Documenting Earlier Abuses

This month, three journalists are facing trial for writing about Safia Ishaq's gang-rape by security agents in Khartoum last February.

Amal Habbani's trial is on the 9th of June.
Omer Al-Garrai is on the 21st of June, and Faisal Mohammed is the 28th of June.

Support them by campaigning for them and attending their trials!

To give you some background, I wrote this in Feburary.

Sudanese people have never before witnessed the extent of these abuses. In the last two decades, thousands have been subjected to disabling torture at the hands of intelligence officers and security men in what have came to be known as ghost houses. These are two of the many stories:

Marwa Al Tijani, an Arts student at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, begins, “I was arrested at 4 p.m., my friends and I started walking away from the protest after security officials cracked down on the protesters and started arresting people. Out of nowhere, a normal car pulls up in front of us and two men wearing civilian attire came out of the car and one of them pointed a gun to my face and asked us to get in the car.”

This is the story of Marwa Al Tijani, an Arts student at the University of Khartoum in Sudan.

Al-Tijani was arrested on 3 February in a protest in Bahri in north of the Sudanese capital. When she arrived at the police station, insults were hurdled at her and she was savagely whipped while she was interrogated about her tribe, her family, and living conditions.

Al-Tijani remembers hearing the loud screams of men in nearby cells as they were beaten with whips and canes: “I saw a young man named Ahmed. They shaved his hair off and they were making fun of him as they beat him mercilessly.” Although she did not know Ahmed, she could not stop crying as she heard him scream out of pain in the next room. "They beat him for over an hour and kept telling me that he deserves it," she remembers.

Then they brought a badly-beaten Ahmed into her interrogation room,and one of the men said, “This is the man you are romantically and sexually involved with.”

Marwa continues, “They used such explicit sexual terms. I couldn’t even look at him, his body was covered in wounds. They kept saying, 'Look at him , he is weak and scared, do you still want him?'"

Marwa had never met Ahmed, but they were arrested at the same protest. This was enough for a connection between them in the eyes of the security men. “They proceeded to ask me about our relationship and they kept focusing on our sexual relationship. They kept insulting me and Ahmed, you can’t even imagine what they said. I didn’t say a word, but Ahmed fought back after each and every word they said to us,” Marwa recalls.

The ordeal continued until very late: "At 2 a.m., I was released after they made sign a document stating that I would not take part in any protests."

Although the government denies "ghost houses" exist, the Sudanese President of Sudan, in a slip of tongue in May 2009 during talks with journalists, confirmed they exist. Activists have been died there, including Ali Fadol, Mohammed Abdel Salam, and Abd Al Moniem Salman.

I knew Ali Fadol. He was arrested an hour after he returned home from a party my parents threw for me. His hair, strand by strand, was plucked out of his scalp. His body was so badly deformed that the state would not hand over his corpse to his family.

Ali Mohamed Osman, a politically active student of Economics at the University of Khartoum, was arrested on 14 February in Omdurman along with two members of the Umma National Party. He was tortured by six men for an entire day before his release.

A Facebook group by the name of “The Popular Uprising” has tried to organise mass protests, but police forces so far have surrounded marchers and arrested dozens. Amongst the detained were the two sons of Mubarak Al-Fadil, a well-known Sudanese opposition leader, and many students not affiliated with any party.

The security forces are now on a binge. The National Intelligence Security Service (NISS), the notorious force known for its human rights violations, has the authority to arbitrarily detain any Sudanese citizen indefinitely without trial. All members of the NISS have immunity from getting prosecution.

One more story: Safia Ishag, a graduate of Fine Art and an activist was kidnapped this in front of her house in Khartoum. At the headquarters of the NISS, she was gang-rapped by three officers before she was dumped on a road in Northern Khartoum. When the hospital's rape report was presented to a police station, it was rejected with the demand that she be examined by the doctor at the police hospital.

South Africa- a note

South Africa's transition to democracy is often cited as a peaceful one, but South Africa's transition to democracy was not very peaceful.

One of the most pressing issues in post-apartheid SA is crime. The crime rates are numbing and it seems that more and more people are gun-holders. After the anti-immigrants protest a few

weeks ago, one thing was certain, South Africa is not at war, but it is also not at peace with itself.

After apartheid, there was alot of apologizing. Alot of "we are sorry for the atrocities committed during apartheid". I'm not South African and all I know about apartheid is what I read, but honestly, sorry is sometimes not good enough. Sorry doesn't put food on the table. We have the recognize that people suffered during apartheid, but we also need to remember that many people in post-apartheid South Africa are living in worse conditions. The slums keep expanding and crime and rape is rife there.

Isn't this most important than apologizing to each other?

Improving the living conditions of the majority of the citizens should be the number one priority. It would lead to racial harmony in the sense that many people feel that "white south africans" are still the richest of the rich. Many hold a grudge towards them and this is not going to go away if whites apologized.

The problem is many non-whites believed that apartheid is their only problem, after apartheid is gone, their living conditions still didn't improve. Yes, people had alot of expectations and aspirations, but the goverment should be blamed instead of blaming white south-africans for their economic power. The government has failed its people. Yes, apartheid ended only 14 years ago,but 14 years ago is not a short time. Alot of things could have been accompolished. Give your citizens the necessities before anything else. Running water, shelter ( not a shack) , free or affordable education and so on.

South Africa is not a poor country, it's one of the most visited countries in the world and they are well-endowed with natural resources.

The fact that SA is the largest economy in Africa should not make the govt of SA feel good . it should not be taken for granted. Regional powerhouses appear and disappear.

Ban Ki Mon said something interesting last month, hungry people are angry people.
A few weeks ago, the immigrants were attacked, it wasn't black on black violence, it was broke on broke violence.
Next time, another group is going to be attacked, you always need a scapegoat for your problems.

Is the SA government incompetent?

Darfurian Diaries: About the janjweed.

Musa Hilal

Are the janjaweed simply devils-on-horseback?
So janjaweed means devil-on-horseback but it’s usually used to refer to Darfurian Arabs.
Not all Arabs in Darfur are janjaweed. According to an aid worker in Darfur, some Darfurian Arabs are aid workers.(SIS)

Note:- please keep in mind that Musa Hilal doesn't like the term "Janjaweed. He believes it should only be used to refer to thugs and theifs in Chad.

Musa Hilal
He is one of the leaders of the racist and criminal organization called the Arab gathering and leaders of the Janjaweed. Musa Hilal is from the Um Jalul tribe, a branch of the Rizeigat Arabs.
Hilal is not only the leader of the Janjaweed; he is also the first name on the US state of department’s list of suspected genocidal criminals. A disgrace to the Sudan and to humanity in general.
The mastermind behind Darfur’s atrocities

"In 1997, Hilal was jailed for killing 17 Africans in Darfur, according to the inquiry. Years earlier, he had also been imprisoned for killing a security guard and robbing a bank in Nyala, a city in southern Darfur. " (Wax)

He was set free after that only to be jailed again for other crimes against humanity. After the government he is the perfect man to help them fight the rebels. They let him go(the vice president himself intervened to do so). He was set free to kill more people.

Come fight with me” Musa Hilal to the Arabs

On the 27th of February 2004, the town of Tawila was attacked.
75 murders and 100 women rapped and gang-rapped later, it ended.
Sitting comfortably in his Land Cruiser and keeping himself busy with word games and fun stuff, Hilal witnessed the 3 days long attack and gave instructions to his men to burn the village and leave no infrastructure.
When questioned about this attack, Hilal denied it although there are many witnesses.

“A retired teacher, hid in the bushes when the attack began and took notes, feeling it was his duty as an educated man to record what was happening”(Alex De Waal)
The teacher confirmed that Hilal was there and he was in charge but Hilal’s confession was more credible to officials.

Is Musa Hilal the real criminal here?
“I answered my government’s appeal and called my people to arms” Musa Hilal.
If you read my biography to the right-hand side, you will notice that it’s titled “our government thinks we are the enemy”.
Recently, I've started to believe that our government wants us dead. Over a million died in the South and now over 200,00 died in Darfur. Who is next? Me? You? My whole tribe?
I don’t see why we should blame a man like Musa Hilal.
Is he responsible for the security of the civilians in Darfur or the Sudan? It’s debatable.
His only crime is obeying OUR governments order. He is just doing what he is asked to do.

“I have orders from the government. All our orders come from the government. We are here so no one can point a finger at the government” A general in military intelligence.

If our government wants some of us dead then all they have to do is find people who are willing to do so. The janjaweed are like our governments version of a ""Hitman ".

Who should the international court of justice prosecute first? Musa Hilal or Omar Al Bashir?

Jihad in Darfur

“Drought and destitution embittered the Darfur Arabs…they were ripe for picking by the government” (Alex De Waal)
As rebel movements started forming (SLA), Musa Hilal was busy recruiting men from Chad and arming himself for his “Jihad”.
In October 2002, A Fur village was attacked. Women were rapped. Many were killed and many were abducted.
Similar attacks were launched after that. Villages were burnt and the displacement of the 1.5 million started. Darfur began to unfold at an alarming rate.

Rwanda in 1994 in Darfur in 2004.

“Blacks always support the rebels” Musa Hilal.

This reminds me of radio stations in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. They encouraged the population to become a criminal population.
Hutu teachers were asked to kill their Tutsi students. Hutu men were forced to kill their Tutsi wives and children.
If your neighbours were Tutsi then you better kill them or else, you are a tratitor...a disgrace to the entire Hutu population.

Alex De Waal's ,Darfur: A Short History of a Long War

Sleepless in Sudan blog

Emily Wax, The Washington Post