‘Lonely’ Sudanese envoy to Washington greeted with flying chairs in Philadelphia
By Wasil Ali
June 11, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — “I am the man with the toughest job in the world” said the Sudanese ambassador to the US, John Ukec Lueth Ukec, in a press conference he held to protest the US sanctions at the end of May.
The forum named “What the International Community is doing for Darfur?” was organized by the Leon Sullivan foundation last Saturday. The guest speakers included representatives from the US State Department, Chinese embassy, European Union (EU) and an expert on Darfur.
Some of the attendees told Sudan Tribune that the forum was not widely advertised and they heard about it through the word of mouth. They said that the majority of the audience were members of the Black Muslim movement, Nation of Islam, with very few people from Darfur.
It was expected that Ukec would try and adopt a conciliatory tone following the controversy he sparked following his last press conference, and in the process make new friends as he has revealed that he feels lonely in his new post. Ukec said in an interview with the Council on Foreign relations last week that US government officials are avoiding him.
“I am limited to talk to the Sudan desk [of the State Department]. I have asked to talk to [Deputy Secretary of State John] Negroponte. He has not accepted talking to me. I have asked to see the [congressional] Black Caucus leader, [Rep.] Donald Payne, (D-NJ); He cannot see me because I am an officer of the government of national unity” Ukec said.
But in Philadelphia Ukec has done an outstanding job in creating new enemies even from within his own people from Southern Sudan.
The Sudanese envoy started off by reiterating that the crisis in Darfur is not genocide before taking a very sharp turn by saying that “it is the people of Darfur who committed genocide against the Southern Sudanese during the civil war years” and as such “they should apologize for it”.
“It was at this point that the atmosphere in the hall became charged” an eye witness told Sudan Tribune. Garelnbi Abbas Ageed, a member of the non-signatory Sudan Liberation movement, said that a member of the Nation of Islam stood up to support Ukec statements by saying that he met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and visited Al-Fasher last week before concluding that there “is no evidence of genocide”.
Abdel-Aziz Deng Bior from Southern Sudan who works at Delaware University stood up to tell Ukec
that he “doesn’t represent Sudan or the Southerners or SPLA”. Two of the ‘Lost boys’ of Sudan told Ukec that he “gets paid to say these lies”. The Sudanese envoy responded by accusing Deng and the others of receiving bribes from the Darfurian people.
The Darfurian audience at the forum took their turns to lash out the Sudanese ambassador. Dr. Ali Dinar, president of the Darfur Alert Coalition, reminded Ukec of the article he wrote three years ago in Iowa in which described the situation in Darfur as genocide. Ukec laughed sarcastically asking Dinar whether he is “asking a question or chatting with him”.
Then the situation in the hall started turning ugly. Sara Mansour, a woman from Darfur, addressing Ukec told him to “stop lying” before leaving without waiting for his response. Ukec gestured with a big smile “come back young lady, where are you going?”
At that point Ageed said that “he lost it”. He felt that Ukec’s manner with Mansour was degrading to a woman so he threw the first chair at the podium, then the others followed his path. Representatives of the EU and the Chinese embassy quickly rushed themselves outside the building. The Sudanese ambassador was escorted from the hall by members of his entourage after the organizers decided to cancel the forum.
Ukec was quoted by the daily Sudanese Al Rayaam as saying that he has not been physically assaulted at the forum. He said that the Darfurian audience did not like the fact that he threw blame at the Darfur rebel groups for blocking peace in the region.
The Sudanese envoy blamed the moderator of the forum, John Prendergast from the ENOUGH project, for “not affording him the same amount of time he gave to his opponents”.
(ST)