OPINION: Ms. Nolen Report on Sudan: Facts and Fiction.
A Commentary by Abd Elghani E. Awad El Karim,
Sudan Charge D'Affaires to Canada .Dec 19, 1999
The "Globe and Mail" published on Friday, December 17,1999 a report written by Ms. Stephanie Nolen. It is evident that Ms Nolen was misinformed and misguided and failed to ask basic questions to her profession. Had she read critically her own story and consulted this embassy or the many political actors in the Sudanese arena, she would have written a balanced story
and avoided many contradictions.
No doubt that the people and the government of the Sudan have been targeted and framed by war mongers. The Sudan is subjected to an untold smear campaign aiming at tarnishing its image. The allegations are carefully selected and presented in a sensational manner. Many trips have been organized for journalists to reproduce the same stories that carry the well
fabricated allegations. In fact the recipe is very simple; sneak in the illegally held rebel areas in the South, reiterate these allegations against the government of the Sudan, praise the rebel army, take some photos and certainly the story will be published according to the arrangements. Of course, do not forget to mention your experience in that " inaccessible part of the world" and your adventure and discovery since this war is " largely ignored by the West ", even if you are number ten
writing the same story in the same newspaper in the same month. " The Sudanese People's Liberation Army Commander who greeted us clearly startled to discover that one of the Canadian journalists he was expecting was a woman ". We are going to expose in this comment Ms. Nolen's contradictions and present the facts that she either was not aware of or chose to ignore.
(A)CONTRADICTIONS:
1- To gain sympathy to the rebels Ms Nolen quoted a rebel saying " When the roads come back out of water, then the killers and raiders will come". And she added; " the rebel army can do little to protect people ". To the contrary she quoted the spokesman of the rebel who told her " Don't worry " " soon it will be blue " reference to the rebel intention to capture Bentiu Town. Moreover she reminded us every now and then that the rebel army controls most of the south! Yet Ms Nolen is telling her readers that the rebel army is impoverished. But this army " has armed itself mostly with weapons captured from or sold by deserting government troops " Is it not a paradox that an impoverished army could arm itself from the government and to have enough money not to bring food for the needy but to buy the weapons from the deserting government soldiers. In addition, how is it impoverished and still has, according to Ms Nelon " such hard ware as surface to air -missiles, which suggests U.S support".
2- Ms Nelon took for granted what the rebels told her.She quoted their spokesman:"There is no bridges,no airstrips, no universities,we have been economically and socially exploited and to add insult to injury they declared this an Arab Islamic state with Sharia". Unfortunately the reporter did not verify these allegations or ask how you can build while this rebel army has been fighting for seventeen years, more than half of Sudan recent independence and they continue to threaten the only project {oil} that can now bring change to the Sudan at large and the south in particular. Actually the government of the day managed to establish two new universities in the South in a very short time. I wonder if Ms Nelon has read the Sudan constitution or the 1997 Khartoum peace agreement. Had she done so she would have read article one of the Sudan Constitution; Nature of the State reads, " The State of the Sudan is a country of racial and cultural harmony and religious tolerance. Islam is the religion of the majority of the population and Christianity and traditional religion has a large following"
3- Again Ms Nolen continued her effort to bring more sympathy to the rebels and stated ; " The SPLA relies on guerilla strikes while the government fight its battle on civilians . It bombs hospitals ". But she was telling us before there was no infrastructure and services in the south and the rebels are controlling most of the south and the government soldiers are deserting. And she did not tell us how many hospitals exist in the south and what are they built from since it has been more than a year that we were told that the government is bombing these " hospitals ".
4- Ms Nolen told her readers that the Sudanese government " has an official policy of shooting down planes on sight, humanitarian aid notwithstanding ". Yet she told us that " Operation Lifeline Sudan, the largest air relief operation since the Berlin Airlift, is a coalition of 42 aid agencies headed by World Food Programme and UNICEF which has flown food into southern Sudan since 1989".Alas she forgets again to mention that this is the first humanitarian operation in known history in which a government agrees voluntarily to the delivery of food to rebel held areas . This position was commended by the UN and its specialized agencies and organizations and the international community at large. However, Ms Nolen did not remember the civilian plane shot by the SPLA in1986 and the recent killing of four civilians including a relief worker while they were in a mission with the ICRC.This brutal act was condemned by the Secretary General of the UN, European community,US and all peace loving nations, still she said, " their army has a reputation for treating its prisoners well ".
5- To dramatize her report Ms Nolen said Mrs. Kout said to her that "many women were refusing to have children " Because your children are captured and taken for slaves and what is the use of that" However in a previous paragraph Ms Nolen was reporting that "children chased the cows off " Tukuls (houses) are smoothed out of mud new thatch gathered. The schools are prepared. Under the tallest trees notched sticks are in the ground for students to sit on "" The children who did play between the tukuls of Tourelli with little clay cows...". We wonder who is practicing slavery if in Ms Nolen words , when speaking about southern factions fighting the SPLA; " The SPLA has won over many of them--and Arab slave traders"!
We, nevertheless, wished Ms Nolenhad asked her escort about Wunlit accord- concluded under the auspices of the so- called the New Sudan Council of Churches in rebel held areas- between the Nuer and Dinka. And ponder with us a little as to why Inter- tribal conflict between the Baggara and the Dinka communities over access to grazing and water and, resultant raiding, abductions and kidnapping is presented as slavery, while the same practice among the Nuer and Dinka tribes is described as kidnapping and abduction!?
6- In another attempt to go emotional, Ms Nolen qouted Mr, Kut; " They thought that when they took all the animals the people would surrender ". " The government has a scorched earth policy in the south ". Ironically enough she was also stating that; " There are 30 million cows in southern Sudan according to Veterenaires san frontieres. That is there is three cows for every one person ". And although VSF technician told Ms Nolen that people are herding together or gather the cattle at drumming festivals, she was telling us that people; " have no possessions but a cooking pot and one set of clothes ". Then who owns the 30 million cows? What about the humanitarian food diverted to SPLA soldiers, according to relief workers who spoke to Ms Nolen?
7- Suddenly forgetting the image she was trying to create for the SPLA as an army impoverished and accordingly in need of help, Ms Nolen warned us that the national executive council of the SPLA began a meeting in Rumbek on Wednesday. Its agenda: to plan the offensive for this dry season ". Ms Nolen was not even surprised that the agenda is not to plan the defensive & "to protect the people "or to share the food the SPLA soldiers steal with, Mrs Kuang who said"; we had to leave because we had nothing". Ms. Nolen indirectly demonstrated that the SPLA has only a war agenda. A thing they have been doing for the last two decades against all forms of governments in the Sudan.
8- Nothing of course is shocking to Ms Nelon as she seems in a mission of war propaganda, she applauded the SPLA terroristic plans and the open secret that they likely target Bentiu and its oil fields. She jubilantly announced "Ask any SPLA soldier in the region and he will quickly do the calculation for you, just how much dynamite is needed to knock out a section of buried pipe, or even easier, the portion above ground (10 kilograms of TNT, just enough to carry in a backpack
". Can she call those who use dynamite and TNT to blow up civilian installations belonging to national and international citizens as terrorists!? If not then it is war monger to the brim. Also could this be the way to help the victims of this devastating war!!
9- To emphasize the stereotypes and the oversimplified analysis of the situation in the Sudan Ms. Nolen repeated the allegations of slavery and imposing Islam upon Christians. But as we have been doing in this comment we will only refer to her own story and her sources of information. According to her: "The SPLA says there are 100000 displaced people; there at least 10000 accounted for in the region and an indeterminate number more who have fled to UN camps outside
Khartoum or further to the South " Why would people who are threatened by slavery and forced Islamization choose to move to the capital of a government with a policy of scorched land!? They, indeed, have every right to move freely in their country and join almost three million southerners in the northern part of their country.
Pertaining to the alleged forced Islamization, article 24 of the Constitution ? on the Right to Religion or Conscience "states that; "Every one has the right to freedom of conscience and religion and the right to manifest and disseminate his religion or belief in teaching, practice or observance. No one shall be coerce to profess a faith in which he does not believe or perform rituals or worship that he does not voluntarily accept "
(B)FACTS:
As Ms Nolen listened only to the SPLA only, then her report was doomed to be biased and devoid of many facts. We, therefore, believe it is important to cite the following facts.
First, Referendum:
Ms Nelon said, "The SPLA says it wants a referendum in which the people of the south can chose whether they wish to be part of an equal federation with the north or an independent country ". The plain fact is that the Sudan is now governed by a federal system where all the southern states are governed by southerners. And the south has a Coordinating Council presided over by former rebel leader Dr.Riek Machar who signed, with six other rebel factions , Khartoum Peace
Agreement with the Government in 1997. Article (10) of this Agreement reads as follows, " 1-By this Agreement the right of the people of Southern Sudan to determine their political aspirations and to pursue their economic, social and cultural development is hereby affirmed. 2-The people of Southern Sudan shall exercise this right in a referendum before the end of the interim period.3-Options in the referendum shall be a) Unity b)Secession ".
Second,The SPLA Democracy:
The reporter tried to indicate to us that the SPLA is heading towards democracy. The fact is that the SPLA started in 1983 with a communist manifesto, and since that date till now John Garang has been the sole leader. And all those who challenged
were either exterminated or had to desert!!? By the way, the latest proof is the war being now waged against the Didinga tribe in southern Sudan.These gross violations of human rights by the SPLA are well documented by international organizations. And you just helped to dig out some of them; " Divert relief food and suplies to soldiers ", " Forcibly conscripts children " and " Deals harshly with deserters ".
Third,Conscription:
Although Ms Nolen admitted that the SPLA " forcibly conscripts young men and deal harshly with deserters", she again choose to spread flagrant lies. She said ,commenting about the government troops " some of them soldiers sent from Iran and Iraq to fight as mujahideen-holy warriors ". While she found the evidence that childern are forcibly conscripted she did not share with her readers the discovery of Iraqi and Irani soldiers.You missed a big story Ms Nolen!
Fourth, Famine and Sudan Chief Exports:
In her strive to instigate hatred against the people and the government of the Sudan Ms Nelon said, " Sudan's chief export is sorghum much of it sold to the United Nations for distribution as relief supplies for the famine the government creates in the south ". For Ms Nolen information the Sudan main exports are cotton, Gum Arabic, Edible Oil, livestock and sugar. Sorghum represents only 7% of Sudan's exports. Moreover the Sudan government has distributed this month around 3000 tons of food relief to 180000 needy people in the south and the north as well. I wonder if Ms Nolen found any connection between the creation of famine and what the aid workers told her of the " heavy pressure from ( SPLA ) local commanders to divert food and supplies to soldiers ".
Fifth, Underdevelopment:
Continuing her series of condemnation to the Government the reporter stated, " Fly over the south and you see nothing but the little round roofs of tukuls and the scars of bombs and shelled craters. The only solid structures are the remains of brick churches and schools built by the missionaries, and the occasional police stations and jails built by Khartoum in the 1970s ". Again the outrageous propaganda (we build schools and churches but you destroy them and build jails). Did Ms Nolen ever read any thing about Sudan?s history. The fact is that both southern and Northern were under British colonization for almost sixty years. The recent statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada got it right when it stated, " Although the origin of the conflict are found in the underdevelopment of the south during the colonial period, it is no longer simply north/south in scope) ". Juba University was established in the seventies during the national rule as the first university ever in the south.
Sixth, Talisman and the Peace Agenda:
Recent reports, including Ms Nolen report, concentrated mainly on the symptoms of the war in southern Sudan and focused on condemning the government. The propaganda also suggested that Talisman Energy Inc. should withdraw from Sudan oil project, because the Sudan Government will use the oil revenues in financing its war machinery. But all the critics opt to ignore the clear fact that the Government is working relentlessly to achieve peace in the country. To mention only a few of the recent concrete steps taken by the Government:
* The Khartoum Peace Agreement signed in 1997 between the Government
and seven factions of the SPLA. The agreement tackled all the main aspects
of the conflict, that is, sharing of power, distribution of wealth, relation
between religion and the state among other issues;
* The adoption of the Sudan Constitution 1998 which enshrined all the basic
liberties including political association;
* Declared a unilateral comprehensive cease- fire in all combat zones to
which the SPLA has declined to reciprocate;
* Reiterated it commitment to the IGADD Peace Process;
* Concluded the (Home Land Call) with the opposition Umma
(Nation) Party in which self determination is confirmed;
* Adopted peace through development as a policy a step that was
manifested in the oil project.
Nonetheless, had the Sudanese Government had a war as a policy, it would not have invested in a 1610 kilometers pipeline- stretching from the central southern to the eastern part of the country. Again Canada Foreign Affairs said it right when it referred to the roots of the southern problem in underdevelopment. Then the solution lies in development through national and international investment and this is exactly what Talisman together with other international partners is trying to do.
We thank Ms Nolen for her interest in Sudanese issues and we appreciate her effort to reach our country. We sincerely hope that next time she will not only swim in the swamps but also visit alone the rest of the country where more than twenty six million Sudanese people are living together.
We, however, would conclude by quoting Mr. Peter D. Bell - President and CEO of CARE US- who stated it marvelously; in his article published December 19,1999 in the Washington Post that, "AIDING THE REBEL ARMIES WILL NOT END SUDAN'S AGONY. ONLY PEACE WILL". |
