End up in Egypt’s slaughter

By Awolich de Nyuat*

Jan 1, 2005 — Egypt the country north of our country that pretends to be a close brother to Sudan has become a slaughter house for our mothers and our children what a shame. I am deeply shock and deeply concerned by the recent attack by Egyptian police on our brothers and sisters who were escaping from Khartoum’s killing fields only to end up in a slaughter house in Egypt. Egypt has no justification whatsoever for the killing of these innocent refugees whose primary motivation to go Egypt was to sought refuge. I have not heard a statement from either Bashir or Mubarak and that is disturbing. This horrendous crime should be condemned strongly by both presidents. There is no doubt the act was racially motivated and must be investigated fully and criminals should be brought to justice. Egypt has a right to expel refugees from her country if they are no longer willing to host the refugees but under no circumstance should Egypt deliberately attack innocent people and spill innocent blood on their land. This incident will haunt Egypt for a long time because there is no way Egypt can win trust of Southerners while slaughtering our kinds behind the scene.

I have been very patient waiting and waiting for a statement from President Bashir condemning this terrible incident but so far no comments. The president is either unwilling or unconcerned about the security of his people either abroad or within its borders. Specifically, the president has no concern for the security of the Southerners and this is exemplified by the current situation in Eastern and Western Equatoria where the LRA roams around killing innocent civilians behind the government line while the government of Sudan stands by. Why does the government take seriously the threat of Darfur rebels and not the threat of the LRA? Why does the government full out staffs of its embassy in Iraq because five staff members were kidnapped but kept quiet when 27 citizens were killed in Egypt? Something is wrong here; the president does not pay equal attention to the security of all the Sudanese people abroad and within its borders. It would definitely make sense for president Bashir to have been the first person to publicly condemn the attack on the refugees in Egypt. If the president does not publicly response to this incident, there could be a room for doubts that it was probably a conspiracy of both the Egypt and the government of Bashir.

From the above examples, the president thinks of southerners as enemies still and that is indeed very troubling because the unity which the president claims to make attractive does not exist to begin with leave alone making it attractive. It is clear that the president considers the citizens of Sudan kidnapped in Iraq and the Arabs in Darfur more important than the citizens being slaughtered in Egypt and those innocent civilians being terrorize in their homes by Uganda’s Lord’s Resistant Army (LRA). The line is clear, most of the citizens who sought refuge in Egypt are Southerners and those being killed in Darfur and Equatoria are black Africans. So two things are playing role here; one is racism and the other is political affiliation. Shame on the president he is not making unity attractive instead, he is killing unity itself.

I personally think that president Bashir has a lot of work to do. We are still waiting for Bashir and Taha to build confidence among the Sudanese if at all unity will be made attractive. Bashir should visit Yei or Rumbek for that matter to tell the Southerners how and when he is going to make unity attractive. Why is it that Garang and Salva can go beyond their required duties to make unity attractive while the other party is making no attempt at all in building confidence and the spirit of peace? Something is not clear, if Bashir thinks he is the president of Sudan, he must go to the people in the South Sudan and the face questions and provide answers to the lingering questions. We do not accept a virtual president but a real president who cares about the people and goes to the towns to meet his people. If this is not done, then the unity will die right on Bashir and Taha’s table before it reaches the Southerners who definitely will put the last nail on its coffin in five years. As far as this refugee incident is concerned, Egypt has lost its credibility as a peace supporter in Sudan and as a big brother of countries in the Middle East. Bashir on the other hand has something to do; he must either condemn the incident publicly or rescue the refugees by initiating a program to bring home those refugees who are willing to come back home. A president’s silence on this incident rings a bell of doubt in our ears and we are watching CPA and its implementation seriously and carefully. To be continued…..

Awolich de Nyuat is a Sudanese studing at the Vermont University — USA. Email:
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