Belying the DarFur’s Crisis (1/2)
Insights by a Brethren’s Pro-Government Mind
By Mahgoub El-Tigani
It is not an ethnic issue
In an interview conducted by Ustaz Ahmed Mansour of the Jazeera T.V. (September 15, 2004), the Secretary General of the Muslim ‘Ulama International Union, Dr. Mohamed Saleem al-‘Awa, who just returned from a trip to DarFur, spoke about the region as “completely inhabited by Muslims who are all Africans; so there is no way to refer to the inhabitants as Arabs versus Africans because they all have the same physical features, speak Arabic, and are Muslim relatives by intermarriages for a long time.”
– I am not a government lawyer:
“The Muslim ‘Ulama International Union met with the President, the Vice-President, Minister of Interior Presidential Representative in DarFur, the Minister of Religious Affairs and Awqaf, Marshal Swar al-Dahab, Former Chief Justice Da’fa Allah Haj Yousif, many DarFurians, as well as key supporters of al-Mahdi, al-Merghani, and Hassan Turabi. I personally met with Hassan al-Turabi for long hours too.”
“We visited DarFur,” said al-‘Awa. “We met with chiefs, heads of political parties, 6 university chancellors, and many Arabs and Africans whom we could not differentiate as Arabs versus Africans because they were all relatives, the same people, unless they identified themselves in tribal terms.”
Dr. al-‘Awa also said he and the ‘ulama met with members of the [government’s] National Council and the Governor of DarFur.
– The Crisis is a conflict between farmers and pastoralists:
For Dr. ‘Awa, the crisis was a conflict based on “competition between pastoralists and farmers – a problem deeply rooted since very old days; but the Condominium Government and the succeeding ones did not pay attention to the problem.”
– What factors developed the problem? :
“The DarFur’s Crisis was developed by: 1) mischievous behavior from the part of the DarFur rebels; and 2) the government’s reaction followed by crops burning and village destructions, etc. In one case, 67 Zagawas were killed. A reconciliation conference inflicted fines that were never paid; this led to war.”
– Human Rights Watch did not produce the evidence:
“The Human Rights Watch report on this matter was not accompanied with any documents testifying to the HRW allegations against the Janjaweed. I am not saying Human Rights Watch is a liar. I am asking for evidence from HRW or the others.”
– No Janjaweed militias!:
“The word Janjaweed (literally a Jinni horse-rider)”, asserted al-‘Awa, “means a person who rides a horse and carries arms, which applied to most DarFurians. However, there were not any militias attacking other groups in DarFur.”
– No Genocide!:
Dr. al-‘Awa exclaimed: “when did the genocide take place? Where were the killed people buried? There wasn’t any genocide! Before he returned to the US, after his visit to DarFur, Powell himself said to the President: ‘I haven’t seen anything pertaining to genocide.’ ”
“The report of the Mutamar al-Islami [the Islamic Conference] that visited DarFur did not find any genocide situation in DarFur. Only the sources influenced by Americans repeated the accusation of genocide.”
– No Rape!:
A’wa thought “there was a Pagan-Christian alliance warring against a Muslim Arab alliance in DarFur. We investigated the cases with the DarFur members of the National Council. We then went to DarFur and interviewed many women in DarFur who said there wasn’t any rape; but they was qasib to abandon their homes. This qasib meant for them ‘forcible evacuation of their homes’ not ‘raping women, as misunderstood by reporters.”
Dr. al-‘Awa and his companions visited the Governor of DarFur. As al-‘Awa put it: “when we talked about the issue of rapes with the Wali of DarFur, he was upset. He angrily negated the occurrence of rape. The other day we went to people at Abu Shoak and met with responsible Oxfam employees who said they heard rumors. They did not witness any occurrences of the sort.”
Dr. ‘Awa flatly negated any possibilities of rape in DarFur: “I met with the judge who put to trial 3 women and men who admitted to him they had been asked by some rebels to claim the occurrence of rape.”
“The internationally famous former chief justice Dafa’-Allah al-Haj Yousif, who has been appointed chair of a presidential investigation committee, said the women of DarFur would not talk about rape to his committee. His committee sought the assistance of women with legal and medicinal backgrounds. These female members of the committee went to the women in the camps. They were not able, however, to get a single reported rape from the interviewed women.”
“We were wondering: when were the women impregnated? The fact of the matter is that, these cases were basically alleged to defame the government and the people of Sudan to allow foreign intervention in the country.”
– The Sudan Government did not do any wrong:
“The Sudan Government did not do any wrong. All allegations are false. The Sudan Government mobilized a law of national service in defense of the homeland to recruit people of whom our brother the revered jurist Haj Nour martyred.”
“I have seen living examples of these recruits who were fighting in the South. About 80 percent of the recruited troops have been recently reduced by the government, as I heard from Omer al-Bashir personally.”
The ‘Ulama Secretary-General then asserted: “We, the Muslim ‘Ulama Union, are sure that the Sudan Government did not recruit or armed the Janjaweed. In fact, 437 villages were burnt in DarFur by Janjaweeds and the DarFur’s Sudan Liberation Movement, as well as other robbery groups.”
– A conspiracy by Zionism and the West:
Dr. al-‘Awa announced that Ali Osman Taha and the President “told us: ‘if there were any mistakes on our part, we would be responsible for them.’ A Sufi leader said to us in DarFur: ‘is it possible Americans and Europeans care for us more than Muslims or Arabs?”
“There is a plan to subjugate Sudan to the west. Sudan is targeted with a division plan although the government gave its consent to all divisions imposed on it by the west concerning the South. DarFur is rich with pure iron ore, uranium, and oil. Jebel Merra is very rich with natural resources and is now controlled by the Zagawa rebels.”
All governments are held responsible for non-development
“The Government is fully responsible for absence of development all over Sudan, even in Khartoum. The governments of Nimeiri, al-Mahdi, claimed that the war of the South was a major cause of the non-development of Sudan. Why wouldn’t the rich oil of DarFur be utilized? DarFur is a humanitarian tragedy since people were forced to leave their homes. The government is blamed for this humanitarian tragedy.”
– DarFur is the Gate of Islam to Africa:
“DarFur is the gate of Islam to Africa. The unified Muslims of DarFur are a threat to the west. That is why DarFur is a target. Now we must talk about the conspiracy. What is going on in Palestine and DarFur is a part of the conspiracy. The Zionist enemies are working against DarFur.”
“There are Islamic organizations working in DarFur with limited resources. All the Arab Region will be destroyed if the DarFur’s Crisis is not resolved. The allegations are pursued to legalize international intervention since America wants to avoid the form of intervention it had in Iraq. If the rain falls with massive floods in the plains, the million plus displaced DarFurians would perish.”
“The blame of ignoring this tragedy is placed on the Muslim nations as well as the international community. The Arab Islamic efforts should unify to salvage the whole region.”
– Egypt is historically responsible:
“DarFur is a historical responsibility for Egypt. Every one in DarFur, even the children, asked us about the Egyptians.”
– The Solution:
“We call on a conference for all Sudanese parties in Saudi Arabia.”
– Other Brethren’s Support:
In the course of the program, Dr. ‘Abd al-Monim Abd al-Fotouh of the Arab Doctors’ Union said Egyptian doctors visited DarFur with many professional delegates and trades unionists. “Our report, away from politics, was that there was not genocide, ethnic cleansing, or collective rapes. What we saw was non-development even in Khartoum and the whole Sudan.”
At the end of this interview, Ustaz Ahmed Mansour concluded his interview of the Secretary General of the Muslim ‘Ulama International Union in these words: “we have been given in this interview a factual picture of the situation in DarFur.”
To be continued.