I wrote a piece on the deteriorating economic situation for IPS
http://www.ips.org/africa/2011/06/sudan-feeling-the-economic-impact-before-secession/
SUDAN: Feeling the Economic Impact Before Secession
By Reem Abbas
KHARTOUM, Jun 23 (IPS) – Amira Amer* becomes very picky the minute she reaches the bus station. One by one she lets the new air-conditioned busses pass her by. She is waiting for a cheaper bus. They are limited in the expensive city of Khartoum and are constantly packed to the point of overflowing.
"When the new air-conditioned buses came out, we were happy and felt that the government was finally genuine about our comfort, but sadly, they are not subsidised. They cost two Sudanese pounds (60 cents), I can’t afford to pay four pounds for a round trip," Amer said in an interview with IPS.
Amer’s job requires her to spend a great amount of time and money traveling to meet the needs of her clients. She buys imported goods and sells them to her clients who expect her to deliver the products to them.
"Many of my clients can’t afford to pay on the spot so I have to travel back and forth to collect the weekly or monthly instalments," she told IPS.
Things weren’t always so bad for Amer. She inherited 60,000 dollars in 2006 when the family’s house was sold. The single mother of three was able to buy a nice house for her small family and even save some money for her children.
At the time, one Sudanese pound was equal to 2.30 dollars and life was considerably cheaper. The Sudanese economy was booming due to high oil prices and increasing foreign investment.
In the years following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, new jobs were created, cafes were bustling with customers and young professionals were able to buy cars in instalments and travel to Cairo or Dubai or Kuala Lumpur for holidays.
"No one is traveling now, people are trying to save their money for worse days. Tickets were much cheaper a few months ago, but now the prices are up 25 percent," said Maha Ali*, an employee at a travel agency in downtown Khartoum.
Ali used to make a lot of money from commissions when she brought customers to the agency. Now it is a struggle to convince people to travel, especially when some airlines only accept dollars and reject the constantly fluctuating Sudanese pound.
The economy changed in November 2010. The North Sudan government claimed that Sudan lacked foreign currency and the Sudanese minister of finance and national economy, Mahmoud Hassanein, was quoted saying that the country’s people consumed more than the country produced and this caused the rise in prices.
In early January 2011, southern Sudanese voted in a referendum in favour of secession from the north and this set in motion the beginnings of an economic crisis in Sudan. Currently North and South Sudan equally share the profits of the oil found in the south. But this will change when South Sudan becomes independent.
But North Sudan began to feel the impact of the secession even before the referendum. Prices skyrocketed as a result of inflation and salaries remained the same or even decreased.
"My salary has actually decreased, I used to get a lot of benefits and commissions on projects, but they were taken away or cut in half. Life is getting more expensive and I make less money, " said a staff member at the University of Khartoum.
Prices are going up at an alarming rate. Sesame oil, a regularly consumed product jumped from 110 to 126 Sudanese pounds and the bread price increased by 25 percent. In supermarkets people buy what they consider to be basics, such as sugar, milk, and flour. Luxury products are neatly stacked in rows gathering dust.
"I usually shop for my household on a weekly basis. I used to spend 250 Sudanese pounds on groceries, fruits, veggies and meat. Now I pay 350 Sudanese pounds," a University of Khartoum professor told IPS.
Ahmed*, who sometimes works as a currency dealer on the black market thinks that the problem lies in the value of the Sudanese pound.
"For the longest time in 2010, the government maintained that the dollar equals 2.50 Sudanese pounds. The value of the Sudanese pound kept plummeting and as much as the government heavily invested in trying to stop the black market, people felt ripped off," Ahmed said.
He added that restrictions on the amount of dollars you can take when you are traveling abroad pushed many to the black market. "You were able to exchange the equivalent of 1,000 dollars only at the airport. You can get up to 1,500 Euros now, but it is still not enough," he told IPS.
Najm El Deen Ibrahim, a senior official from the Central Bank of Sudan, the bank responsible for managing the country’s accounting and setting an exchange rate for the Sudanese pound, believes that the national currency is not going to depreciate further.
"We have injected foreign currency into the market to major importers, exchange bureaus and commercial banks. The bank will make sure that the currency is stable and will act immediately to stop any massive fluctuations,"
He added that there is no direct link between prices and exchange rates. The increase in prices is due to an increase in the prices of commodities all over the world.
*Names have been changed
"Sudan is not really a country at all, but many. A composite layers, like a genetic fingerprint of memories that were once fluid, but have since crystallized out from the crucible of possibility" Jamal Mahjoub, a Sudanese novelist
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
A State of Ghost Towns
I wrote about Southern Kordofan for IPS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56285
SUDAN
Southern Kordofan - A State of Ghost Towns
By Reem Abbas
KHARTOUM, Jun 29, 2011 (IPS) - While humanitarian organisations try to bury the corpses scattered across Southern Kordofan, aid to the thousands of people displaced by the fighting is slow as the country’s humanitarian commission has prohibited most aid organisations from working in the area.
On Jun. 5 heavy fighting broke out between forces loyal to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Kadugli and other towns in the state. Kadugli is the capital of Southern Kordofan, one of Sudan's 25 states.
Since the start of the fighting, aerial bombardments were carried out by the SAF, which according to the United Nations (U.N.), lead to the displacement of 75,000 civilians from Kadugli, Kaunda and surrounding areas with the numbers going up on a daily basis. In addition, 35,000 are expected to head to El Obeid, a town in north Kordofan.
"We have reports of ethnic Nubas being denied entrance to El Obeid. They divide the displaced based on ethnicity and the Nubas are (left) in the middle of nowhere under the scorching sun, " said Fatima* a human rights activist. The Nubas, who are a minority in Southern Kordofan, are believed to have been targeted in the fighting.
Sudanese organisations and civil society groups are already calling for food donations and sending trucks full of supplies to aid the people of Southern Kordofan.
The Politics of Southern Kordofan
Mohamed, a postgraduate student at the University of Khartoum has fond memories of Kadugli in Southern Kordofan. As a child growing up there in the 1980's and early 1990's before the fighting became very intense, he recalls a green mountainous area where the Arab world and Africa intertwined in the form of tribes peacefully coexisting for decades.
"Kadugli has a mix of northern Arab tribes and Nubas. There was no real ethnic divide until the Nubas joined the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the 1980s. They were recruited in the SPLM's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and they felt empowered as this elevated their social status as a marginalised minority in Sudan. They felt that their political struggle could be in the context of the SPLM," he added.
Southern Kordofan along with Abyei and Blue Nile are the three states known as protocol areas because they are geographically part of the north.
Many of their citizens were involved with the SPLA during the civil war and the states are predominantly populated by non-Arab tribes. In Abyei, the majority hail from the largest southern Sudanese tribe, the Dinka.
The protocol to resolve the conflicts in these states was signed in Kenya in 2004 and it entails that the three states hold popular consultations to determine whether they will remain in the north or become part of the south as stipulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 by the Sudanese government and the SPLM to end Africa's longest- running civil war.
In December 2009, the president of Sudan signed the Abyei Referendum Act that allowed the Abyei referendum to be held simultaneously with the South referendum as agreed in the CPA. However, the two peace partners disagreed over the terms of eligibility to vote and this led to the postponement of the referendum until further notice.
Blue Nile is currently undergoing popular consultations, which are time-consuming as it is compromised of many phases. However, Southern Kordofan is lagging behind since the state-level elections that should have been held in April 2010 were only held in May 2011.
In an attempt to help out within their limited mandate, some humanitarian organisations are burying corpses scattered in Southern Kordofan. But the Humanitarian Affairs Commission (HAC), the body responsible for coordinating all humanitarian affairs for local and international organisations in Sudan, has prohibited the majority of local and international organisations from working there.
"We held a meeting with the HAC yesterday and we asked them to give us permission to aid the displaced and they said that they are sending an investigative mission to assess the situation. I don't know when this will happen," said Suhaila*, who works for a national development non-governmental organisation in Khartoum.
She said she was concerned about the availability of food in the region. "This is the time right before farming begins, families are nearly running out of stored food and many of the families living in safer towns are hosting displaced families and sharing their food with them," said Suhaila.
Many displaced people are making public schools their homes as the summer season ends and the rainy season begins in July.
"The government does not want to establish IDP (internationally displaced persons) camps, they said they don't want this to turn into another Darfur, but people cannot simply go back to their homes. The situation is deteriorating, " said Fatima.
In January 10 states, which compromise the southern part of Sudan, voted in a referendum on whether they want to remain part of the north or have a separate state. Over 98 percent voted in favour of secession.
But the security situation in the state became tense after Ahmed Haroun won the governorship of Southern Kordofan in a controversial state election in May.
Haroun is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur for his involvement in instigating attacks and arming and recruiting militias to fight the insurgency. Haroun beat Abdel Aziz Al Helow, the SPLM's candidate in the elections.
"It is fair to say that 75 percent of civilians in the state are SPLM supporters but they lean towards the National Congress Party (NCP), the ruling party, because they want to survive," Samira*, an U.N. employee said.
She said prior to the elections the SPLM began distributing flyers through tea ladies, bakers and people in the market area that warned of dire consequences if the NCP's candidate won the governorship.
Samira arrived at work at the United Nations offices on Jun. 5 to find that many of her colleagues known for their pro-SPLM sentiments had already fled the town.
"I started asking questions and wondering if something was going to happen. The fighting started that day and for the first time, there was a power cut in the entire city.
"Our only option was to hide under the bed or next to a wall because it was pitch black and it was hard to locate where the gunshots were coming from," said Samira. She was evacuated and is now safe in Khartoum with her family. "I saw a large number of women and children fleeing the town and I could tell that they have been walking for a long time... I couldn't stop crying," recalls Samira of the day she was evacuated.
But the fighting continues and Suhaila says that based on information received from her colleagues working in Southern Kordofan, there have been a number of political assassinations.
"The SPLM launched attacks that targeted certain leaders loyal to the NCP and this sparked a retaliation from the Khartoum government. Even the citizens of Kadugli and other towns were asked to leave because the situation became characterised by political assassinations," said Suhaila.
Suhaila added that there are snipers located in the mountains and her colleagues informed her that politically active civilians have been shot dead inside their homes.
* Names have been changed to protect our sources.
SIDEBAR:s
The Politics of Southern Kordofan
Mohamed, a postgraduate student at the University of Khartoum has fond memories of Kadugli in Southern Kordofan. As a child growing up there in the 1980's and early 1990's before the fighting became very intense, he recalls a green mountainous area where the Arab world and Africa intertwined in the form of tribes peacefully coexisting for decades.
"Kadugli has a mix of northern Arab tribes and Nubas. There was no real ethnic divide until the Nubas joined the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the 1980s. They were recruited in the SPLM's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and they felt empowered as this elevated their social status as a marginalised minority in Sudan. They felt that their political struggle could be in the context of the SPLM," he added.
Southern Kordofan along with Abyei and Blue Nile are the three states known as protocol areas because they are geographically part of the north.
Many of their citizens were involved with the SPLA during the civil war and the states are predominantly populated by non-Arab tribes. In Abyei, the majority hail from the largest southern Sudanese tribe, the Dinka.
The protocol to resolve the conflicts in these states was signed in Kenya in 2004 and it entails that the three states hold popular consultations to determine whether they will remain in the north or become part of the south as stipulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 by the Sudanese government and the SPLM to end Africa's longest- running civil war.
In December 2009, the president of Sudan signed the Abyei Referendum Act that allowed the Abyei referendum to be held simultaneously with the South referendum as agreed in the CPA. However, the two peace partners disagreed over the terms of eligibility to vote and this led to the postponement of the referendum until further notice.
Blue Nile is currently undergoing popular consultations, which are time-consuming as it is compromised of many phases. However, Southern Kordofan is lagging behind since the state-level elections that should have been held in April 2010 were only held in May 2011.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56285
SUDAN
Southern Kordofan - A State of Ghost Towns
By Reem Abbas
KHARTOUM, Jun 29, 2011 (IPS) - While humanitarian organisations try to bury the corpses scattered across Southern Kordofan, aid to the thousands of people displaced by the fighting is slow as the country’s humanitarian commission has prohibited most aid organisations from working in the area.
On Jun. 5 heavy fighting broke out between forces loyal to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Kadugli and other towns in the state. Kadugli is the capital of Southern Kordofan, one of Sudan's 25 states.
Since the start of the fighting, aerial bombardments were carried out by the SAF, which according to the United Nations (U.N.), lead to the displacement of 75,000 civilians from Kadugli, Kaunda and surrounding areas with the numbers going up on a daily basis. In addition, 35,000 are expected to head to El Obeid, a town in north Kordofan.
"We have reports of ethnic Nubas being denied entrance to El Obeid. They divide the displaced based on ethnicity and the Nubas are (left) in the middle of nowhere under the scorching sun, " said Fatima* a human rights activist. The Nubas, who are a minority in Southern Kordofan, are believed to have been targeted in the fighting.
Sudanese organisations and civil society groups are already calling for food donations and sending trucks full of supplies to aid the people of Southern Kordofan.
The Politics of Southern Kordofan
Mohamed, a postgraduate student at the University of Khartoum has fond memories of Kadugli in Southern Kordofan. As a child growing up there in the 1980's and early 1990's before the fighting became very intense, he recalls a green mountainous area where the Arab world and Africa intertwined in the form of tribes peacefully coexisting for decades.
"Kadugli has a mix of northern Arab tribes and Nubas. There was no real ethnic divide until the Nubas joined the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the 1980s. They were recruited in the SPLM's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and they felt empowered as this elevated their social status as a marginalised minority in Sudan. They felt that their political struggle could be in the context of the SPLM," he added.
Southern Kordofan along with Abyei and Blue Nile are the three states known as protocol areas because they are geographically part of the north.
Many of their citizens were involved with the SPLA during the civil war and the states are predominantly populated by non-Arab tribes. In Abyei, the majority hail from the largest southern Sudanese tribe, the Dinka.
The protocol to resolve the conflicts in these states was signed in Kenya in 2004 and it entails that the three states hold popular consultations to determine whether they will remain in the north or become part of the south as stipulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 by the Sudanese government and the SPLM to end Africa's longest- running civil war.
In December 2009, the president of Sudan signed the Abyei Referendum Act that allowed the Abyei referendum to be held simultaneously with the South referendum as agreed in the CPA. However, the two peace partners disagreed over the terms of eligibility to vote and this led to the postponement of the referendum until further notice.
Blue Nile is currently undergoing popular consultations, which are time-consuming as it is compromised of many phases. However, Southern Kordofan is lagging behind since the state-level elections that should have been held in April 2010 were only held in May 2011.
In an attempt to help out within their limited mandate, some humanitarian organisations are burying corpses scattered in Southern Kordofan. But the Humanitarian Affairs Commission (HAC), the body responsible for coordinating all humanitarian affairs for local and international organisations in Sudan, has prohibited the majority of local and international organisations from working there.
"We held a meeting with the HAC yesterday and we asked them to give us permission to aid the displaced and they said that they are sending an investigative mission to assess the situation. I don't know when this will happen," said Suhaila*, who works for a national development non-governmental organisation in Khartoum.
She said she was concerned about the availability of food in the region. "This is the time right before farming begins, families are nearly running out of stored food and many of the families living in safer towns are hosting displaced families and sharing their food with them," said Suhaila.
Many displaced people are making public schools their homes as the summer season ends and the rainy season begins in July.
"The government does not want to establish IDP (internationally displaced persons) camps, they said they don't want this to turn into another Darfur, but people cannot simply go back to their homes. The situation is deteriorating, " said Fatima.
In January 10 states, which compromise the southern part of Sudan, voted in a referendum on whether they want to remain part of the north or have a separate state. Over 98 percent voted in favour of secession.
But the security situation in the state became tense after Ahmed Haroun won the governorship of Southern Kordofan in a controversial state election in May.
Haroun is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur for his involvement in instigating attacks and arming and recruiting militias to fight the insurgency. Haroun beat Abdel Aziz Al Helow, the SPLM's candidate in the elections.
"It is fair to say that 75 percent of civilians in the state are SPLM supporters but they lean towards the National Congress Party (NCP), the ruling party, because they want to survive," Samira*, an U.N. employee said.
She said prior to the elections the SPLM began distributing flyers through tea ladies, bakers and people in the market area that warned of dire consequences if the NCP's candidate won the governorship.
Samira arrived at work at the United Nations offices on Jun. 5 to find that many of her colleagues known for their pro-SPLM sentiments had already fled the town.
"I started asking questions and wondering if something was going to happen. The fighting started that day and for the first time, there was a power cut in the entire city.
"Our only option was to hide under the bed or next to a wall because it was pitch black and it was hard to locate where the gunshots were coming from," said Samira. She was evacuated and is now safe in Khartoum with her family. "I saw a large number of women and children fleeing the town and I could tell that they have been walking for a long time... I couldn't stop crying," recalls Samira of the day she was evacuated.
But the fighting continues and Suhaila says that based on information received from her colleagues working in Southern Kordofan, there have been a number of political assassinations.
"The SPLM launched attacks that targeted certain leaders loyal to the NCP and this sparked a retaliation from the Khartoum government. Even the citizens of Kadugli and other towns were asked to leave because the situation became characterised by political assassinations," said Suhaila.
Suhaila added that there are snipers located in the mountains and her colleagues informed her that politically active civilians have been shot dead inside their homes.
* Names have been changed to protect our sources.
SIDEBAR:s
The Politics of Southern Kordofan
Mohamed, a postgraduate student at the University of Khartoum has fond memories of Kadugli in Southern Kordofan. As a child growing up there in the 1980's and early 1990's before the fighting became very intense, he recalls a green mountainous area where the Arab world and Africa intertwined in the form of tribes peacefully coexisting for decades.
"Kadugli has a mix of northern Arab tribes and Nubas. There was no real ethnic divide until the Nubas joined the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the 1980s. They were recruited in the SPLM's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and they felt empowered as this elevated their social status as a marginalised minority in Sudan. They felt that their political struggle could be in the context of the SPLM," he added.
Southern Kordofan along with Abyei and Blue Nile are the three states known as protocol areas because they are geographically part of the north.
Many of their citizens were involved with the SPLA during the civil war and the states are predominantly populated by non-Arab tribes. In Abyei, the majority hail from the largest southern Sudanese tribe, the Dinka.
The protocol to resolve the conflicts in these states was signed in Kenya in 2004 and it entails that the three states hold popular consultations to determine whether they will remain in the north or become part of the south as stipulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 by the Sudanese government and the SPLM to end Africa's longest- running civil war.
In December 2009, the president of Sudan signed the Abyei Referendum Act that allowed the Abyei referendum to be held simultaneously with the South referendum as agreed in the CPA. However, the two peace partners disagreed over the terms of eligibility to vote and this led to the postponement of the referendum until further notice.
Blue Nile is currently undergoing popular consultations, which are time-consuming as it is compromised of many phases. However, Southern Kordofan is lagging behind since the state-level elections that should have been held in April 2010 were only held in May 2011.
Friday, June 10, 2011
My fellow Americans- Muslims
*http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss218/equal-life/th_muslims-against-terrorism.png*
A reader of this blog shared a link to a life-changing video with me. The link takes you to a website called my fellow American. It is a creative online project that "calls upon concerned Americans to pledge and spread a message that Muslims are our fellow Americans".
I had the chance to watch a very short video on the webite and I consider myself fortunate. Just s few weeks ago, my bestfriend was in Greece and she was telling me about anti-Muslim sentiment there and how mosques were burned down. At the same time, anti-Muslim sentiment is on the rise in the US. Protests against the ground zero news last year and Koran-burning in Florida a few weeks ago is a constant reminder that Muslims continue to face prejudice in the post-9/11 world.
I'm glad to know that some Americans think of Muslim-Americans as "fellow Americans".
As a Muslim , I pledge to respect all religions and contribute to mutually-beneficial cross-cultural understanding
WATCH THE VIDEO
http://myfellowamerican.us/
Monday, May 30, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Console me
I have lost relatives and friends before, but I wasn't in touch with them right before their death.
This time it is different.
My boss passed away last Friday and I can't seem to get any work done.
I just email people the news about his death and reply to their sad emails, consoling them. I listen to his students, colleagues and friends burst into tears and lock themselves in his office. I hear their loud cries through the walls.
There are only six of us in the office and three were gone this week so its only me and two other men. My desk is currently in the hallway between the director and the late deputy director's offices. If you want to enter the late deputy director's office, you basically have to run into me.
They come everyday to offer their condolences. Men and women...mostly young women. They break down in my office, some weep in my arms as I try to console them. I get them water and encourage them to drink to calm down. Then they unlock the door to his office and close the door behind them. I always thought that Hollywood movies over-dramatize scenes of grief, but maybe they don't. On Sunday, one of his former students came to the office. She weeped hysterically, her body was shaking uncontrollably. After a few minutes, she got up and went into his office. I really didn't know what to do.
"He was my only friend, I have noone left," she told me. She repeated this sentence for a few minutes.
Silence.
I heard her say " why did you leave me, why did you have to die?"
Silence
I left her alone in his office, worried for her sanity.
..........................
I don't spin on my chair anymore. I just sit there staring at the screen. When I get up to get a glass of water, a cup of sweet tea or use the toilet, I look at the floor. His office is right behind me and I don't want to look inside.
I'm wary at first, but I feel the need to step inside his office one last time. The first thing I see is a note I put on his desk. It reads "PLEASE SIGN THIS".
A pink sticky note caught my attention. Seven names are written on it, they are divided into two groups. The first group died in the accident, the second group survived except him.
This time it is different.
My boss passed away last Friday and I can't seem to get any work done.
I just email people the news about his death and reply to their sad emails, consoling them. I listen to his students, colleagues and friends burst into tears and lock themselves in his office. I hear their loud cries through the walls.
There are only six of us in the office and three were gone this week so its only me and two other men. My desk is currently in the hallway between the director and the late deputy director's offices. If you want to enter the late deputy director's office, you basically have to run into me.
They come everyday to offer their condolences. Men and women...mostly young women. They break down in my office, some weep in my arms as I try to console them. I get them water and encourage them to drink to calm down. Then they unlock the door to his office and close the door behind them. I always thought that Hollywood movies over-dramatize scenes of grief, but maybe they don't. On Sunday, one of his former students came to the office. She weeped hysterically, her body was shaking uncontrollably. After a few minutes, she got up and went into his office. I really didn't know what to do.
"He was my only friend, I have noone left," she told me. She repeated this sentence for a few minutes.
Silence.
I heard her say " why did you leave me, why did you have to die?"
Silence
I left her alone in his office, worried for her sanity.
..........................
I don't spin on my chair anymore. I just sit there staring at the screen. When I get up to get a glass of water, a cup of sweet tea or use the toilet, I look at the floor. His office is right behind me and I don't want to look inside.
I'm wary at first, but I feel the need to step inside his office one last time. The first thing I see is a note I put on his desk. It reads "PLEASE SIGN THIS".
A pink sticky note caught my attention. Seven names are written on it, they are divided into two groups. The first group died in the accident, the second group survived except him.
Monday, May 16, 2011
I am not...
Jamal Mahjoub.
I guess some readers look at the quote I have under the blog name and think I'm Jamal Mahjoub. Not that Jamal Mahjoub is known for quoting himself ( although he should).
So read the "about me" part :)
I have to admit that I have the biggest crush on Jamal Mahjoub. He is a great writer and one of my ultimate inspirations.
Read his recent interview with Ahdaf Souief.
http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/2475/soueif_3_15_11/
I guess some readers look at the quote I have under the blog name and think I'm Jamal Mahjoub. Not that Jamal Mahjoub is known for quoting himself ( although he should).
So read the "about me" part :)
I have to admit that I have the biggest crush on Jamal Mahjoub. He is a great writer and one of my ultimate inspirations.
Read his recent interview with Ahdaf Souief.
http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/2475/soueif_3_15_11/
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