Signs of a new war

... but still taking it one day at a time

The Chadian conflict continues to rage on but with no news headlines and with even fewer witnesses, but we are feeling the repercussions here in Darfur.

Last Thursday, I was trying to make my way through the city when I encountered a long column of military truck and troop transports. It is not at all unusual to see military technicals (Toyota pick-up with outfitted with special seats to carry troops and often a mounted machine gun) roaming about town. Both government and SLA-M forces (the only signatory to the now almost defunct peace agreement) regularly cruise the market area in their vehicles and conduct what I assume are armed patrols on foot. To make a point, I should explain that they are all very cordial and never really interact with the population, which is a far better scenario than in Congo where armed groups were a constant burden on the population, forcing residents to feed and house them. At least in El Fasher and Nyala there are barracks and some division between civilian and military is respected. This is an important point to make because in many African countries in conflict, the government does not provide consistent support to its army; and so on top of the armed conflict between adversaries you also have regular clashes between civilians and the police and military. A culture of predation sets in that creates a confused web of conflict that then becomes difficult to untangle from the original conflict. Peace processes lose their way, and most importantly, lose popular support.

But I digress.

We pulled our taxi to one side to allow the column of military trucks to pass and, after checking in with the UN security office to make sure that the market area was safe, I proceeded to my first meeting of the day. Not two minutes after arriving there, a long column of tanks began to enter the city center. People ran to the streets to watch the 20 or more huge Soviet style tanks roll through with men wearing red bandanas, and waving Sudanese flags and flowers over their heads. “They are returning from Geneina,” a smiling spectator told me. People cheered them on and showed the “number one” symbol and the joyful soldiers replied in kind. As we both watched this seemingly endless column of vehicles, the same onlooker turned to me and said, “War is horrible and we want this fighting to stop. We hope they are back to stay.” Not two minutes after making this point, he is waving the “number one” symbol again as another tank rolls into view, this one covered in soldiers singing military songs and dancing. One soldier nearly falls off his tank, but still manages to regain his composure and join again in the revelry.

Quite a sight.

It is standard for all NGOs to consult the UN for information about the security situation to ensure the safety of their staff. But when we consulted the UN for some information about what had been happening in town, their response was predictable.

"Nothing to report."

They did not even come to the weekly OCHA meeting later that afternoon because of the lack of relevant security matters to discuss.

Two days later, we all heard the press reports of a large assault on towns north of Geneina (click on the blue text to go the article) and of the arrival of fresh troops in the same area preparing for a sustained attack on the areas abandoned by the Sudanese rebels who had left their hard-fought positions in West Darfur to help their alleged benefactor, President Idriss Deby of Chad, to stay in power. Having abandoned those key positions and leaving the civilian populations totally unprotected, the rebel controlled areas are experiencing a great deal of chaos. Over 15,000 civilians fled the area and crossed in Chad, and the press has been reporting regular air raids on these newly abandoned areas. A larger-scale confrontation between the remaining rebel groups in West Darfur and government forces is expected soon.

None of the fighting has directly affected our safety but it does create an unsettling feeling among most international nongovernmental organizations here, especially those who were hoping to start doing early recovery work in settled villages where people have been trying to rebuild. It is very difficult to get a community to start to think about rebuilding, if they believe that there is chance that war will return to their village. So, although the fighting is still hundreds of kilometers away, we can still see its repercussions in the psyche and emotions of the people of North and South Darfur.

We have made adjustments to my living and working situation and I will soon have regular access to the internet in both Nyala and El Fasher, so that is a relief. I should be able to make more regular entries and try to include more descriptions of my environment in El Fasher. I will leave you with this thought.

Recycling the desert

El Fasher and Nyala are towns in the middle of the desert. And things do not decompose very quickly in the desert. I have had to try to find a way to decrease my carbon footprint in this mission by finding creative ways of deposing of my trash. I asked around about any recycling program, and Sudanese just look at me like I am crazy. “We just burn it,” is the usual reply. I began to resign myself to doing the same until I saw this kid collecting plastic bottles in one town, a man collecting scrap metal, and another kid sorting his trash into organic and non-organic material. I managed to follow the scrap metal man to a factory that transforms the scrap into cooking pots and utensils but I still do not know what the kids do with their trash. I personally, think that it would make a very worthwhile side project that perhaps I could encourage you my readers to send ideas and materials on desert recycling and eventually possibly financial support to help these entrepreneurs to create a more formal recycling business.

Trash is a huge source of income in this environment but it has been undervalued for obvious reasons. For inspiration I encourage all of you to watch this film about recycling in Cairo. It is made by a company called Media that Matters and is called Garbage Dreams. Just click on its title to view the 8 minute film.

Maa’a Salaama

HOT

and GETTING HOTTER

I spent the first night without worrying about the fact that I do not own a blanket. The weather has decidedly shifted into summer gear and it is easily 80 degrees at midday possibly more. If only I had the weather channel to tell me just hot warm it really is here.

Speaking of temperatures, the conflict in Chad has taken so many turns and caused the loss of so many lives that it makes one wonder if this heat wave isn’t man made. Three rebels groups that have been fighting the Chadian army for just under a decade managed to cross hundred of miles of open desert and then storm and capture 90% of the capital of this landlocked nation over the weekend. It is hard to imagine that the army did not see the dust of a hundred vehicles flying across the desert. Still, it appeared that the national army was caught off guard. Perhaps it is because they never expected to have to lift a finger in their own defense.

France has been a longtime ally to the government there and has intervened on several occasions to thwart rebel attacks. However this time is different.

France is soon to lead a large UN sanctioned peacekeeping mission composed of the European Union’s peacekeeping force – EURFOR – and classical UN peacekeepers from all over the world. The mission, dubbed MINURCAT, is designed to bring peace and stability along the Chad/Sudan and Chad/Central African Republic borders. On Sunday, the French defense minister declared that, in keeping with its role in this peacekeeping force, France would remain neutral. However just 30 minutes later, the French foreign minister announced that France would not remain neutral and would defend the rule of law and legitimacy underlining that President Deby had been democratically elected.

True. Deby was elected.

Deby was elected but only after he launched a military coup to overthrow the previous president then lifted term limits when he came to the end of his second term in office. That last maneuver caused massive defections in the army and even some of his own family members took up arms against him.


I cannot help but wonder if France’s sudden neutrality wasn’t also motivated by the harsh characterization of French nationals in Chad following the episode when a French NGO, Zoë Ark, nearly got away with abducting several hundred Chadian children on the pretense that they were Darfur refugee orphans who needed urgent medical attention in France. Not so true.

When pressed for the truth, Zoë representatives stated that international law required that they take kids from poor homes where they are suffering and transfer them to better homes where they will be love and cared for. They may have been driven by compassion, but they drove right across a bunch of laws protecting children. In the end, it was proven that the children were not orphans, refugees, sick, or even from Darfur, and it was suggested that the children were actually heading for cash-paying, barren French couples. The parents who released control of the children were told that the children were going to get an education, a retreat, or day trip, and would return shortly. The Chadian judiciary worked its magic and sentenced everyone to eight years of hard labor in Chadian prisons. After that episode, it was open season on the French. Anything French was ridiculed, spat upon, and trampled in the streets. Now that Chadians desperately need their help, the French … well … they may just … bide … their … time.

Is that too cynical of me?

Perhaps. Today however the tides seem to have changed again. The United Nations Security Council, reacting to analyses that an overthrow of the Chadian government could mean far more instability in the region and especially in Darfur, called on all member states to respond to the pleas of the current government and prevent its overthrow. In short, the UN has given France free reign to lift their neutrality and use military means to rout the rebels. What did the French think?

Well, their reactions have been almost just as contradictory as in the first instance.

First the foreign affairs minister announced that, despite the findings of the UN Security Council, France would not change its current stance of neutrality but would maintain its presence to ensure the safety of evacuating civilians and those remaining in the city.

But then, not 15 minutes later, the president of French gave a speech in which he stated that France would not shy away from its duty, making direct reference to the UN Security Council’s call for action from member states.

What will it mean if French decides to throw its weight behind the Chadian government and chase the rebel back across the border into Darfur? I am not certain, but I am apprehensive. Things quieted almost immediately after the rebels left for their mad trek across the desert. A heated retreat would be instability at best and renewed fighting on a larger scale on the other side of the spectrum.

Keep following the news and I will try to do the same.

Maa salaam

Time condensed entries

FINALLY HERE

How to describe Darfur? I guess I can say what it isn’t. It is not a zone of perpetual violence and despair. If there is fighting, it is not without large areas of calm, rebuilding, and cautious optimism. Despite the ethnically charged displacements, it is still a land of diverse people with different histories united in this area by thousands of years of trade, conflict, intermarriage, and ties to the land.

My first impressions when I arrived here were that the town is silent. The only sound one hears in the residential neighborhoods is that of the water boys rapping on the plastic jugs hanging from their donkey drawn water wagons alerting people of their presence. If you are close enough, you can hear the aden, or call to prayer. Our office and residence is close to two mosques but neither blasts its speakers like the ones in the center of town.

The streets are bustling with motorized rickshaws or tuk tuks, yellow taxis, and lots of donkey or horse drawn flat-bed carts. Over 200 vehicles have been carjacked in the past year, so NGOs no longer drive their signature shiny white land rovers or Toyota cruisers. Instead, we rent tiny cars that look like toys they are so small. They often get stuck in sand. So much for the romantic image of knights galloping off to save the day. Here we resemble more Don Xiote dwarfing his tiny burro. The work here is focused mostly on three large camps that lie just 20 minutes outside the city. You need a permit to go there. Actually you need a permit to move anywhere. But I suppose that is not so unusual given the unresolved conflicts in the area.

It has been cold at night, but the season is due to change in mid-February. Lizards, birds, and ants abound. Cats skirt across backyards belonging to everyone and no one. Hard to explain how such wild cats can be so tame and accustomed to humans. On my way to what has been a long series of meetings with international and local organizations, I met a tiny kitten standing guard in the entrance to the OCHA building. I walked up to it and it did not flinch. (Does he belong to you?) I motioned to the human guard by his side. “No, he is wild, just push him aside,” he replied.

These are not the feral cats I once uncovered under my mother’s house. Maybe the gentle desert breeze brings out another side.

SWEATING DUST

Anything that stands still for more than a few hours here is bound to be covered in a fine film of dust. I mean that quite universally. I learned my lesson when I reached for a Kleenex to cover my sneeze and got a nose full of sand dust that had delicately and invisibly settled on the waiting facial tissue.

That reality may explain why nothing seems to stay in one place for very long here. The political and humanitarian crisis shifts so regularly that it makes it difficult to know if today’s project design will still be valid tomorrow. (A scary prospect when you are charged with designing a regional project). One overarching reality is that areas that are quiet today may become volatile no go zones tomorrow; so, we plan for instability while toiling for sustainable, lasting, foundational peace.

When I come home and get ready for bed, I find that my t-shirt is invariably covered in brown dust, but only on the inside against my skin. I know I am breathing dust. But am I sweating it as well?

A BOY NAMED SKY

Sitting under a cloudless sky on a very windy but lazy Friday afternoon, reading my Darfur book, two boys around 8 or 9 years of age walk up to greet me. They don’t actually say anything. They just stand there trying not to stare at me perched precariously on the edge of the cement block near my office. I pretend not to see them so that I can finish the paragraph. The sun is really bright today and I am squinting to read from the pages of this paperback by Alex De Waal. Finally I look up and ask the boy “maa ismuka?’ The boy motions that he cannot speak, so I ask again in sign language. I point at him and then move two fingers across my chest. (What is your name?) He smiles, moves two fingers across his chest and points upward (My name is sky).

Friday is a high holy day when everything is closed. Last week the Sudanese government mandated that Friday and Saturday be enforced as the official weekend. The work week is from Sunday to Thursday. This has changed from time to time with combinations of half days and reduced hours and it will most likely change again.

The international community here - organizations and non-governmental organizations alike - generally adhere to this schedule as well. It would be a cardinal sin to disturb someone on a Friday here. Saturdays are generally used to catch up with report writing. But since I arrived in Darfur I find myself writing reports everyday. Until our activities get underway, reports on meetings are the best way for me to get my mind around the ten thousand different elements that make up the political, ethnic, economic, social, and conflict environment that is Darfur.

Chad exploded in violence yesterday with rebels threatening to overthrow the government. This war has major repercussions for the nature of our work here. The president of Chad is believed to have been supporting the rebel groups operating in Darfur. If he is ousted, then the rebels will have lost their main support and the war here could either completely evaporate or intensify as groups feel a need to dig in. It anyone will feel the effects, it will be western Darfur first and foremost. In north and south Darfur, we are slightly more removed but still following the situation closely.

14 photocopies later and I have authorization to travel

Today, Khartoum residents awoke to what I initially thought was a dense fog until one of the other guests at the hotel informed me that it was a mini-Haboob.

Let me explain.

The Haboob is a dust storm that typically consists of windy conditions and a dense cloud of sand dust. So instead of airborne particles of water that create the mist we associate with fog, we get airborne sand. Sound like a housekeeping nightmare? It is. I remember eating sandwiches at the beach as a kid and always finding at least one bit with speckle or two of sand. Imagine that scenario times one thousand. Everything edible really has to be covered, or it will certainly be full of sand. Sand manages to creep in through cracks between the window and the wall, under the door, and every time you enter or exit a building or room. That means that mopping is a constant chore.


Three years ago, Khartoum was exposed to a centennial Haboob that featured much stronger winds and dumped tons (literally) of sand onto the city. Here is a picture. It is not altered in any way. I am glad that happens only once a century.

Tomorrow I travel to North and South Darfur and I am looking forward to seeing our offices and getting my feet wet.

More news to follow...

Sightseeing is over - back to the grind stone

NOT LONG NOW IS THE PATH TO DARFUR

Since my last entry, I have not had a lot of time for sightseeing. It has been work work work to get the program off and running. Lots of paperwork to file to qualify as an organization authorized to operate on Sudanese soil. The authorities has a special office dedicated solely to the management of all the international and national nongovernmental organizations operating in Sudan called the Humanitarian Authorization Commission or HAC. The HAC has put into place an extremely cumbersome series of rules and procedures to regulate everything international NGOs or INGOs do in this country. For instance, how long an INGO can advertise a position and where. HAC officials will inspect the list of candidates and administer their own tests to determine if they are truly qualified and participate in the final decision-making process that determine who your organization will hire.

INGOs must file reports on their activities and accomplishments, explain whether they have departed from their initial plan, and present qualitative or quantitative proof that they have reached their goals. HAC has also required INGOs to reapply for an operating license every year in January, so every year, non-Sudanese staff members are forced to leave their posts and wait in the capital Khartoum until their license is renewed. The process can take as long a month or be over in a matter of days. It all depends of your ability as an organization to follow-up on the paper pushers and have all the forms prepared well in advance.

I applaud the government of Sudan for its efforts or I would, if.....

I was very surprised to see this level of attention from authorities about the work of INGOs. My experience elsewhere in Africa has been that governments could care less about the fate of their citizens let alone the efforts INGOs are making to assist them. If these rules and close scrutiny are meant to ensure that Sudanese citizens are getting the best possible organizations to help them emerge from the current crisis, then I applaud the government of Sudan for its efforts.

For full disclosure, I should point out that some (read many) do not see this "special"attention in such a positive light and believe that the rules and bureaucracy are actually meant to slow down the effectiveness of INGOs and place additional constraints on their ability to operate in the areas of conflict where foreigners (read "witnesses") are not welcome. The same criticism is extended to the rebel groups who also place restrictions on the access of INGOs to cities and villages in areas not under government control.

Not to play devil's advocate (OK, yes, I will), but wouldn't you want your government to have this level of scrutiny if your city or state had over one hundred INGOs from every country imaginable on a mission to save you, your schools, hospitals, farms, children, women, youth, and businesses? I know that the chosen system of accounting here acts more as a hindrance to the operations of INGOs than a facilitation of relief assistance, but I think a middle way is definitely necessary. In fact I think governments should be required to assess and facilitate actively any relief operation, so that they can be directly associated with the recovery of their nation.

What would have happened?

What would have happened had 40 Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Irish, French, British, Swiss, Australian, Cuban, and Senegalese INGOs flown into New Orleans during the Katrina calamity and rescued all the people, built new housing, provided medical assistance, psycho-social counseling, organized truth and reconciliation commissions to bring unresponsive government agencies to account, and invoked the international criminal court to investigate violation of international humanitarian law? Okay, yes. It would have been great for the people of New Orleans. I know. But think about whether people would feel that they could trust their government to come to their assistance when it was all over.

No.

Confidence in government tends to drop to an all-time low during a major humanitarian operation and that only decreases further the chances for a constructive and inclusive reconstruction period in the post conflict period -- if there is a post-conflict period.

Does that mean that HAC is my new hero? The piles of forms in quadruplicate originals, and quickly developing cramps in my left hand say, eh, no. Not really. Particularly since, for all the surveillance and bureaucracy, there does not seem to be much more than passive interest in whether conditions are actually improving. Now I have only been here for a short while, so I will let you know if my opinion on this point changes. But at this stage, I highly doubt it.

A little cultural note to quench your thirst

I will end today's entry with a little cultural note about something you can see everywhere on the streets of Sudan and (or so I am told) in much of the Middle East - free water!!! The stories vary greatly as to why, but many people place ceramic jugs in front of their houses to offer to the public. In some cases, a sign explains that the water is in honor of a relative who has died and those who drink are invited to say a prayer. In other cases, just the act of offering water to the thirsty is a positive karma-building machine. Ceramic pots have micro pores that evaporate tiny amounts of moisture and keep the contents very cool. Imagine 50 degree water in 120 degree heat, and you get the idea. Now, if they would only come up with a ceramic refrigerator, we would reduce our carbon footprint immensely.

Now back to those forms.....

Sights and Sounds of Khartoum

Museum hopping and Sufi dancing


I was fortunate to be allowed to join a group of tourists to take in the sites in Khartoum. This was my first opportunity to really see the city and also to learn how Sudanese represent themselves through history, art, and religion.
















The first visit to the ethnographic museum was an interesting glimpse into some of the Sudan ethnic groups but the lack of details and informed guides to understand the traditions and practices of the peoples portrayed, I felt like little more than a voyeur. It would have been nice to have at least one person with a vested interest in informing the public of the meaning and purpose of the ethnographic museum other than to say that Sudan has over 500 ethnic groups and 150 languages. Still the display of traditional clothing, pottery, and hunting and fishing tools were interesting. I think you all would appreciate the image of the hippo hunting spear that involved embedding a spear in a heavy object like a trunk of a tree and then releasing it from a limb of a tree to kill a large mammal or stun it long enough to move in to kill it. Really innovative and brutal at the same time. Okay, that may be a boyish thing to have highlighted so I will move on.


We also visited the national museum, which contained a lot of history about Nubian civilization. Egypt is referred to as lower Nubia at times in the same way that Sudan is referred to as upper Egypt in their national museum. I was particularly interested in the transitions from ancient religious practices focused on the Ram god Amon to Christianity and Islam.

The guide underlined several times that Christianity came from the north and not from the south, making direct reference to the long-standing north-south conflict that took on a Islamic north versus Christian south tone as the conflict gained political support from outside interests. Sudan still has pyramids but unfortunately most of its monuments were flooded and submerged when the dam was built on the Nile. Lots of Sudanese tourist visit this free museum and it was heartening to see children reading about their own history with interest and pride. I hope to visit the pyramids from the Kush and Moroe periods on one of my vacation days.

For a speed session on Sudanese history, I highly recommend a visit to the Republican Palace Museum where the story of Sudanese independence is told with seemingly little attempt to mask the ugly sides of the tumultuous history. The section devoted to the rise and fall of presidents mentions military overthrows in the same breath as college diplomas. It is also a good museum to see some of the gifts that local associations and foreigners have bestowed upon the Sudanese heads of state. If you like cars, a quick tour of the silver shadows (Rolls Royce) of the past presidents is also worth a look. The museum is housed just across from the presidential palace and in an old church that was moved to another location. No mention how you move a church to convert it into a museum, but the curators retained many of the religious references in the building, so it felt respectful of the history of the building as a place of Christian worship.



The greatest highlight for me was the visit to the Friday sundown Sufi gathering in the older part of the city called Omdurman. The visit began with a drive through a cemetery composed of very shallow graves with makeshift tombstones made of stone, metal, wood, or plastic. When we saw the thousands of these earthen mounds all around the vehicle, conversations in the vehicle ground to a halt. It was hard to believe that we were actually driving into this site. I felt as though I was violating the sanctity of the place just being there. But then further down the road we saw a huge gathering of people in white tunics but also colorful patchwork tunics. These were the members of more than 40 different Sufi sects that make up the dominant religious in Sudan's northern populations. The Sufis are members of an Islamic sect that believes in praising God throughout our lives in thought and in deeds and use music and movement to drill home that realization.

The Friday sundown event takes place in the middle of this graveyard, bringing up thoughts of our own mortality as the members swayed to the beat of the drums, moving their arms in a pumping motion on either side of their bodies, singing out praise in the same way congregations would yell out "Amen" in a Baptist or AME church. It was really an uplifting environment. It reminded me of the Powwows I have attended in Indiana with the Pottawatomie tribe. At some point, members took off their shoes to dance in the center of the circle that had now become a place of worship. Mosque officials helped to keep the momentum of the energy constantly building by changing the chants and bringing incense for the crowd to cleanse their minds and bodies. The twirling dervishes were less formal or graceful than the ones you may have seen on stage touring the world, but the intensity of their movements and expressions on their faces told me that this was the real deal and not some performance for onlookers. I was approached twice by members of the Mosque asking whether I could feel the rhythm in my heart and whether I wanted to join their group. I just smiled and nodded that I felt it. It was a heady experience. i do plan to go again before I leave Sudan and take more pictures and video of the event. Many people in the crowd also had cameras, so I know that will not be a problem in the future.

Perhaps the most bizarre part of the tour was the sight of the giant egg-shaped 5-star hotel that the Libyans are building in the center of town. It is not yet ready for visiting but I will keep you updated when it is.

Ma'a salaama

UNAMID missing a beat

The UN peacekeeping force for Darfur, UNAMID, entered into existence on January 1st of this year but has experienced a number of setbacks. The government has insisted that the composition be primarily African and many of the 7,000 strong African Union soldiers already in Darfur have changed their berets from AU green to UN blue to fill the ranks of the 27,000 strong force.

However that is still a far cry from the target number of 27,000. So far, very few forces have arrived to provide logistical and civilian support to this unit that now stands at around 9,000. See their website for more details. http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unamid/

The following article also says a lot about the current situation in terms of UN deployments. It does not reflect the security situation on the ground however which seems to be morphing from a proxy war into an open international conflict between Chad and Sudan. More on that later.

Sweden and Norway cancel plans to send troops to Darfur ©2008 AFP

Sweden and Norway said Wednesday they had withdrawn their offer of a joint force of 400 troops to be sent to Darfur as part of a United Nations-African Union mission due to Sudanese opposition. "Norway and Sweden have long been preparing to support the UN effort in Darfur. We therefore regret that we are forced to withdraw our offer of an engineering unit to UNAMID," the foreign ministers of Sweden and Norway, Carl Bildt and Jonas Gahr Stoere, said in a statement. The unit was to help build up Darfur's infrastructure in the early stages of the mission.

Click on the headline to read more ....

Sana sa'eedah! - Happy New Year!

The arrival of Eid al-Adha (January 9) and the Islamic new year (today) so close together has given the city of Khartoum a festive feeling. Lots of buildings decorated with lights. Today, the shops and banks were closed to celebrate the new year. I see people in the streets wearing their best and heading for mosques or parties.

I also have something to celebrate. An airport official facilitated the recovery of my luggage, which was tucked under a small mountain of other bags waiting patiently for their owners. Some of the bags were leaking liquids creating a small moat around this monument to lost luggage. Fortunately, my bags were visible and dry, and I was able to maneuver through the throngs of blissful travelers returning from the Hadj - religious pilgrimage - to pull them free. Getting out of the terminal was not so easy. The customs officers created a very efficient barrier to the bring the movement of persons and goods to a trickle, so that they could tag and subject people returning from their pilgrimage to searches and appraisals of their carts of boxes and bags.

I hope to leave for Darfur sometime next week. In the interim, I am going to get a chance to stroll the streets and take in the local culture. I did manage to find a falafel stand and I spoke my first sentence in Arabic while actually being understood. With confidence, I hope to build on that experience with an actual brief conversation about the weather. I may sound simple, but in this environment, any social contact is great progress. Sudanese do understand some English, but, unless educated, they do not engage willingly in the language of Shakespeare. Most of the people I have encountered answer my English questions in Arabic.

Now, excuse me as I revel in the unpacking of my new year's gift.

Ma’a salama

IT'S A LONG WAY TO KHARTOUM - especially via United Airlines, Lufthansa, Egypt Air, and Kenya Airways

Finally in Khartoum after many missed flight connections due to freaky winter monsoon and tornado weather that hit the Midwest just 24 hours after a major snow storm dropped 20 inches of snow on Indiana and Illinois. My luggage did not fair so well however and is still missing in action despite the arrival of several flights that should have or could have brought a new change of clothes. I am still wearing a sweater and jeans - not ideal clothing for a stroll in Sudan.

First impressions: Khartoum looks similar to Ndjamena- the capital of Chad (located just to the west of Sudan). There is a lot of sand on the sides of the roads, people dressed across the spectrum from conservative with full head dress and white or blue tunics (for men) to people in more western dress with blue jeans, bare shoulders, skirts, and high heels. Hard to say that I have any real feel for the city in only 8 hours, but first impressions are always a nice reference for future discussions.

I hope that my next entry will include praise for the ability of my airline to retrieve luggage. I would like to explore more of the city on foot and definitely do not want to have that experience in a warm sweater. The high yesterday was 78 degrees but it will gradually get hotter over the next two months.

This picture was taken from my hotel room. Gives you limited idea of the lay of the city.

Peace

Available modes of transport in Darfur

Leaving for Darfur

Following in the tradition of other bloggers who have aired their views on the unfolding events in Darfur, I will commence this blog of one person's odyssey to Darfur.

The apparent assassination of the U.S. official, John Granville, working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) who had been assigned to help to implement the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) between Sudan's north and south after more than two decades of civil war is very troubling. No sign at this time how USAID will react to his death. Granville's Sudanese driver was also killed in the attack. Intially, the US downplayed the possibility that the attack was the work of terrorists. Despite the animosity between the two governments, Sudanese do not normally display aggression toward US citizens in Sudan. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/world/africa/02sudan.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=5df99a677d101c6c&ei=5087%0A

On Tuesday night however, the American Embassy sent out an e-mail message to Americans in Sudan notifying them about the attack on the Granville, reminding them that terrorist groups continue to seek opportunities to carry out attacks against U.S. interests and warning of the risk of indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets in public places. Suggesting that the attack may have been indiscriminate.

I look very much forward to my stay in Darfur, but this news also reminds me of the dangers associated with travel to a conflict zone.

WHY NUBIAN KNIGHTS?

Knights, like the samurai of Japan, were a warrior class defending the people and bound by a code of chivalry that governed good conduct. I realize that this code was regularly broken in the quest for power or material goods, but the spirit of the knight fighting in defense of the people seemed an appropriate description of the modern-day humanitarian worker. The shiny land rovers and codan radio antennas may have replaced the steed and lance, but the mission is no less the same: to defend the honor and livelihood of ordinary people everywhere. Knights have been romanticized for prosperity sake, but this blog will avoid the Chaucer version and paint a more realistic picture of the personal and professional challenges knights face in the deserts of Darfur. I will include tales about myself, my hopes and aspirations for a stable and productive Sudan.

Most importantly, I will keep this site respectful of the people and peace process in Sudan.