For defiant el Bashir, it is business as usual despite ICC's arrest warrant
March 15th, 2009
Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir parades through the street in Al Fasher, northern Darfur on March 8, 2009. Photo/REUTERS
"Hold me, hold me.” My response was; ‘‘where?’’ and the journalist answered, “here, on my waist”.
That was all part of the action in El Fasher, Darfur as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived early last week to denounce the warrant of arrest issued for him by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).
The reason for the sudden cry by the journalist was that we were riding on the back of a pick-up truck that was right in front of another truck used by President Bashir, but given the speed, the photographer, Mr Zohra Bensemra, who I later learnt works with Reuters news agency, could not maintain balance.
But the real sign of what the journalists covering the event were up to came minutes later when we lost sight of President Bashir and soon all the reporters on the vehicle jumped off.
All the journalists knew was that this was the story of the moment, despite earlier warnings by Darfur rebel groups, among them the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), that they were ready to arrest the Sudanese leader.
Massive following
And to the Sudanese leader, this being among the most emotive time in his country’s history, he was out to show the entire world that he had some massive following and he was out to show it in the real theatre of conflict. The journalists were very willing to play along.
It was a case of being at the right place at the right time.
There were many questions during those first hours. The ICC had warned for months that it would issue the indictment and everyone was wondering, what next?
The moment President Bashir’s office announced that a trip to Darfur was possible, all other plans were cancelled.
Any reporter in Khartoum, who knew of the planned trip, sought a seat in one of the two Airbus planes set aside for the journey.
One plane was to carry newsmen and diplomats and the other one was reserved for the President and his close advisers.
The media jet was the first to leave, but, the moment newsmen left the advance plane and prepared to cover the arrival of the president in Darfur, there was a surge of interest by the local politicians who had arrived to welcome the visitors.
Finally, they said what they wanted. They wanted a sip out of the bottles of mineral water the reporters were carrying and, why not?
Darfur is among the hottest places on earth. Looking down from the air as we prepared to land, all one could see were dry river beds.
But, the best resource Darfur has are its people. Very polite, but always asking for water. In this place, riding on a horse or camel is very prestigious.
So, along the roads, Darfurians lined up with their horses and camels, all thanks to the good organisation skills of the local governor, Mr Osman Mohammed Yousif Kibir, who runs the booming town of El Fasher, whose main source of income are the NGOs serving the millions displaced Darfurians.
Darfur’s economy is closely linked to the fortunes of the many NGOs that call it home.
One of them is Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) whose project coordinator at one of its camps, told of how her employer was told to quit Darfur shortly after the ICC issued its warrant on March 4.
Ms Gemma Davies said the signs were apparent as early as March 1, days before the arrest warrant was issued.
She says: “From March 1, we started getting warnings that our security could not be guaranteed and that our staff should pull out of our stations.’’
Just to imagine impact of the expulsion of 13 NGOs from Darfur, just two branches of the Medecins Sans Frontieres served some 450,000 people.
The estimate is that some one million Darfurians are in immediate danger after the expulsion of NGOs from the region.
In Darfur, a lot of illnesses are water-related. Diarrhoea and skin diseases are common.
Aid agencies, especially the medical ones, even provide washing and sanitation services in areas badly hit by diseases.
In the case of MSF, the country head, Ms Reshma Adatia, was summoned by Sudanese officials and told that the permit that allowed the agency to work in the country had expired and that staff must leave immediately.
Meningitis belt
Once the order was given, Ms Adatia was escorted to the agency’s offices and an inventory of equipment was made. The equipment was seized and the NGO got no record of what was taken. But, the Sudanese government, through a statement from the Foreign ministry says no equipment was seized.
But, to most aid workers, the main concern is with the population left behind, who now have no access to medical care plus their local staff whose source of income was suddenly cut.
One of the most disturbing facts about Darfur is that it lies within Africa’s meningitis belt that covers even Senegal and stretches all the way to Sudan.
This means that in Darfur, if two cases of meningitis are discovered at any refugee camp or town, an emergency is declared and all camp or town residents must be vaccinated.
The bad news is that shortly before the NGOs were expelled, meningitis had been declared at some camps.
source.nation.ke