Canad’s Martin brings message of hope to Darfur camp

By ALEXANDER PANETTA

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Nov 25, 2004 (CP) — Prime Minister Paul Martin brought a message of hope and peace to a displaced person’s camp in Sudan on Thursday.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin greets Sudanese schoolchildren during a visit to a slum outside Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, November 25, 2004. Martin is in Sudan on an official visit to meet Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.(Reuters).

He was greeted by enthusiastic people waving Canadian flags when he visited a Canadian-funded bamboo-mud school in the camp where 2,000 students are crammed into four classrooms.

Martin spent about an hour at the Mayo Camp, where some 250,000 people displaced from the Darfur region live, enjoying his visit so much that he even joined with the children in an impromptu dance.

But in an unfortunate incident as Martin’s convoy was leaving the camp, a security vehicle near the front of the procession struck a five-year-old girl, who was then taken to hospital by ambulance.

Melanie Gruer of the Prime Minister’s Office said later that “the girl was hit by one of the pickup trucks carrying Sudanese guards who were protecting the prime minister.”

The convoy was travelling at high speeds on narrow dusty roads.

“They couldn’t see her because of the dust,” Gruer noted. “She’s been X-rayed – nothing broken. She has a slight injury to her mouth,” Gruer said, adding she would be kept in hospital for 24 hours for observation after having stitches in her tongue.

Gruer said that the prime minister planned to visit her in hospital before he boards his plane to leave the area.

Part of his visit to the camp included a stop at Union School, built in 1993 with some funding by the Canadian government, where he was greeted by hundreds of smiling children who waved small Canadian flags.

“We live in a world that is divided into countries,” Martin told the gathering.

“But there is something more important than countries: it is our common humanity. . . . More important is the fact that we are human beings. We are one. And as human beings we are indivisible.”

Some of the students performed a traditional dance and sang for him.

“Peace, peace, peace makes the sun shine, the skies happy, the bells . . . ring, welcoming the new order of things,” they sang.

Martin was so moved after hearing this that he went back to the podium to address the children again.

“I have in my life given many speeches. But rarely have I had such an introduction . . . and rarely have I seen a sight that would touch the heart as much as the one before me.”

Martin also told the crowd: “There is a chance that peace will once again come to Sudan. I want to say to you, because some of you were born in this camp in a time of war, you should know that war is not the norm. Peace is the norm.”

He drew another ovation with word that the Prime Minister’s Office had brought “a planeload” of schoolbooks, crayons and supplies. He told them that Canada would continue to help Sudan.

“The future of the world belongs to you. It is the education that you will receive that will make the difference in Sudan,” Martin said.

The children were given two large posters bearing messages from children in elementary schools Quebec City and Ottawa.

Martin was also visiting the strife-torn country’s president during his tour of Sudan.