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Journal Entry for December 2, 2003

Sitting here at 8am on December 2 with a nice breeze waifing in Khartoum air. The scent is a bit musky but not unpleasant and it is cool. Opened the windows in the middle of the night and turned the AC off. Yahoo says the temp will range from 65 to 89 today and it'll get into the high 50's for lows this week. Beats Belize by miles. Woke up to birds singing and the occasional cry of a distant hawk.

Went to Nyala, capital of Southern Darfur yesterday. Took 3 1/2 hours of flying each way. Went with UK and EU Ambassadors to highlight our concern over the conflict there. The Wali (governor), a tough military man (and possible war criminal) had stopped the UK ambassador and me from making previous tries to get there. He was absent yesterday.

We met with state government officials, NGOs and then with a group of tribal leaders. The Wali had tried to stop us from meeting them but we insisted. The leaders of the two main Darfur opponents -- Arab nomad tribes and the Fur tribe (African farmers) -- both gave us their sides. We encouraged them to make peace. (The Arab nomads have been trying to drive the African farmers from their land. Both are Moslem.)

Some of our group went to a camp of people displaced by the war. They are in bad shape. Darfur from the air looks absolutely barren and it we'd call it desert.* But Greater Darfur has 6 million people and as the Sahara spreads south, they have less good space and thus fight for it. I find it hard when I am in such a place to grasp how the people who live there and the people who live in the First World, North America or Europe, could possibly be on the same planet. The distance between realities is so great.

*2014 Note:  Darfur does look very arid to an outsider.  But it gets just enough rain when the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone moves north.  The Jebel Marra region sticks up into the clouds and can get enough rain for agriculture and pasture.  It's thus worth having.

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Journal Entry for November 28, 2003

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I missed being in Pittsburgh. But we carried on the traditions here in Khartoum. Had 20 fellow Embassy folks, Americans from all over the US. We all wanted to be somewhere else, with family and friends, but here we were. I said a few words of thanks, for all the loved ones and people back home who give us the reason for being here to serve and for each other. I hugged everyone who came. We all had good food and a good time. Tradition carrying on.

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The status of the Nuba Mountains remains unsettled.

Journal Entry for November 17, 2003

It's getting hard to keep things in perspective. I went from dealing with the serious issues left by the recent threat and meeting with embassy staff (American & local) to discuss this with them to a phone call from the Director General. You can bet on how I looked forward to the Ops Center connecting him to me. Sure enough, not good news. Not a late recognition of my deserving advancement or a word on how well I was handling the current crisis. No, he wanted to tell me that AID Director* thought he had not been treated well enough during his recent visit. Then I went to see the Egyptian ambassador for a scotch and a chat. I enjoy talking with him. Home for dinner and then after dinner, I discover the back lights are out. In the current context, makes me predisposed to paranoia. Then I talk to USAID Washington about a food shipment being held up by a rebellious Agriculture Minister. There is an open feud over this pitting the Minister against the Vice President (and "strong man") and Foreign Minister who told us last month that we could ship despite GOS concerns over GMOs. (Hardliners vs "moderates.") The senior USAID official (who was on the trip) told me we have only days before the food problem will lead to costly diversions. (But "no", he knew of no problem with Andrew.) Then the RSO calls me to tell me the government is already withdrawing police from our facilities including some from my residence. I'm beginning to wonder just what the early signs of coup would be here. I call the desk just to chat. They feel good because the peace delegations had a good meeting in London. (For all I know, they were talking to dead men walking.)

 

What part of this do I take seriously? I don't think I can handle all of it. Think I'll concentrate on police guards.

*Note:  Andrew Natsios was the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), 2001-06.  USAID was a hotbed of USG support for the "Christian" African rebels (SPLM) fighting the Khartoum government in southern Sudan.  The SPLM boosters within the USG did not like the Embassy constantly raising the distracting issue of Darfur.  But Natsios also understood the need to be seen doing something about Darfur by sending food aid while the Sudanese government went ahead with its ethnic cleansing there.  (Natsios reportedly said in a 2003 interview that the total cost of rebuilding Iraq would not cost US taxpayers more than $1.7 billion.)

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Note:  SBU means Sensitive But Unclassified

News Item of 9/16/2003

News Item

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Nov 16, 2003 (AP) -- The U.S. Embassy reopened Sunday after a temporary closure due to terrorism threats against American interests in Sudan.

A brief statement from the embassy said officials were conducting a "constant review" of the security situation to determine if it may be necessary to close the embassy again.

The embassy has been closed since Tuesday following what was called "a credible and specific threat" to U.S. interests in the capital. U.S. and Sudanese officials did not give details on the nature of the threat.

On Friday, the U.S. State Department alerted Americans to terror threats in Sudan and told them to avoid travel to the northeastern Africa country.

Although Sudan remains on the United States list of terror-sponsoring states, Washington has applauded Khartoum's efforts to combat terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and said it would review its sanctions once the government signs a final peace accord with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army.

Peace talks are to resume in early December on ending civil war that began in 1983 when rebels from the mainly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north. More than 2 million people have been killed in the war, mainly through war-induced drought.

Sudan hosted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and the region has been cited as a possible haven for terrorists.

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