Hazia’s Reflections

When Ad and I last chatted yesterday, we agreed that I was going to call him at 5pm today (Malaysian time). That would only be my second phone call to him, normally he’d call me. The first call I made was from Mecca:)

After trying several times and getting this message in Arabic, I gave up. I contemplated asking Al but I didn’t want him to know that I was worried (ego daa). However, not hearing from Ad for more than 24 hours made me couldn’t stand it anymore. I mean I didn’t even know whether he’d gotten out of the office safely and arrived at his hotel in 1 piece.

So, I smsed Al. He called me back immediately. He spoke to Ad twice last night. During the earlier call, Al was with Ad’s parents - so Ad gave a ‘tone-down’ version of the story. Ad told me that when he spoke to his mother earlier, she was so quiet that he suspected that she was crying.

Later at 3am (Malaysian time), he spoke to Al alone and gave the more accurate version; Yes, it was really bad, just like he told me earlier. He couldn’t leave Khartoum as only internal flights were available and the number was limited. He was also on a 1-month tourist visa and it’d be complicated to get through the authority.

Only the hotel was not so crowded anymore as most of the foreigners were gone. However, the phone line had been cut off and internet connection was very volatile.

Al and his friend from last night were working in Khartoum for 2 years quite some time back. They were escorted by local bodyguards everywhere they went. Their drivers and househelps were firearm-trained and were prepared to shoot should the need arise. Their ’seemingly dumb’ drivers also acted as spies for the government, keeping a detail account of their movements. However, the situation was never as bad as now.

He said he mentioned meeting me to Ad. All Ad said was ‘Oh!’ Well, he couldn’t say much as his parents were there…hehe. Definitely they would talk more about it next time.

Al said he hoped to meet me again soon…hmm..that was nice. At least I knew I didn’t make a bad first impression:D

Background on Darfur

About the size of Texas, the Darfur region of Sudan is home to racially mixed tribes of settled peasants, who identify as African, and nomadic herders, who identify as Arab. The majority of people in both groups are Muslim.

Government neglect has left people throughout Sudan poor and voiceless and has caused conflict throughout the country. In February 2003, frustrated by poverty and neglect, two Darfurian rebel groups launched an uprising against the Khartoum government.

The government responded with a scorched-earth campaign, enlisting the help of a militia of Arab nomadic tribes in the region against the innocent civilians of Darfur.

Since February 2003, the Sudanese government in Khartoum and the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia have used rape, displacement, organized starvation and mass murder to kill more than 400,000 and displace 2.5 million. Violence, disease and displacement continue to kill thousands of innocent Darfurians every month.

Long-term peace in Darfur requires that the government of Sudan, the Janjaweed militia forces and the rebel groups of Darfur find a way to resolve their political and economic disputes. The international community managed to broker a peace deal in May 2006, but violence in Darfur actually increased in the wake of this deal.

A United Nations resolution in August 2006 authorized the deployment of a force of over 17,000 UN troops to Darfur. However, the UN has insisted on securing the "consent" of the Sudanese government for such a force. For its part, the government of Sudan recently launched another attack in Darfur, in violation of the May peace agreement, and continues to adamantly refuse the deployment of an effective force.

Thousands of innocent civilians continue to die from murder, disease, and starvation every month. Today, millions of displaced civilians living in refugee camps are in dire need of international support as the violence continues.

At this time, human security is the highest priority for the people of Darfur. The world has left the responsibility of providing security to the African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. As Sally Chin of Refugees International has noted, the world has given the African Union “the responsibility to protect, but not the power to protect.” We must now work to ensure that the world fulfills its responsibility to protect the civilians of Darfur.