SudaneseDrima
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May 20th, 2008
Sudan: Sami al-Hajj Released, Khartoum Attacked
· 09:55 · Sub-Saharan AfricaThis round-up highlights the two most talked about recent topics in the Sudanese blogosphere.
Let's get started with the release of the Sudanese al-Jazeera journalist Sami al-Hajj from Guantanamo Bay where he was held for six years without trial.
Eman was evidently happy:
إنتو حاسيـــن بالأنا حاسة بيهه؟؟
هل إنتو مبسوطيــــن زيي كدة؟؟؟
She asks “can you feel what I'm feeling?? Are you as happy as I am??”
Drima had this to say about the matter:
I’ve held a very simple position on this matter. Give the man a fair trial, and if he’s found guilty, lock him up behind bars for as long as possible. If he is found innocent, release him as soon as possible. That’s it. Full stop. Is that too much to ask?
Amjad blogged about Sami's release but then removed his post for a vague reason stated below:
I just want to point out that the post of Sami Al-Hajj's interview which I posted 2 nights ago is now removed. The post took another path other than the one it was opened for, and hence I thought it would be best to close it to avoid that path it was not opened for.
We believe that Sami Al-Hajj was released on humanitarian basis and we should all just hope that the entire world lives in peace regardless of race, religion or politics.
Thanks. :)
Daana, just like Eman, was also happy after hearing the news of the release:
Sami al Hajj is free….after 6 years in Guantanamo Bay
I haven't been this happy in a while
And now, let's move on to the news about the attacks on Khartoum, Sudan's capital. Drima blogged a thorough coverage of what happened:
The Darfurian rebel group Justice and Equality Movement mounted a bold attack on Khartoum less than two days ago but was stopped at the outskirts of the city by the Sudanese Armed Forces. It was a big battle involving helicopters and significant aerial bombardment.
… There are very mixed and heated Sudanese sentiments over this daring move with some (mainly the Southern Sudanese and some Darfurians) staunchly supporting it and others against it.
As for me, I strongly condemn the attack. The United States and the UN have condemned it too. I’m glad they’ve made it clear they won’t accept this kind of behavior. It undermines all efforts aimed at implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and finding a political solution for Darfur.
Andrew Heavens, a freelance writer based in Khartoum made a nice list of the possible reasons behind the attack:
- A bloody PR move to get JEM some headlines
- Retribution – to bring some of Darfur's suffering to Khartoum
- Humiliation of Khartoum and exposure of holes in its security system
- Chad-backed revenge for the two Khartoum-backed rebel raids on N'Djamena
- The move of a mad, power-hungry warlord
- A move to break the stalemate in the Darfur peace process AKA Operation Longarm
- Distraction while JEM prepares for an offensive on El Geneina
- A genuine coup attempt
- The first stages of a coup attempt to test for support among army and opposition
- Creating chaos in the capital leading to the breakdown of the state
Kizzie demanded that the government steps down!
The rebels are in the capital. Yes, innocent civilians are going to die and destroying the capital is not going to help the crises in Darfur in anyway, but it was going to happen…sooner or later.
What to do?
We need a transitional government right now, Bashir needs to STEP DOWN!
Hand over the power to a transitional government for the next year, until the 2009 elections.If the government doesn't take this seriously and implement the darfur peace agreement, the whole country is going to collapse.
If the concerned international community cares about Sudan, they should pressure the government to step down.
She also posted the following pictures of the aftermath of the attack:
Meanwhile, JohnAkec published a long post about peace in South Sudan.
2 comments · »»April 20th, 2008
Sudan's Looming War
· 11:01 · Sub-Saharan AfricaSudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement may possibly collapse if the bad pile up of misfortunes continues, but before we go into that, let's proceed with the good news first.
Drima is ecstatic about a new book by the Sudanese Muslim scholar Abdullahi An-Na'im whom Irshad Manji hosted as a guest recently at her latest initiative, the Moral Courage Project. An-Na'im's book is called “Islam and the Secular State” and here's what Drima had to say:
… from what I’ve read so far I know it will be super juicy.
These are some of the ideas Abdullahi presents in it:
* “I do believe that it is possible, indeed necessary, to reinterpret Islamic sources in order to affirm and protect freedom of religion and belief. This is my position as a Muslim, speaking from an Islamic perspective, and not simply because freedom of religion and belief is a universal human rights norm…”
* “The possibility of belief in anything logically requires choice in the matter, as one cannot believe in anything without the freedom and ability to disbelieve it.”
I don’t know about you but this certainly excites me - a book full of concrete Islamic arguments challenging the current Islamist status-quo of the Muslim world.
Amjad, a Sudanese student in Texas is impressed by the strict enforcement of rules on his university campus:
Our university police department is very strict regarding the speed limit on campus and parking at places you are not permitted to park at.
… I saw this car in front of my dorm with a locked wheel and a notice from the police department stuck in the window warning the owner of the car NOT to attempt to move his car
… Now this is really harsh but still great.
He's also amused by vending machines selling iPods.
On a totally random note, Zoulcolm X posted pictures of a Nubian pyramid in Northern Sudan and the burial place of a famous Sudanese Muslim religious leader. He seems to imply a relationship between the two photos:
Can you see?
Pyramids of The Royal City of Meroe (North Sudan) - Period: “Zaman lil deen” (too freakin old)
“Maqam” of Shikh Kabashy (Shrine) - A Sudanese Sufi Sheikhwhat do you see?
And now for the bad news and worried sentiments.
Sudanese Returnee explains the dangerous situation eloquently:
Abyei, that oil rich region in the North-South border, is arguably one of the most sticky issues that threatens the CPA and could possibly draw the country back to the cycles of war!
Today, Northern troops entered Abyei after the NCP expressed their objection to the appointment of an SPLM Administrator for Abyei.
… Recently, SPLA soldiers were reportedly attacked by heavily armed Misseriya gunmen and fingers are being pointed at the NCP in Khartoum for arming them. Now the northern army is building up in Abyei and who knows what will happen tomorrow!
In case you're wondering, the Misseriya are a nomadic tribe regarded as ‘Arabs' by Southern Sudanese. As for the potentially deadly situation, Kizzie has an idea:
Dear government of Sudan and SPLM,
If you are planning to start another bloody civil war, evacuate a few villages and kill each other there.
Meanwhile John Akec isn't happy over Southern Sudan's seeming trend towards what he refers to as ‘assassination politics':
A well known South Sudanese secondary school teacher from Greater Bhar El Ghazal by name Mathon Mathon often said under Abakr Tree (The Wau's answer for London's Trafalgar Square):
“When a war breaks out in a county, it is not the earth that gets destroyed but people's morals.” In the South Sudan's war against the North, they did.
… Now, how far would you expect our morals to sink. All that because of our lust for power and feeling of extreme insecurity once in power. And a manner akin to King David of old, many of our leaders commit the sin and then murder to cover it up. Assassination is a virus once it infects, it spread like a wild fire and. Once started, it is hard to be stopped.
We now end this round up with another lovely short poem by Ras Babi:
2 comments · »»she keeps her eyes down and whispers to me:
ras babi…
ras babi…
do you see this dressed in green and red man?
I feel her shaking from the in
I hold her hand in mine
she explodes crying
and crying
This man raped me with others
he killed my child
cut the head of my tent
that man is a devil son
do not buy their news
do something
tell the world
March 13th, 2008
Sudan: The definition of a blogger and an open letter to the president
· 10:40 · Sub-Saharan AfricaSince this is another round-up of Sudanese blogs, it is only appropriate that we begin with a proposed definition of what a blogger is, one expressed with a picture.
The Definition of a Blogger… or to be more specific, a political blogger, especially in our super democratic part of the world.
Speaking of blogging, Sudanese Returnee has finally returned to it after his three months long absence. He talks about an interesting experience he had centered on killing positive ideas:
… I was dumbfounded to listen all that negativity! Maybe the new returnee was even more shocked than I was. He did not say much after that. The rest just went on with listing all classic excuses of the impossible, killing this new returnee’s positive ideas in the process.
When I sat in a bar some hours later downing some cold Henieken, I discussed with another older returnee and I came to believe that I was like that new returnee not too long ago. In Juba, or Sudan in general, you see things that you know can be improved. Most of the time you know how to improve the situation because you have seen it somewhere else. You’d want to help every begger in the street, ask every kid in the street why they are not going to school, give a lift to every sick person dragging themselve to the hospital, buy medicine for that mother who can not avoid and so on. Life can be very complicated!
In Juba, some people would think you are mad if you keep sharing positive ideas.
I still have to meet and talk to the new returnee and share notes. I will do want I can to help this sister, but I have also come to learn that there are those who want to be helped, and others who have given up.
Sudanese Returnee also shared his observations on Juba just as Drima, The Sudanese Thinker expressed his on calls by the president of Sudan to boycott anything Danish in response to the republication of the Muhammad cartoons.
Amjad, a Sudanese studying in Texas, was amused by a phone call he received from Obama urging him to vote even though he is not a US citizen:
I have never thought that I would really one day blog about the American presidential elections, until last
ThursdayTuesday when I got that call from Barack Obama. After that call, I started listening to his speeches on his YouTube channel, and the video above is the speech he gave the other day at Texas primaries, here in San Antonio, TX. I don't know but I just started admiring him…I heard that he was supposed to come here to my city but for some reason he didn't. I guess the only cities in Texas he was recently at are Houston, San Antonio, Beaumont and Dallas. (not sure about the latter). A few weeks ago we had Bill Clinton here, though. If Barack Obama ever came here I would love to take a picture with him…
Meanwhile Kizzie took time to write a passionate open letter to Sudan's president Omar Hassan al-Bashir:
Dear Mr. President.
I really can't tolerate your government any longer. It's a criminal regime in every single way.
For the last 19 years, you've tortured, killed, looted, traumatized and you've failed to stabilize the country.… We don't trust you Mr. President. You've failed us too many times. You've dishonored too many “peace” agreements.
I don't feel safe in my own country anymore.
Millions are living like refugees in their own country.
If we complain, you prosecute us.
We've been silent for 19 years.
Now, it is time to speak. It's time for you and the world to hear our voices.
… We don't like your violent ways. Remember what you did in Nuba mountains, remember the Jihad in the South, remember Darfur, remember the ghost houses in Khartoum, remember the soldiers buried alive in 1990- no, they were not planning a coup, remember the mothers complaining about their 15 year old sons being forced to fight a war they don't believe in.
A war we never understood.
You've had your cake, you've licked the plate and you've broke the plate…now keep your shattered plate, we are buying a new one.
Jah Guide, also known as , like previously, posted a short political poem about the Sudanese regime:
0 comments · »»blood in their hands
For Darfur
blood in their hands and money in their pockets
they are selling our future
the mark of devil is on their heads
this is my black list
brothers and sisters
vote for it.
February 17th, 2008
Sudanese Blogosphere Reaches New Milestone
· 16:02 · Sub-Saharan AfricaThe Sudanese blogosphere is starting to build momentum. Blogs written in English are quite active now showing the genuine, diverse and raw face of Sudan to the world.
On the other hand, blogs written in Arabic have mushroomed at another corner of this vast online space. They’re just as important as those written in English (maybe even more important) and they’re explicitly leveraging the power of the internet to practice their right to free expression.
Sudanese Bloggers is an official community of Sudanese bloggers writing in Arabic. Amna is a member. She is a human rights activist and has a brave post translated by a friend of hers from Arabic to English about how she was sexually harassed by a journalist at a pro-government newspaper:
Then He asked me if I wanted to work with him and I told him that was what I wanted.
… He then, and in an unrespectable manners, went on mentioning that everything has its price while at the same time placing his hand on my knee.
… He jumped at me and tried to pull me towards the bench by the wall while murmuring with dirty comments. At this moment, even his looks changed and he became like a real monster. As I was resisting him, I told him I would scream loud and ask for help. But he laughed and told me to do whatever I wanted and that no body would come for my rescue.
Overwhelmed by fear, I slapped him very hard on his face using my hand. Surprisingly, he let go of me and I ran for my safety passing by the secretary and few others who seemed were not interested to notice anything unusual.
One blog in Arabic called Un-Masking Islam is vehemently anti-Islamist. Imad on the other hand chose the slogan of the Muslim brotherhood, “Islam is the solution,” for his blog. Both are members of Sudanese Bloggers. Even Black Gay Arab is.
As the Sudanese blogosphere continues to expand, bloggers discuss a variety of topics. Amjad is now getting settled in his university in Texas after leaving Oman. He had a few things to say about the color red:
While Saudi Arabia is banning all red items from sale until after February the 14th (Valentine's Day), everything in our university is turning into red because of this so-called Valentine's Day…
AK commented on Spielberg's withdrawal from his artistic role in the Beijing 2008 Olympics to protest what is happening in Darfur:
Someone is going to get mad and I think it's going to be China! I've heard speculations about this for months now, and Spielberg has been under a lot of pressure from various groups (Save Darfur, et. al.) to take this move. Obviously Beijing is going to try to play this down, but they will be furious.
… I can't wait to here the smart things Khartoum will have to say about this.
Drima (who is writing a book about blogging and freedom of expression in the Muslim world) was amused by Spielberg's news:
Ahahahahaha! It’s true!
… Like I said, the coming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are already too tainted. Seriously, let’s move the games to Taiwan.
Kizzie on the other hand however had a different opinion:
Spielberg, are you scared of George Clooney not acting in your movies again or what? Did Hollywood pressure you into doing it? well, bravo. Instead of reading about Darfur and using your brain, you did the dumbest thing ever!
And as usual Jah Guide drops his poetry:
1 comment · »»God runs in me
God in the river and in the sea
someone like you Rumi
Sufi
beautiful
I see Rumi
just like that
love you
I see
December 30th, 2007
Sudan: The Aftermath of the Teddy Bear Circus
· 09:44 · Sub-Saharan AfricaNot surprisingly, about a month ago the Sudanese blogosphere's main topic and attraction was the teddy bear circus which received a huge amount of media attention.
Drima, The Sudanese Thinker found it unbelievable:
The whole thing is just so unbelievably pathetic. Clearly it’s an honest and innocent mistake. Oh no, how stupid can I be, she’s a white British infidel so it must be a freaking Zionist CrUSAde and Jewish conspiracy. Right? Raaaight!
… This isn’t the first time the school finds itself in the midst of a controversy, albeit one surely not as big as this. Back in the 90’s when beloved al-Turabi was still in power and his version of Sharia was being shoved down our throats, the school came under pressure to change the girl’s uniform. Many Islamists hated the fact that girls wore skirts and mixed with boys. Now we have this.
Amjad was equally critical and shocked at what he called “stupid”:
Three words: This is ridiculous.
How on earth would a British teacher know that naming the teddy bear Mohammed would insult our prophet, especially that 20 out of the 23 children CHOSE to name the teddy bear Mohammed and she wasn't the one naming it?
Why are they assuming that the teddy bear was named after our prophet (PBUH)?
This is really stupid! And they closed down the school till January just because of this! oh my god.. I really can't believe this.
Kizzie, Wholeheartedly-Sudaniya clearly wasn't happy:
WHAT?!
A British schoolteacher has been arrested in Sudan accused of insulting Islam's Prophet, after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.
The police force doesn't have anything to go except arresting 54 year-old kind Gibbons!
Black Kush wasn't pleased either and wished the British teacher well:
Go well, Mrs Gibbons. I hope you dont bear grudges against the Sudanese people. The ragtag group into whose hands you fell are a minority and does not represent us at all. I wish you well.
Rara Avis offered her thoughts too and on a none related note, Sudanese blogger Path2Hope is now studying in the United Kingdom:
0 comments · »»I must admit that no matter how much I abhor words like “deadline” and “assignments” there is something really refreshing about going back to student life. The solidarity that you feel with your classmates/colleagues transcends age and race and that’s truly something.
November 12th, 2007
Southern Sudan Has a New Health Hazard
· 15:18 · Sub-Saharan AfricaWe begin this round up of the Sudanese blogosphere with Drima's announcement of the launching of Sudan's DailyVoices and Iraq's DailyVoices. He recently came back from a conference in which he was happy to meet Irshad Manji, a Canadian Muslim feminist.
Amjad seems happy too but for a different reason:
This morning I went to my interview at the American Embassy in Muscat for my student visa application. Have I mentioned that my final decision is to go for Texas Tech University? I got admitted to Texas Tech al-hamdulillah to a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering program.
… I gathered my documents & everything then went to the interview. It went very well al-hamdullah and everything was smooth.
He blogged about a new documentary on Darfur:
The documentary, Darfur Now, has been released yesterday, November the 2nd, on a limited release. I just hope I can get a copy to watch as soon as possible. I guess it's a good documentary to show those people who don't know about Darfur's issue, to show them & aware them of what is really happening in Darfur.
Daana, contemplated the idea of using clean and renewable energy to power Sudan:
Sudan is suffering widely from under-development and most areas of Sudan do not have access to basic services, let alone energy or power. Is it possible that we could convert to the use of alternative energy sources that we are so abundantly blessed with? After all we have plenty of water that is not being utilized, the sun shines all over the country almost all year long, and wind energy is easily produced.
Kizzie, Wholeheartedly-Sudaniya blogged about a Sudanese novelist:
I just heard about “Travelling with Djinns”, a book written by Jamal Mahjoub. Mahjoub was born in London to an English mother and a Sudanese father. He was brought up in London and Khartoum.
Dr. Konyokonyo tells us about a new annoying menace facing Southern Sudan:
1 comment · »»Anyone who steps into Juba will definitely notice that there are as many motor cycles as there are people! It is utterly unbelievable.
Long time back, motor cycles are very few. Post CPA there is a flock of imports, especially new model call Senke. The bad side is that it is the young people, barely ten or or years who cruse around town in them. And there are the accidents.
Doctors know long time back that when the mangoes are in season, many children will be admitted to hospital with mango fractures, sustained due to a fall from a mango tree.
Now the trend is in the senke. They almost make accidents every single day. One time, they were really piled up at the traffic police station. What a menace! These young people also drove them while intoxicated.
Senke has become a health hazard.
October 16th, 2007
Sudan: When Death Becomes Normal
· 14:34 · Sub-Saharan AfricaFor most of us, witnessing someone’s death can be a traumatizing experience. However, when you’ve been surrounded by it for a long period of time, it’s just “one of those days” and no big deal. This is what SudaneseReturnee discovered after spending years abroad in Europe and upon returning to Juba, Southern Sudan, a place that witnessed two decades of bloody war:
For ages, I never knew the reason why I always thought I’d die young. In Juba, people talk about tragedy and death may be more often than Europeans talk about the weather.
… Just after 2 days in Juba, something happened that stunned me. I was seated with some friends at home under the night sky.
… then an loud screams of what sounded like pain, confusion or freight.
… It was an accident… His head was totally deformed… it looked like he died instantly when he was hit by whatever hit him. Then I heard someone say there was another fatality.
… He clearly looked dead, but some people would still kneel down to feel his pulse and without any emotion announce “aaah, de intaaha!” (this one is finished!)
… They were brothers from the same mother!
… The crowd slowly dissolved into the night… for most of them, it was just another day in Juba. For the mother and me, this day we shall never forget.
SudaneseReturnee was also feeling ill. He tried looking for Dr. Konyokonyo but couldn’t find him in his clinic. Maybe that’s because Dr. Konyokonyo was busy blogging a post on prioritizing health issues in Southern Sudan:
How do you chose which problems to tackle first? When the GOSS [Government of South Sudan] came on, they promise quick fixes for lots of things like building hospitals, clinics and health centers where none existed before. Old hospitals will be rehabilitated. Health surveys were done in all the states. What happend next?
It is unfortunate that many of the promises have fallen down the drain… We need priorities in health.
Drima, The Sudanese Thinker blogged about how a child was used for a failed assassination attempt:
Eyewitnesses said that an unknown man in the audience handed an explosive device to a child and asked to proceed to the podium where Kodi was present. However the device exploded before the child made it to the podium
He also posted this picture of Omar al-Bashir's recent visit to Italy in which he met the Pope!!
Little.Miss.Dalu expressed her thoughts on FGM as sexual violence:
I titled this entry “FGM as Sexual Violence” because I believe female genital mutilation is an act of violence against a woman's sexuality. The act objectifies her, her body is defiled and her sexuality is violated (silenced, removed, seen as unimportant). Her body an object set up for the pleasures of another (her husband). It's about control, put under the guise of “protection of purity.”
Wholeheartedly-Sudaniya asked the question “Darfur: who wants peace?”
… A rebel attack that killed at least 10 peacekeepers at an African Union army base in Sudan's Darfur region has sparked international condemnation.
(source)
I wonder what Darfurians have to say about this ” here we go again….the selfish idiots want to stop the peace at any cost..”
The Sudanese American commented on Khartoum’s recent crackdown on the SPLM:
This is the kind of things that makes efforts to keep Sudan a unified country more difficult. It sends the wrong message, not only to Southern Sudanese, but also to the Northerners. With national parliamentary elections coming up in two years, hopes that the “unity government” would pave the way for democratic change, and the ruling National Congress party would accept election results, are now in doubt.
Last but not least, allow me to end this round up of the Sudanese blogosphere in a symbolic manner by bringing you Path2hope’s post entitled “New beginnings”:
I’ve arrived in England and I’m happy to say that the weather did not disappoint, it was grey and windy with a bit of showers just like I expected.
… Tomorrow I take a train and head off to the university, Lord knows what I expect to find but I’m hoping for the best:) wish me luck!
While there are certainly positive things happening in Sudan, there are far too many negatives taking place. We Sudanese need a new beginning.
5 comments · »»September 14th, 2007
Does anything good ever happen in Africa?
· 11:07 · Sub-Saharan AfricaThat was the provocative question Sudanese blogger, Kizzie received from someone quite recently:
We were in America and a famous Jewish-American human rights activist/writer/professor invited us for lunch. We talked and talked about the middle east/Islam/immigration/human rights issues and when my professor suggested they ask me something about Africa because I'm from there and I know alot about my beloved continent. This is what she told me ” Does anything good ever happen there?”. I can't describe how I felt at the time because its too complicated. I'm not sure if I felt angry or sad. I think I felt both. I also felt her Afro-pessimism rub on me. I felt it clinging to my skin and as I tried reminding myself of the good things in my continent .I still couldn't recover to my old-self.
… Africa is not darfur,rwanda, dictatorships,underdevelopment or even AIDS.
Speaking of Darfur, Black Kush blogged about another round of peace talks aimed at halting the tragic conflict:
What had exactly been agreed in the meetings remain to be seen. Which of the rebel movements are attending? How about SLM leader Abdel Wahid el Nur?
He also posted the following cartoon:
Little.Miss.Dalu, a Sudanese in America, wrote two interesting posts, the first about racism among Sudanese, and the second about her identity as a Sudanese American.
I'm going to be absolutely honest here, even though it's not going to be fun to hear. Or rather read. But, generally speaking, Sudanese folks are very ethnocentric
… I had some Arab Sudanese friends and we clashed a lot when it came to religion and race, which in retrospective is really ridiculous because we were just kids! Now I know our clashes and the shit we said to each other were things handed down to us from our parents. I once beat the hell out of a kid because he used the term abeed/abid [slave] on me, and another time slapped a girl, who I was friends with by the way, because she said my skin color was like zift (tar).
… We are ALL SUDANESE DAMMIT.
On the issue of her identity as a Sudanese American:
… I consider myself Sudanese foremost, but to my relatives home, who I don't even know but force myself to speak to occasionally, I am all American. To Americans here, I'm that Sudanese girl. For me it's both and sometimes neither (that's where the whole citizen of the world hippie shit comes in).
Drima, of The Sudanese Thinker authored a revealing article entitled “Khartoum, a City of Sharp Contrasts” about the alcohol and drug-fueled, wild parties that happen behind closed doors in the capital of Sudan.
SudaneseReturnee is happy, yet nervous to be returning home to Juba.
And from Juba itself, Doctor Konyokonyo has a post about AIDS in South Sudan:
The down side is always that apathy sets in and many young people just shrag it off as just another disease too. But is it? Long time ago in the mid 80s, it is considered a disease of Congolese in Sudan, mainly prostitutes etc. Only those who visit these places get it. It is a sad fact which is still the case in South Sudan.
The Abstinence is impossible in the young, the Being faithful hard for the married, and the Condom? It is not always available! Well, there are those who think it takes the “sweetness” out of the sex!
Zoulcolm X is angry at the mistreatment of Sudanese in Egypt:
The news about egyptian soldiers shooting sudanese refugees while trying to cross the borders to Israel really pissed me off. cuz during the last year hundereds of egyptians arrived to work in Khartoum, they took over small jobs like construction and resturants services..those workers are not put in ghettoes, they are treted well, in simple words, they are having a good life.
… sudanese immigrants in Cairo streets suffer something more than getting shot to death at the borders, or kicked by egyptian police force, or facing stupid egyptians racism. they are also killing each other yub, blieve it or not, sudanese immigrants started forming their own gangs in the streets of Cairo.
… but why is that happenin? why we don't have egyptian gangstaz here in Khartoum? is it because they're not black? they came here and took our jobs and they having a good time, but my people go to egypt and be treated like shit and die for nothing.
Path2Hope on the other hand is feeling sad due to the loss of a person she knew who died as a result of the incompetence of the medical profession in Sudan:
The extortionist, sorry I meant doctor examines her after she has paid the required fee for his “services.”
… the genius comes to a conclusion, “she has suffered a stroke”.
… They arrived a few days later in Jordan, where the doctors proceeded to give them one shock after the other. The good news was that she never had a stroke but the effect of the medication on her aging body had done measurable damage but there was hope – there always is. After all, she only had a lack in calcium.
… It’s been almost a month since she passed away, her body couldn’t handle the effects of the wrong medicine. Ina lil-lah wa ina ilehi raje’oun (we belong to Allah and to HIM we shall return).
There is however something cheering Path2Hope up :
7 comments · »»Walking around the neighborhood I detect the strong scent of “hilu-mur’ (Sudanese juice) and every house I enter people are hanging out their “shermoot” to dry (meat that is later dried and grinded to add to food) all these are tiny reminders that Ramadan is just around the corner. I’ve always loved Ramadan, there is something truly magical about this month especially if you happen to find yourself in a Muslim country.
August 21st, 2007
Will Sudan Always be Africa's Largest Country?
· 18:44 · Sub-Saharan AfricaAs the Sudanese blogosphere continues to grow, we're increasingly witnessing more activity and hearing more diverse voices coming from it. Allow me to take you into its recent conversations.
Ayman Elkhidir, a Sudanese blogger residing in Dubai is on a holiday in Sudan at the moment. He blogs a post expressing his disdain towards the people's driving habits there:
People in Sudan drive like they were riding their camels and donkeys a hundred years ago. There are absolutely no traffic rules. Priority at intersections is decided by who has a stronger guts. Even traffic lights, when found, are badly designed that if you follow them, you’ll definitely crash. To make that clear, imagine that both opposite lights for those going forwards and those turning left are green at the same time. So if you’re turning left or making a U turn, you should be prepared for the cars coming from the opposite side coz their way is clear as well.
A new Sudanese blogger named SudanEase, talks about the recent floods in Sudan:
this August’s rain season in Sudan this year has turned out to be disasterous to the people of Sudan and the goverment who have droughted their own resources on several insignifcant issues such as the installment of a new currency. With limited resources and standing mostly alone to face this predicament the nation is failing to resist nature at its worst. The goverment helpless and under heavy criticism were forced to turn a blind eye. Up till now 67,731 houses were wrecked by the rains, of which 31,540 were damaged beyond repair.
Kizzie came up with a random thought about the possible separation of South Sudan:
In about 4 years, the Sudan will no longer be Africa's largest country.
Daana found it saddening:
I just read Kizzie's Random Thought, and it saddened me. Is that really where we are heading? Isn't there any hope at all?? Not even a glimpse? I don't think that we ever gave this country a chance to survive. From the time of British colonialism policies of separating the two parts of the country were strongly implemented, and ever since that time we have been distracted from working together to working against each other. Why didn't anybody try to give this country a chance to be?
After celebrating his one year blogging anniversary, Black Kush tells us of the news of Sami El-Hajj's possible release from the Guantanamo prison:
August 15, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Washington has asked Khartoum for guarantees that detained Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj will not leave Sudan before it releases him from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, his brother Asim al-Haj said on Wednesday.
Little.Miss.Dalu puts the spotlight on the construction of a large dam in Sudan known as the Meroe Dam and the loss it will cause to archaeological treasures from the days of the ancient Nubian Civilization:
The Meroe Dam already poses a humanitarian crisis. It will displace more than 50,000 people who live along this isolated region of the Nile, growing dates and herding sheep and goats. But the project is also creating a cultural heritage disaster largely ignored by the international media, UNESCO, and private preservation groups. Thousands–perhaps tens of thousands–of ancient sites are likely to vanish underwater as early as next year without even cursory examination.
She's not happy about it:
4 comments · »»I pretty much am too frustrated/sad/helpless to make any intelligent commentary on this. :( As someone who is known to swear like a drunken sailor, I can't help but read the title of this article as “Damning the Sudan.”
August 7th, 2007
Sudanese bloggers pay tribute to political hero
· 11:01 · Sub-Saharan AfricaThis week the two main topics the Sudanese blogged about are on the late politician and former vice president Dr. John Garang and Sudan's acceptance of the Darfur UN resolution.
Sudanese Returnee was one of those who blogged in honor of Dr. John Garang:
The late Dr. John Garang is probably the greatest Sudanese politician in history. A Christian and a southern Sudanese from the Dinka tribe, Garang had a different view of what the problems of Sudan really was, and a clear vision/solution to these problems.
Black Kush honored Dr. John Garang in another post of his own too:
Two years ago, the former freedom fighter and Vice President of the Sudan Dr. John Garang de Mabior died in a helicopter crash in the junlges of South Sudan. In his honour, the Sudanese lit candles, laid wreaths and pledged support of the CPA. However, the expectations of the peace is slowly turning into desparation.
Black Kush also blogged about Sudan's recent acceptance of the Darfur UN resolution:
Sudan has won a huge diplomatic coup with its acceptance of the new hybrid force for Darfur. UNAMID (United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur) will be a force that follows Sudanese demands: African structure, no chapter seven, no force disarmaments, no threat of sanctions. As the FM said, Resolution 1769 was made with their full consultation.
Kizzie wrote an excellent post about Sudanese inferiority complex.:
We constantly bring ourselves down. We dislike ourselves. We are always trying to be something we are not. We view ourselves as inferior and others as superior. We need to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery!
The dream of the average Sudanese girl is to marry well and have a lighter skin. Lighter skin is viewed as beautiful (Sudan is not the only one in this case!).
She also wrote a post about the poor Arab coverage of Darfur. In it she mentions Nabil Kassem, an Arab who made a documentary on Darfur called Jihad on Horseback.
The Sudanese Thinker, applied a simple SWOT analysis on Sudan.
Konyokonyo, a Southern Sudanese doctor in South Sudan wrote about the problem of alcoholism there:
Just a few days back my next door neighbour was found dead in his house. Friends say he had been drinking all the hight before. And the diagnosis: “ketuk”! Last week another guy was brought into my clinic, very sick, with signs of liver failure. He had a very long history of drinking.
There are many stories in Juba in the past, with very similar endings, like people being found dead under trees. Now the phenomenon has gone up several scales for the worse. Many people are talking about the epidemic of drinking in Juba, but nobody cares to do anything about it. The unfortunate thing is that people continue to drink during working hours, in the offices.
And last but not least, Amjad, a Sudanese in Oman is at it again with another movie review:
2 comments · »»So yesterday evening I finally got the chance to watch The Simpsons Movie with a bunch of friends.
…All in all, the movie was very good, but if you didn't watch it yet, I recommend waiting for the DVD release. It is worth watching, but not worth being watched in the movies.
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