Comment & analysis
Is Judgment Day near for Omar al-Bashir?
Kwesi Kwaa Prah
2009-04-30, Issue 430
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/55953
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Mahmood Mamdani’s recent article Beware of human rights fundamentalism substantively goes through the reasoning the author has repeatedly made over the past few years regarding the Darfur imbroglio. This time he is offering gratuitous advice to former South African President Thabo Mbeki about the arguments he should make to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and interested parties on how to deal with the African Union's (AU) call for him to negotiate a postponement of the ICC’s indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.
Leading a panel and mandated by the AU, Mbeki has started work on a possible African-led resolution of the crisis in Darfur. The panel has been advised by AU members to call for a year’s deferment of the process of the ICC war crimes indictments against Sudan’s president. The eight-member panel includes three former African heads of state: South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, Burundi's Pierre Buyoya and Nigeria’s General Abdusalam Abubakar.
During the opening session of the exercise at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa various delegates argued that the ICC indictments against President al-Bashir will in effect undermine attempts to arrange peace in Darfur. The suggestion is that deferring the ICC indictments will allow time for African-led peace efforts in Darfur to take firm shape. Mbeki argued that the AU charter claims primary authority over African peace and security issues: 'The African Union has taken the clear and unequivocal decision the continent must act not only to end war and violent conflict in Africa, but also to ensure that where war does anyway break out, all belligerents must know that war crimes, crimes against humanity and other abuses will be punished resolutely, and that a culture of impunity will not be permitted to take root and entrench itself.'
There are certainly legions of problems with the self-appointment of the ICC to sit in judgment on all of us when we are neither all in agreement with the terms of the mandate or the moral credentials of the powers that be. These are general considerations. Its use cannot be ruled out however. Slobadan Milosevic, Charles Taylor and Thomas Lubanga are clear cases in point. In the specific instance of President Omar al-Bashir and his genocidal project in Darfur, is judgment day is near?
Taking a page from the book of the South African settlement which brought apartheid to a close, Mamdani’s plea on behalf of al-Bashir is that, 'The rationale was simple: where there was no victor, one would need the cooperation of the very leaders who would otherwise be charged with war crimes to end the fighting and initiate political reforms. The essence of Kempton Park can be summed up in a single phrase: forgive but do not forget. Forgive all past crimes – in plain words, immunity from prosecution – provided both sides agree to change the rules to assure political justice for the living.' In other words, the recommended course of action should be based more on political expediency than justice. There are many who would swallow this suggestion, in spite of the bad taste it leaves in the mouth. Some will also argue that in light of the history of Arab–African agreements from time immemorial in the Sudan, the peace, if it is so loosely structured, will degenerate into a 'practico-inert'. We must remember that the Kempton Park meetings formally ended apartheid. Will al-Bashir end his brutal and genocidal policies in Darfur? Kicking out humanitarian NGOs does not speak well for magnanimity and reconciliation. As Abel Alier, the Southern Sudanese former vice-president under Muhammad Ja'far Numeiri, put the case in his book with the same title, there have been 'too many agreements dishonored'.
Mamdani argues that, '[W]hen the justices of the ICC granted the prosecutor's application for a warrant to arrest the president of Sudan, they were not issuing a verdict of guilty. The justices were not meant to assess the facts put before them by the prosecutor, but to ask a different question: if those facts were assumed to be true, would the president of Sudan have a case to answer? Unlike court, which took the facts for granted at the pre-trial stage, we need to ask: to what extent are these facts true? And, to the extent they are true, are they the whole truth?' He then proceeds to present supposed historical facts, but which are in fact of impeachable standing. Mamdani writes that, 'The racialisation of identities in Darfur had its roots in the British colonial period. As early as the late 1920s, the British tried to organise two confederations in Darfur: one "Arab", the other "Zurga" or black.' This is incorrect. Zurga is Arabic for blacks (plural) in Darfur. Its singular version Azarek means blue. 'Green Arabs' is another term used to describe the black but slightly lighter Arabs mainly of the Reizigat and Messariya ethnic groups. In the south, blacks are described as Aswad (blue) or Sudd. All these racially-loaded words are Arabic in origin, not English. They existed long before Darfur was incorporated into the Sudan in 1916. The British simply built on usages which were societally current.
To suggest that 'Arabs never constituted a single racial group. Contemporary scholarship has shown that the Arab tribes of Sudan were not migrants from the Middle East but indigenous groups that became Arabs starting in the 18th century' is misleading. Regarding the people of Darfur, P.M. Holt and M.W. Daly, in their A History of the Sudan write that, 'The Arabization of the Northern Sudan resulted from the penetration of the region by tribes who had already migrated from Arabia to Upper Egypt… the Fur… [a]lthough surrounded by a flood of immigrant Arab tribes, … succeeded in establishing a dynastic Muslim state which was not finally extinguished until 1916.' In Darfur, as in other areas of Sudan, Arab and African cannot always be physically recognised. Most people are black, Arab or African. The difference is cultural and ethnic not racial, in much the same way as Jew and Arab, Pakistani and Indian, Protestant and Catholic in Ireland, and Japanese and Chinese are not visible differences. In Darfur both Arabs and Africans are overwhelmingly Muslims, but many Arabs regard the Africanist cultural influences in the Islam of the Africans as tainted. Furthermore, Africans have their own languages and do not have Arabic as a home-language or mother-tongue.
Much of the contestation is admittedly over resources. However, the use of rape, pillage, looting and scorched-earth policies to uproot the African ethnicities is now known to the whole world. The idea of lightening the colour of Africans through rape is common. Depopulated areas are then systematically resettled with Arab ethnicities, even non-Sudanese. The Sudan Tribune of 7 May 2008 reported that, 'There are around 120,000 of them who came from Niger to Wadi Saleh. This also occurred in north, west and south of Zalingi. They are building new villages for them in these areas. This is a serious matter. Khartoum clearly is continuing its policies of repopulating Darfur with tribes from other countries.' This is only the tip of the iceberg.
In the Wall Street Journal of 18 June 2008, Abdel Wahid al-Nur, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), argued that, 'We must prevail to preserve the unity of Sudan. In a truly democratic and secular Sudan, neither the South, nor Darfur, nor any other region would be tempted to secede… We must prevail to stabilize the region and spread democracy. We must prevail to help Sudan return to its natural, legitimate geopolitical place – which is the African continent and not the Arab or Muslim world. At the same time, we must forge new alliances, no longer based upon race or religion, but upon shared values of freedom and democracy.' The sagacious course of action to right the wrongs wreaked on the people of Darfur is to give them back their dignity and a chance to shape and control their destiny. They must have regional autonomy and self-rule along the lines of the South and the Beja country. Most importantly the Arabisation of Africans must stop.
* Kwesi Kwaa Prah is the director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS) based in Cape Town, South Africa.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.
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It happened that I attended a lecture by Mahmood Mamdani on "Political Violence in Darfur and the War on Terror", in The Hague April 17th, 2008. He touched on various themes on which he filed sharp criticism against literally everybody, including Darfur IDPs and refugees, except the GoS. To name a few, he:
1) Blamed EU for not continuing to pay the salaries of former AU troops in Darfur.
2) Called ICC a Mickey mouse, an institution that indicted only government guys and not the movements guys, and works to please those who do not support (USA)
3) Violently criticized SDC's approach for complaining, accusing it as not being a campaign for peace but for war (exemplified by his comments on "send UN troops to Darfur"
4) Advertised his bitter disapproval of UN’s way of tackling the crisis.
5) Accused camp dwellers as preferably going to camps to escape the repercussion of draught.
6) Referred to causes of conflict as being environmental degradation, land redistribution and militarization of Darfuris done by neighbouring countries (example Chad)
7) Tried confidently to justify that GoS had not had any involvement in Darfur crisis before 1989, totally missing the bull's eye by being ignorant of Arab Belt sponsored by Mahdi's government. He also justified that GoS involved after 1989 in Darfur to reform land use and ownership by taking some lands and giving to those who do not have land (camel herders), totally missing the point that GoS wanted to evacuate the farmers to offer the land to China to do oil business.
8) Criticized both Spielberg and Mia Farrow as being unaware of the oil in Sudan, a commodity which US government is trying to get in hold of.
9) Practically all other activists on Darfur crisis, Prendergast, Reeves, Ponier, Sharif Harrir got their share of bitter disparagement.
During 1:30 hours time, he has not even remotely comment negatively about Russia, China and GoS.
The only way I can describe this fella is "he is a perfect example of an old African school of thinking which is persistent in putting the blames of his own mess on colonial period without himself accepting any responsibility of his shit" According to him, a perfume coming from outside smells like shit but a shit from his own is a perfume. He seems to be either a person with western-complex or a person who has been given a well of oil by his friends in Khartoum.
Ahmed M. Mohamedain, Darfur Daily News
I think MR.Kwesi Prah is a bit confused.His title is about judgement day for Bashir,yet he is criticizing Prof,Mamdani,claiming that Mamdani,is pleading on behalf of Al Bashir,i stand to be educated,but what Prof. Mamdani says,is what was said by the AU,the Arab League(which Mr Kwesi would rather never hear off,as his anti-arab sentiments show),the Non-aligned Movement and even Senator John Kerry who said the ICC ruling complicates things.
However,as someone working in the linguistic field for quite some time,I find odd that a word means something in plural different from that it means in it's singular form.Mr.Kwesi says zurqa in plural means blacks for Dar Fur,in singular azarek,means blue.Good God how?
If Mr.Kwesi did some more research in Sudan,he might have learnt about the battle that the Sudanese Nationlist Movement waged to stop a practice by the colonial administration to write the tribe of every new-born in his birth-certificate,and to write the nationality as Sudanese,a visit to the Statistics Department,of the National Archives wouldn give you an idea.
As for arabization,i don't know what you exactly mean,but if you read what the late Dr.Garang,may God Bless His Soul,said about the arabic language.Ethiopia,is still using Amharcic as an official language,that did not change the Tigray,or the Oromo,or the Anuwak.South Africa is using the English Language.Nonetheless Sir,South Sudan Government is using English.
Moreover i would remind you that 80% of the arabs live in Africa,from Maurtiania to Sudan,and until recently,in the OAU charter,member states refused to mention Arabic among the Official languages,because Arabic is an African Language.
The Article about official languages reads:
African languages,as much as possible ,in addition to English,French,Portugese was added recently.
Going to the scriptures,one finds yet a stronger bond between the Africans and the Arabs.We learn of Haggar,wife of Abraham,mother of Ishmael,ancestor of the arabs.I hope you know that the said Haggar,is an African,a Nubian Princess from ancient Nubia,present day Sudan.
Sudan is a founding member of the OAU,now AU,of IGAD,and of the Sahel and Sahara.
The interaction bewtween Arabs and Africans dates back earlier than the 18th Century.Ethiopia granted the followers of Prophet Mohammed,political asylum,in the early days of Islam,7th Century.Ethiopia had commercial ties with Arabia since those days.
I wish we can have a more objective debate,to solve problems,not add fuel to the fire.
Nadir Salem
I taught at the University of Juba at the time of conflict/war. We had done several researches. Prof Prah was there also for some time. it is true the Sudanese "race" amy look similar in terms of skin, features, life style, and even language. The problem is one of the identification.Some identified themselves as Arabs and some as Africans or non Arabs. This identification is based on the benefits and threats, mainly of survival between artificial "groups". Because Sudan was a desert-nonfertile, poor land with the past techonology.Should the economy change, and should the opportunity increase for all, such identification will fade away.Some of these threats were imaginary rather than real. North South war was more on imaginary, egoistic, "supremacy" related threats.
Dr Ramesh M Shah