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Name
djilali
-
Profession
Question
Can you please tell me when and how the Darfur problem start, and why just after the problem with the south ended the Darfur problem start?
Answer
The whole story did not start after the problems with the south ended, it started in April 2003 then it exploded as a military move in August 2003. The negotiations with the south continued till January 2005.
Darfur has been suffering from neglecting and lacking of services for the past 50 years. This is the problem of all the past governments and goes back to the lack of resources which were directed to the capital and the areas around it.
A developmental agenda appeared asking for development of the area but then this agenda changed into political demands due to several reasons like presence of negotiations of the south and things did not stop at that limit but extended to the redistribution of power and wealth in Sudan this made other parties in the east and west that this is the right time to offer their demands to be regarded in the new situation.
Other factors also combined like the movement led by Garang which helped find weapons and other actors from another the party led by Dr. Turabi helped the rebels politically in addition to the problems between parties in Khartoum.
Other analysis showed that the justice and equality movement is a basic arm in the national conference which helped the rebels in their movement.
Darfur is a vast area with special geographical circumstances and can not be fully controlled. It is a perfect place for gang fights based on the principle of "hit and run".
Another factor which helped this escalation was that Arabs ruled Sudan for long periods of time and it is time for the minority with African origins to rule so it was based on social base formed of 3 tribes AL Zaghwa, Al Masalit, AL Fur, all of which have African origins . The rebel then decreased relying basically on Al Zaghawa and some of the Masalit and Fur.
Name
Jamal Badawi
-
Profession
Question
The technocracy in Khartoum is now embracing and kissing up to the Iranian theocracy in Teheran without a moment's glance to the threatened nuclear combustion engendering religious and racial strife in Darfur. How can we reconcile these competing economic modalities?
Answer
The Sudani- Iranian relations are not new and started strong in the age of Sadek Al Mahdi and then developed in the first stage of the "saving era" when Iran helped the sudani armed forces but this changed and went slower later after the division of the Sudanese national movement into 2 parties. Now Al Bashir's visit to Tehran has nothing to do with the Iranian nuclear crisis, but it is simply a Sudanese trial to balance the international pressure concerning Darfur. There is strong help and aid from Egypt and less from Saudi Arabia but the US pressure was and still is very hard and working through many pathways whether through the security council, the media and accusing the Sudanese government of committing massacres and the direct pressure on Arab countries to prevent them from supporting Sudan and this showed clearly in the African summit when Sudan was deprived from the presidency post and also in the Arab summit which was almost meaningless due to the absence of most of the Arab leaders.
Name
Mahati
- Angola
Profession
Question
Hello Sir,
Mediators say the rebels insist that some of their demands, such as a vice president's post and a regional government, be met in full although months of negotiations have shown that compromises with Khartoum are necessary.
What is your opinioin ?
Answer
I think that the rigid situation of the rebels goes back to the wrong messages delivered through the US and the security council and insisting that there are massacres although the committee formed by the security council and formed of 5 honest judges showed that this is a lie.
The rebels felt there is international protection for them and that time is on their side and Khartoum government is weak. The results now show that they ask for too many demands that can not be met because Sudan now is ruled through the constitution that was amended in 2005
The international community agreed to this deal though the UN and partners of IGAD and approving these demands requires changing the constituion and this can never be done unless the national movement agrees which is almost impossible because it means mixing papers in Sudan from scratch.
This is only from the legal side but from the strategic point and Sudan's future, we should look at the peace deal with the south as a cause of dividing Sudan into north and South . The south is ruled by the National movement that has political and economic demands with the presence of a vice president for the south and participation in the government with 34%.
If we check the rebels demands we will find that they want the exact thing the South got, meaning combibnig 3 darfur entities into one and giving the new regional government unlimited power (90%)
in addition to the vice president post and keeping their armed forces during the transitional period.This means the redivision of the northern region in a western region (Darfur)the east will require the same thing which leads to a another region and the same will apply to south Sudan wich will make the north as 4 region area and each has its own problems and competing ralations with the other regions and hence Sudan will only witness a future full of divisions and absolute chaos as in Sumalia
we should never forget that south Sudan will have the right of self detrermination in 2011 at the same time it has many problems inside the region itslef.
Name
Mosaab
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
What do you think of the US huge demonstrations called by religious leaders to push US administration to stop what they called " genocide" in Darfur ?
Answer
think that these are supported by the Afro - American organizations and many Jewish ones which aim for putting more pressure on the Sudanese government. This is an extension of the previous policy followed by these organizations during the war in Southern Sudan when they described it as a religious fight between Muslims and Christians and described the north as dealing with the southerners as slaves. This was not true and was one of the tools of war against the system which had Islamic perspectives.
I think that these are supported by the Afro - American organizations and many Jewish ones which aim for putting more pressure on the Sudanese government. This is an extension of the previous policy followed by these organizations during the war in Southern Sudan when they described it as a religious fight between Muslims and Christians and described the north as dealing with the southerners as slaves. This was not true and was one of the tools of war against the system which had Islamic perspectives.
Now since all those in Darfur are Muslims, the claims are different, saying that it is genocide. This was negated by the international security council committee as we mentioned before. we should remember that the first accusation with genocide in Darfur came from the holocaust museum in the USA and other Jewish organizations in the UK played the same role. All these moves want to make Sudan an African country and end the Arab culture there and remove it from the political power. All these are goals that will benefit the USA and Israel once achieved.
Now since all those in Darfur are mulims, the claims are different, saying that it is genocide. This was negated by the international security council committee as we mentioned before. we should remember that the first accusation with genocide in Darfur came from the holocaust museum in the USA and other jewish organizations in the UK played the same role. All these moves want to make Sudan an african country and end the Arab culture there and remove it from the political power. All these are goals that will benefit the USA and Israel once achieved.
Name
Nazer abakori
-
Profession
Question
How do you assess the countries neighboring Sudan in terms of cooperation and mediating between rivals to help end this conflict ? and where is the Egyptian and Libyan role in this issue ? and do you think UN forces will be better to end this crisis ?
Answer
Concerning the neighbor countries some played a direct role as Chad and Eritrea and Libya and Egypt, these roles had many stages and changes. The most important was Chad who tried playing the role of the mediator due to the connection between Chad and Darfur due to the presence of crossing tribes and the president belongs to the Chad side of the Zaghawa tribe and as he feared to make enemies with Sudan he tried to play the role of the mediator but this failed for many reasons and Chad started helping the rebels and assisting them and supplying weapons.
Eritrea had many problems with Sudan for the past 10 years and it assists all the opposing powers to the present government and that's why it is now helping the rebels in Darfur for many reasons as the Eritrean president thoughts about strategic balance in the African horn between Eritrea and Ethiopia and Sudan, this is a very complicated issue but things were getting slightly better in the past while
As for Libya, stability in Chad and Darfur is essential for its own safety that's why it tries to keep its relations with all parties whether the government or the rebels , as for Egypt it only seeks help with all available means to keep the unity and balance in Sudan because chaos in Sudan means threatening the national Egyptian security directly.
I think that if the UN forces reach the region before signing the peace deal with the rebels it will mean a catastrophe coz it means that they stick to their demands and make no compromises and most Sudanese will consider these forces as invaders and fight them . the Sudani government itself refuses the presence of these forces unless a peace deal is already signed.
Eritrea had many problems with Sudan for the past 10 years and it assists all the opposing powers to the present government and that's why it is now helping the rebels in Darfur for many reasons as the Eritrean president thoughts about strategic balance in the African horn between Eritrea and Ethiopia and Sudan, this is a very complicated issue but things were getting slightly better in the past while
As for Libya, stability in Chad and Darfur is essential for its own safety that's why it tries to keep its relations with all parties whether the government or the rebels , as for Egypt it only seeks help with all available means to keep the unity and balance in Sudan because chaos in Sudan means threatening the national Egyptian security directly.
I think that if the UN forces reach the region before signing the peace deal with the rebels it will mean a catastrophe coz it means that they stick to their demands and make no compromises and most Sudanese will consider these forces as invaders and fight them . the Sudani government itself refuses the presence of these forces unless a peace deal is already signed.
Name
yak
- Nigeria
Profession
Question
Please on what ground should a governmment of sudan should be using janjaweed to terrorise thier fellow hu man being?looking from all the perspective religion or humanity its immoral?what do you think is a way forward b/c series of dialogue in abuja and other cities has not yielded fruitful result.
Answer
You are right, using violence against others can never be justified, but we have to look to this problem in the more political general aspect. The rebelions, when started, hit all the present facilties as banks and development projects and cars, killed people and citizens and the government did not have the essential armed forces to control this region which is half a million kms wide, bigger than France, trying to create balance the government called the national defense forces which were trained in a very short time to help protect the strategic cities and sites but because most of those who joined were originally from the Darfur tribes they used this chance to solve their problems and revenge from other tribes as tribal wars spread in Darfur since the 80s due to scarcity of resources and so the catastrpohe showed clearly in the region and the government can never be blamed alone but rebels were a prominent fatcor and this is very clear in the UN records which confirm that rebels attack commercial and economic targets as well as the African union forces.
Name
Sabin malik
- Ethiopia
Profession
Question
Which side is responsible for the crisis in darfur, especially it affect refugees who are still in disastrus case ?
