10 Questions for Ibrahim Ghandour

By Yasir Arman

February 6, 2015 – First of all, we should express our gratitude to the many activists who campaigned effectively on short notice when they knew that the Foreign Minister of the continuing genocidal regime of Sudan, Ali Karti, was attending the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, and that early next week, Ibrahim Ghandour, the number one political aid of General Bashir will be visiting the U.S. too. And we are grateful especially to the American activists who were there for many years, sending messages of hope and solidarity to the Sudanese people.

We learned from reliable sources in the Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Ibrahim Ghandour is wavering between continuing to visit Washington, DC or limiting his visit to New York United Nations Headquarters or putting off his visit to the U.S. early next week after what has happened to his colleague in genocide, the Foreign Minister.

Whatever the choice of Ibrahim Ghandour would be, in case he chooses to continue the visit to the United States, we would like him to answer the following questions while he is there.

1) How could he dare to visit the very country that has become a home to thousands of Sudanese who are victims of the genocide and war crimes of his own government through the last 26 years and it is still continuing. The United Nations statistic is stating that the Sudanese who are displaced internally and externally are around 8 million, and that reveals the nature of his government. Would he expect the American Sudanese and the Americans in solidarity with the Sudanese people to receive him with open arms?
2) How would Ghandour explain to the American officials that he will meet the targeting of schools, water points, and hospitals by the Sudanese air force, especially the continuous bombardment of the Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains, where they threatened on many occasions the life of a great volunteer American doctor who is saving the lives of thousands of Sudanese people in their darkest days in that area of Sudan.
3) How would Ghandour take his coffee in Washington at the time he is denying access for humanitarian assistance in Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and Darfur, which is a war crime in international humanitarian law.
4) How would Ghandour dare to look into the eyes of the mother of the late John Granfield, who was an American citizen and humanitarian worker that was murdered in cold blood in the streets of Khartoum, after being denied timely access to medical care, under the cover of Ghandour’s government, that very government who sent out to Somalia some of those who murdered Granfield and the same government that is manipulating the case in the court and denying justice for him and his family.
5) How could Ghandour apply for an American visa and obtain it while he is denying the American Special Envoy a visa and entry to Khartoum for more than one year, adamantly refusing to receive him to discuss humanitarian issues and peace and democracy in Sudan. Ghandour is the number one political advisor by virtue of his position to General Omar al-Bashir.
6) How could Ghandour visit New York, the beautiful city that was targeted by Osama bin Laden, who was hosted for many years by Ghandour’s government. How would he explain that Sudan is still harboring ideologically most of the Islamic fundamentalists organizations and Sudan is a political training ground at the African Islamic University for many African organizations such as Boko Haram and has logistical links with the political Islam organizations in Libya and Central Africa and elsewhere.
7) What message will Ghandour bring to the U.S. while he is an architect of the coming one party election that will elect the President who is wanted by the ICC and who rules Sudan by iron and blood for 26 years and would like to continue for 31 years, which would result in more genocide and war crimes.
8) Will Ghandour use his visit to the U.S. to demonstrate that his government can still be received and do business all over the planet, including the United States of America, and that genocide and war crimes do not register in international relations.
9) How will the visit of Ghandour relate to and how does it fall within the many resolutions of the U.S. Congress in the interest of peace, democracy and lifting the humanitarian crisis situation of the Sudanese people?
10) What message is the visit of Ghandour sending to more than 200 Sudanese women who were raped in Tabit village in Darfur and hundreds of kids who were killed and wounded by the Sudan air force in the marginalized areas of Sudan? We should note that it is the only air force in Africa today targeting its own civilian populations and at a time that the government of Ghandour is refusing to implement Resolution 456 of the African Union to allow a credible constitutional dialogue and it is enforcing a repressive campaign against media and arresting activists and prominent leaders who are prisoners in his ugly custody, leaders such as Faruk Abuissa, Dr. Amin Makki Madami and Farah Elgar, while Ghandour is freely visiting the United States.

The visit of Ghandour is a wrong visit at a wrong time by a wrong-doing person to a country that upholds values contrary to values and agenda. We call again on the activists and those who stand in solidarity with the Sudanese people to work to prevent the visit of Ghandour, and that, in itself, is a message to his government that would speak louder than his visit to the U.S.

* The author is the Secretary-General of the SPLM-North. Secretary for External Affairs for the Sudan Revolutionary Front