989, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, now president of Sudan, led a military coup to oust the government of Prime Minister Sadeq al-Mahdi, Turabi's brother-in-law. The mastermind of the coup happened to be Turabi himself, who had for several years been the power behind the Sudanese throne. After the coup, Khalil returned to Sudan and became an ally of Turabi. He was appointed minister of education in the South Sudan region, inhabited by African tribes practicing Christianity as well as indigenous beliefs. However, Khalil - soon nicknamed "emir of the mujahidin" - had to organize the people of Darfur to fight the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of John Garang, a Christian of the African Dinka tribe who was later killed in a helicopter crash in 2005.
In those years, Turabi opened the doors of Sudan to Osama bin Laden, and Al-Qaeda remained in Sudan from 1990 to 1996. In 1995, Turabi was reportedly involved in orchestrating a failed assassination attempt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. In 1999, as speaker of Parliament, Turabi introduced a bill to limit the president's powers. The move was designed for him to take over the government. Bashir reacted by dissolving Parliament and Turabi, who was chairman of Bashir's National Congress Party, was suspended from his post after calling for a boycott of the president's re-election campaign in 2000.
In the same year, Turabi formed a splinter party, the Popular National Congress. He then did an incredible u-turn and formed an alliance with the SPLM against Bashir. Hence, the president had no another choice but to arrest Turabi in 2001 on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. Khalil, who followed Turabi, split from Bashir as well. However, Khalil did not want to remain without a significant political role. That is the reason why he decided to go his way and head the JEM in Darfur, declaring the formation of its political wing in 2001. JEM's members are mainly Zaghawa Islamist activists and Turabi followers.
In the same period, another group emerged: the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), led by Minni Minawi, a Zaghawa leader, who in the past used to assault convoys, and Abdulhawid Mohammed Nur, who belonged to the Fur tribe. The war in Darfur erupted in 2003 when the JEM and the SLA emerged to fight the government, predominately formed by Arab Shaygia and Jaaleen tribes, in a battle over power, resources and land allocation. In response, the Sudanese government mobilized and strengthened the Janjaweed militia, mainly formed by Darfurian Arabs. Minawi and Nur split after the Abuja Peace Agreement in 2006. Nur decided not to sign the accord because of personal ambitions, whereas Minawi did sign them and joined the Sudanese government as a special aide to Bashir.
Even though Khalil claimed he was leading a battle against the discrimination practiced by African tribes in Darfur, he declared in an interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper on May 3, 2005, that his goal was "one state that includes Egypt, Libya and Chad." Khalil has been supported by the president of Chad, Idriss Deby. Deby is himself a Zaghawa and is kept in power by the Zaghawa-dominated Chadian National Army and the Republican Guard (largely Zaghawa Kobe). In the same interview, Khalil stressed that Deby also believed that if "the Zaghawah have a chance to rule Sudan, they will bring down his government in Chad."
However, because of Deby's link to Khalil, last February Khartoum supported a failed coup by Chadian rebels in the Chad capital, Ndjamena. To repay the Sudanese government for its role in the rebels' assault, Deby supported Khalil in his recent attack on Khartoum. The JEM drove for three days across the desert of Northern Darfur and Kordofan before being stopped by the army in Omdurman. Hundreds of rebels were arrested, among them children. Khalil managed to escape and is now defying the Sudanese government to come find him.
Anna Mahjar-Barducci is a Moroccan-Italian journalist who is based in Washington and Morocco. She has been working for Sudanese NGOs and is the president of the Rome-base association Arabi Democratici Liberali. Her commentaries are regularly published in the Italian media. She wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.
Sudan is complex and its conflicts are much more complicated than an Arabs vs. Africans clash. A tribal country, Sudan's conflicts have been mainly been characterized by power struggles and tribal struggles. On May 10, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - a movement from Darfur led by Khalil Ibrahim - staged an unprecedented attack on Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman. This was the first time that the Sudanese capital had been touched in decades of regional fighting. However, the army managed to stop the JEM attack before it could develop into a serious threat for the Sudanese government, even though more than 200 people were killed in the clashes.
After the raid, the media described JEM as a movement fighting for freedom. But to really understand the Sudanese political scene, it is important to know the background of the main players. Ibrahim was born in Darfur and belongs to the African tribe of Zaghawa - more specifically to the Kobe Zaghawa sub-group - which is spread between Darfur and Chad. He later moved to central Sudan to pursue his medical studies. In those years he became fascinated with the views of the Islamist ideologue Hassan al-Turabi, at the time leader of the National Islamic Front. Khalil played an active political role as president of the student union. After graduation, he moved to Saudi Arabia to practice medicine.
Meanwhile, in 1989, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, now president of Sudan, led a military coup to oust the government of Prime Minister Sadeq al-Mahdi, Turabi's brother-in-law. The mastermind of the coup happened to be Turabi himself, who had for several years been the power behind the Sudanese throne. After the coup, Khalil returned to Sudan and became an ally of Turabi. He was appointed minister of education in the South Sudan region, inhabited by African tribes practicing Christianity as well as indigenous beliefs. However, Khalil - soon nicknamed "emir of the mujahidin" - had to organize the people of Darfur to fight the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of John Garang, a Christian of the African Dinka tribe who was later killed in a helicopter crash in 2005.
In those years, Turabi opened the doors of Sudan to Osama bin Laden, and Al-Qaeda remained in Sudan from 1990 to 1996. In 1995, Turabi was reportedly involved in orchestrating a failed assassination attempt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. In 1999, as speaker of Parliament, Turabi introduced a bill to limit the president's powers. The move was designed for him to take over the government. Bashir reacted by dissolving Parliament and Turabi, who was chairman of Bashir's National Congress Party, was suspended from his post after calling for a boycott of the president's re-election campaign in 2000.
In the same year, Turabi formed a splinter party, the Popular National Congress. He then did an incredible u-turn and formed an alliance with the SPLM against Bashir. Hence, the president had no another choice but to arrest Turabi in 2001 on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. Khalil, who followed Turabi, split from Bashir as well. However, Khalil did not want to remain without a significant political role. That is the reason why he decided to go his way and head the JEM in Darfur, declaring the formation of its political wing in 2001. JEM's members are mainly Zaghawa Islamist activists and Turabi followers.
In the same period, another group emerged: the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), led by Minni Minawi, a Zaghawa leader, who in the past used to assault convoys, and Abdulhawid Mohammed Nur, who belonged to the Fur tribe. The war in Darfur erupted in 2003 when the JEM and the SLA emerged to fight the government, predominately formed by Arab Shaygia and Jaaleen tribes, in a battle over power, resources and land allocation. In response, the Sudanese government mobilized and strengthened the Janjaweed militia, mainly formed by Darfurian Arabs. Minawi and Nur split after the Abuja Peace Agreement in 2006. Nur decided not to sign the accord because of personal ambitions, whereas Minawi did sign them and joined the Sudanese government as a special aide to Bashir.
Even though Khalil claimed he was leading a battle against the discrimination practiced by African tribes in Darfur, he declared in an interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper on May 3, 2005, that his goal was "one state that includes Egypt, Libya and Chad." Khalil has been supported by the president of Chad, Idriss Deby. Deby is himself a Zaghawa and is kept in power by the Zaghawa-dominated Chadian National Army and the Republican Guard (largely Zaghawa Kobe). In the same interview, Khalil stressed that Deby also believed that if "the Zaghawah have a chance to rule Sudan, they will bring down his government in Chad."
However, because of Deby's link to Khalil, last February Khartoum supported a failed coup by Chadian rebels in the Chad capital, Ndjamena. To repay the Sudanese government for its role in the rebels' assault, Deby supported Khalil in his recent attack on Khartoum. The JEM drove for three days across the desert of Northern Darfur and Kordofan before being stopped by the army in Omdurman. Hundreds of rebels were arrested, among them children. Khalil managed to escape and is now defying the Sudanese government to come find him.
Anna Mahjar-Barducci is a Moroccan-Italian journalist who is based in Washington and Morocco. She has been working for Sudanese NGOs and is the president of the Rome-base association Arabi Democratici Liberali. Her commentaries are regularly published in the Italian media. She wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR
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بكرى ابوبكر
Elsanosi Badr
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست