Three stories on Sudan from Al-Ahram Weekly, August 19-25

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Dragging feet over Darfur

Egyptian NGOs have sent a fact-finding mission to Darfur. But to what end, asks Gamal Nkrumah

At a time when civil society organisations in Egypt are still struggling to establish a convincing domestic role, they are being called upon to pull their weight in Sudan, and particularly over the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur.

"Arab governments, like governments everywhere, usually have a predictable agenda and set of vested interests. Arab civil rights organisations, on the other hand, often seem to lack a coherent agenda," Baheieddin Hassan, head of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights told Al- Ahram Weekly.

"Civil society organisations must have some clout and influence in Egypt before they can be expected to exert pressure on Sudanese affairs," says Hassan.

Dragging feet over Darfur....

To be alive

The lives of Darfur refugees in Egypt are harsh and, as Yasmine Fathi finds out, they feel at once grateful and guilty just to be alive

Millions in Egypt and the world over watched as heart-rending images of the horrors taking place in Darfur were broadcast. But perhaps those who are most keen to follow events are the refugees who managed to escape from Darfur, thousands of whom are now in Egypt. For them, what continues to happen in Sudan is a reality experienced first hand, one which will be forever engraved in their minds and hearts.

"I remember when I was 10. I was watching two of our women bring water from the wells with their babies strapped to their back, as is the norm in Darfur. All of a sudden three Janjaweed militias dragged the women away. First they raped the women and slit their throats. Then they beheaded the babies, cut off their genitals and put them into the mothers' mouths. Then sharp spears were jammed into the stomachs of the dead babies, who were left there to rot," Maki Maki, a 24-year-old Darfurian who has been living in Egypt for three years, told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Life in Darfur, highlighted Maki, was dominated by the constant fear of Janjaweed attacks. They would come early in the morning. Together they would clap and chant songs. "Then they would start burning, looting, and raping. The villagers would then flee to the mountains," he remembers. Maki was a primary school teacher before being charged with conspiring against the government and being arrested in Khartoum. However, he managed to escape the authorities and paid to get a visa into Egypt.

To be alive....

Sudan in the dock

Fresh violence breaks out in Darfur as Africa seeks to end the continent's most serious political crisis, writes Gamal Nkrumah

The conflict in Darfur, one of Sudan's poorest and least developed regions, has a military dimension. But the primary struggle is political, ideological and economic. Oil reserves have been discovered in commercial quantities in Darfur, and the protracted oil-fuelled war in Darfur is far from over. There is a lot of money at stake.

Fighting has recently escalated in several parts of Darfur, a sprawling area the size of France. The Sudanese government and the armed opposition groups have accused each other of instigating the new bout of fighting.

The two main armed groups in Darfur -- the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) -- point an accusing finger at the local Arab militias, better known as the Janjaweed, claiming that the militiamen are masquerading in Sudanese government troop outfits, and that many of the 6,000 government policemen ostensibly keeping the peace in the province are actually Janjaweed.

Sudan in the dock....