Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – Sudan is at the heart of a complex diplomatic maneuver, as humanitarian aid groups from the United Nations launch alerts as to the gravity of the humanitarian situation in Darfur, the western region of the country, from which 13 foreign NGOs have been expelled, as part of President Omar al Bashir's reaction to a warrant issued for his arrest by the International Crime Court (see Fides 5/3/2009).
The President, in direct opposition to the Court, has begun a series of visits to various African nations. Bashir supposedly risks being arrested every time he steps outside the country, however the majoroty of the Arab and African nations have expressed their opposition to the arrest warrant for the Sudanese President.
Bashir's March 23 visit to Eritrea and March 25 to Egypt, and today's trip to Lybia and perhaps Ethiopia, are an attempt to break the isolation of the Sudanese regime and a test of African nations' solidarity with the President.
It just so happens that two of the countries he is visiting, Egypt and Ethiopia, are home to the Nile River, the control of which is one of the most delicate in the entire area. Egypt in particular has launched an appeal to the African and Arab NGOs to substitute the humanitarian aid organisations from the West who were expelled from Darfur.
According to humanitarian groups of the UN, by the beginning of May, if no other organizations step in to take care of distributing food, over one million people could be left without food and medical assistance. This prediction is even more alarming, as it is the result of a joint study performed by experts from the UN and the Sudanese government.
In a strange play of media broadcasts taking place on the various trips being made by Sudan's President (who is planning to visit Qatar at the end of March, for the Summit of the Arab League), the United States television broadcasting station “CBS” has done a report showing that in January, a military convoy was attacked, transporting contraband weapons on their way to the Hamas movement in Gaza. According the US station, the convoy that had left from Sudan was destined to stop in Egypt and later in Sinai, where the weapons would enter Gaza, using the network of tunnels used by local smugglers.
At first, the raid was attributed to American planes, later to Israeli planes. The governments concerned have not yet commented on the news. Sudan Communications Minister Mabrouk Mubarak Saleem has stated that a 17-truck convoy was hit, causing the death of 39 people of Sudanese, Ethiopian, and Eritrean nationalities. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 26/3/2009)
