Sudan’s al-Bashir in the forefront
Abdalrahman al-Rashid entitled, Al-Sharq al-Awsat
October 8, 2006 — It seems that the Sudanese president has used up all the fronts that help him avert a clash in the battle of the south -and now in the Darfur crisis -and there is no escape from appearing as a decision-maker, an interlocutor, a defender, and perhaps as a fighter.
Contrary to the official statement and the presidential speeches, the fact is that the president does not object to the deployment of international forces or to ending the atrocities in Darfur but on his terms. One of his terms is that he wants to end the sanctions imposed upon him. He also wants to be given a freer hand, which is something that he has not enjoyed yet despite his acceptance and signing of the agreement to end the war in the south and the proclamation of reconciliation and partnership in power.
Al-Bashir wants a price before ending the tragedy of Darfur. Meanwhile, the international community headed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan argues that he should not be rewarded as long as the tragedy in the western region has been going on for three years and the atrocious killings, rapes, looting, and displacement have not stopped.
Unfortunately -and like other Arab governments -the Sudanese president enjoys a collective Arab cover for major crimes that are being committed by militias that belong to his regime. The Arabs know that the issue of Darfur is real and that its woes are more than what is happening in Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon put together. They know that Khartoum’s rejection of international forces on the pretext of sovereignty is a lie since it is the same government that accepted international forces in the south. Moreover, it can arouse the sympathy [of fellow Muslim Arabs] with false slogans as it did in the south since all the victims in Darfur are Muslims.
Thus, we see things moving clearly against the Al-Bashir government. It seems that the dangerous escalation that it is doing will end with a clash whose price will be all the government that has already lost most of its supporters -whether Islamists or party members or tribesmen -and that has become fragmented from the inside into opposing teams.
It is now obvious to everyone that the Sudanese regime has been thriving on crises since it came to power in 1989. Since that day to date, the Sudanese people hardly emerge from a crisis when they are embroiled in another. They have lost their resources and millions of citizens have been displaced. The country is suffering from an unprecedented crisis. The president is threatening the world that he will increase the disasters. He thinks that the world will remain silent despite the ugliness of what is transpiring in Darfur. However, he does not know that the most tolerant countries no longer object to ending the tragedy in any way, including military means. Then the daring speeches and the verbal challenges will not do him any good. These days, a large number of Sudanese that represent a big majority agree that the regime has used up its energies and that it is time for it to go either for the sake of Darfur or for the sake of Khartoum.