Khalid Al Mubarak
Email: khalid.mustafa@btinternet.com
Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Cited in Review of New Book on Sudan Partition
Date: 29/03/2014
By: James Copnall
London, Hurst and Company, 315 pages
ISBN 978-1-84904-330-4
During a roundtable discussion at the British Think Tank Chatham House, the Russian Parliament’s Foreign Committee Chairman, Mikhail V. Margelov boasted that when he was an envoy to the Sudan and visited Darfur, his fluency in Arabic enabled him to speak to ordinary citizens as well as officials, read local newspapers and assess the situation much better than other international envoys and UN employees who accompanied him. He praised the Sudan’s implementation of all CPA commitments and acknowledged that promises that were made to our country were not honoured.
This new book, which was launched at SOAS – University of London on 25 March 2013 is another example of the importance of first-hand long-term knowledge. James Copnall is not an Arabic speaker like Mikhail Margelov; but he was BBC correspondent in Sudan 2009-12 and got to know the country and people very well. He has written a well-researched, well-informed book which is peppered with anecdotes, jokes and interviews with senior Sudanese and other politicians.
Short case-studies anchor the book securely in real life.
Compared to other books by Sudan watchers, this is a most impressive contribution. The author – in the best tradition of objective BBC reporting – does not close an eye to the questionable and controversial policies vis a vis the Sudan.
He documents that P. Lyman, President Obama’s former envoy admitted in Nov 2012 the US’s smuggling aid to the isolated areas of South Kordofan. Food is sent ostensibly to help civilians (without the permission or approval of the Sudanese government); but “…in practice, the US has no control over the goods it provides once they go over the Sudanese border” This reminds us of Operation Lifeline Sudan in which the UN was used as cover for feeding the SPLA during the second civil war.
Politically, it explains why SPLA-M negotiators scuppered the attempts to provide UN vaccination last November. They are only interested in their combatants and the US is feeding them well. The US knows that the rebels cannot overthrow the central government in Khartoum; but they can annoy it, unsettle the region and cause a drain of national finances.
The book contains another open admission by a US politician. The former Bush administration official J. Frazer said that her country “has not kept its promises” to the Sudan, but blames the Sudan-the victim- of US celebrity and lobby distorted policy.
US miscalculation in the Sudan was driven according to the editor of the Pan-African News Wire (Abayomi Azikiwe) by the desire to undermine the Sudan. He told Russia Today in December 2013: “I think they were interested in weakening the Republic of Sudan…and also lessen the influence of the People’s Republic of China in Sudan”. That’s why “they” were impatient to reach the Referendum before even settling the borders, the debt, oil, citizenships and other vital matters.
In another Frazer quotation she says that US congress members “grandstand” on Sudan to please their domestic constituencies. What is unsaid is that the most effective plank of these domestic constituencies is the Israel lobby.
Copnall cites another example of international community Sudan policies. JEM fighters based in South Sudan were about to reenter the Sudan. “Sudan was dissuaded from attacking the vehicles inside South Sudan by the British and the Americans”. When they were eventually bombed heavily, six bombs fell just South of the border. “The international outrage was directed at Sudan, for another unprovoked attack on South Sudan. The new country was not criticised, despise the fact that Darfur rebels were on its territory”.
To his credit, James Copnall dared to cite the documentation of the investigative US journalist Rebecca Hamilton of the “informal” “Council” of persistent operators who (behind the scenes) worked for tens of years to split the Sudan. Ted Dagne, Eric Reeves, Roger Winter and John Prendergast, wrote a prescient warning of instability in South Sudan (July 2013). Copnall correctly notes that the Council was “not a lone voice”. We know that John Prendergast was a key player in Save Darfur Coalition which was formed by the Israel lobby in the US (as reported by the Jerusalem Post and the Darfur authors Alex de Waal and Julie Flint). The author reports that Israel supported the first (1955) rebellion in the South and that John Garang leader of the second rebellion)was trained in Israel, to which all anti-Sudan campaigns seem to lead, openly not in a hushed manner. Although the book devotes space to the SRF (Sudan Revolutionary Front) that tries to unite Darfur rebels and SPLM-N, he has no illusion about their prospects: “Even together, there is very little chance of the rebels overthrowing the State”.
Mr. Copnall’s insight in relations between the two Sudans is far-sighted and balanced: “Sudan and South Sudan are joined by more than a name and their people will have no choice but to write a joint narrative for many years to come”.
Mr. Copnall’s book is thesis-like full of footnotes and a good index. As I said during the launch at SOAS, its only shortcoming is that it tries to do too much. This led to some points that need a comment. He quotes Tayeb Saleh’s criticism of the government’s early years which was widely disseminated in the media in English; but seems unaware of the hour long Arabic interview with Khalid Al Ieisir weeks before his death. The great patriot praised the government and had very harsh words for its foreign sponsored opponents. He actually visited the Sudan and met President Bashir.
The book also seems to accept the premise that the National Congress Party stands almost alone. There are two flaws in this assumption. The first is that the NCP has passed through stages. In 2005 it accepted an interim constitution that enshrines the description of the Sudan as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious multicultural country. The South shared power and wealth and Dr. Garang (a Christian) became 1st Vice President. Leaders of the opposition, including the communists returned from London and took op seats at the National Assembly. Today there is a communist party center in Khartoum but none in London or Washington. The “international project” was quietly side-lined and a pragmatic Sudanese project replaced it.
The author, who is not a practicing politician, seems to think that the desire to remain in power is a sin or crime. It is not, especially when a party leads a broad coalition without which it could not have survived for 25 years.
Mr. Copnall repeats what has also been written by Andrew Natsios, George Bush’s former envoy about the hegemony of 3 tribes in the Sudan. This overlooks the fact that the word tribe in the Sudan has lost most of its demarcation characteristics. Thanks to the railways, the Gezira scheme and schools, people have moved away from their ancestral areas, intermarried and lost the historical prejudices that are still a cause of friction in both Darfur and South Sudan.
The claim (voiced also in JEM’s inaccurate Black Book) that river Nile Sudanese are 5% of the population is a glaring error. The heartland of the Sudan which includes the river Nile basin population, the capital and the Gezira are the most populous part of the Sudan. It is also the most productive (for historical reasons and the most modernised and detribalised). The population in the Northern Province (Nile State) is limited indeed because the majority have migrated southwards and towards the towns and cities all over the country.
It is also interesting that the author, who documented the austerity riots of September 2013 seems to support the IMF recipe that led to them. Is the government wrong even when it is right?
He objectively and honestly refers to the “closed districts” policy that encouraged the growing cultural and religious divide (a fact which is avoided by many writers whose integrity is not comparable to his) but goes on to overblow the statements of Tayeb Mustafa and Al Bagir Al Afif that are a distortion of the true Sudanese psyche.
A reading of Mr. Copnall’s countryman’s book “Bloody Foreigners” (The story of Immigration to Britain by Robert Winder) will show that the legendary British Tolerance which is admired the world over did not coalesce out of the blue. There were in history episodes of prejudices and atrocities; but the real character of the people shone through in the end. The Sudan is not different
Two more points:
The risk in demonising the moderate NCP (despite its proven record of ability to adapt, reform and change course), witness the CPA and a Christian as first Vice President, is not only Sudanese. It is the wrong message to the real extremists and fanatics in Africa and the Middle East – that moderation is met with sanctions and suffocation. “Why be moderate if the result is what the very moderate Sudanese face” they would ask.
The Sudan is not perfect; but this should be said bearing in mind that the most advanced democracies are still grappling with security and intelligence regulation (as Mr. Snowden has shown), with the balance between freedom and responsibility (as the deadlock over Lord Leveson’s report shows) and with the taming of the market (as the financial crisis has demonstrated)
Our stern judges and critics should be more modest.
This a very good book, which I will keep as a reference and will no doubt read again.
Email: khalid.mustafa@btinternet.com
Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Cited in Review of New Book on Sudan Partition
 |
| Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, in Press TV graphic. |
By: James Copnall
London, Hurst and Company, 315 pages
ISBN 978-1-84904-330-4
During a roundtable discussion at the British Think Tank Chatham House, the Russian Parliament’s Foreign Committee Chairman, Mikhail V. Margelov boasted that when he was an envoy to the Sudan and visited Darfur, his fluency in Arabic enabled him to speak to ordinary citizens as well as officials, read local newspapers and assess the situation much better than other international envoys and UN employees who accompanied him. He praised the Sudan’s implementation of all CPA commitments and acknowledged that promises that were made to our country were not honoured.
This new book, which was launched at SOAS – University of London on 25 March 2013 is another example of the importance of first-hand long-term knowledge. James Copnall is not an Arabic speaker like Mikhail Margelov; but he was BBC correspondent in Sudan 2009-12 and got to know the country and people very well. He has written a well-researched, well-informed book which is peppered with anecdotes, jokes and interviews with senior Sudanese and other politicians.
Short case-studies anchor the book securely in real life.
Compared to other books by Sudan watchers, this is a most impressive contribution. The author – in the best tradition of objective BBC reporting – does not close an eye to the questionable and controversial policies vis a vis the Sudan.
He documents that P. Lyman, President Obama’s former envoy admitted in Nov 2012 the US’s smuggling aid to the isolated areas of South Kordofan. Food is sent ostensibly to help civilians (without the permission or approval of the Sudanese government); but “…in practice, the US has no control over the goods it provides once they go over the Sudanese border” This reminds us of Operation Lifeline Sudan in which the UN was used as cover for feeding the SPLA during the second civil war.
Politically, it explains why SPLA-M negotiators scuppered the attempts to provide UN vaccination last November. They are only interested in their combatants and the US is feeding them well. The US knows that the rebels cannot overthrow the central government in Khartoum; but they can annoy it, unsettle the region and cause a drain of national finances.
The book contains another open admission by a US politician. The former Bush administration official J. Frazer said that her country “has not kept its promises” to the Sudan, but blames the Sudan-the victim- of US celebrity and lobby distorted policy.
US miscalculation in the Sudan was driven according to the editor of the Pan-African News Wire (Abayomi Azikiwe) by the desire to undermine the Sudan. He told Russia Today in December 2013: “I think they were interested in weakening the Republic of Sudan…and also lessen the influence of the People’s Republic of China in Sudan”. That’s why “they” were impatient to reach the Referendum before even settling the borders, the debt, oil, citizenships and other vital matters.
In another Frazer quotation she says that US congress members “grandstand” on Sudan to please their domestic constituencies. What is unsaid is that the most effective plank of these domestic constituencies is the Israel lobby.
Copnall cites another example of international community Sudan policies. JEM fighters based in South Sudan were about to reenter the Sudan. “Sudan was dissuaded from attacking the vehicles inside South Sudan by the British and the Americans”. When they were eventually bombed heavily, six bombs fell just South of the border. “The international outrage was directed at Sudan, for another unprovoked attack on South Sudan. The new country was not criticised, despise the fact that Darfur rebels were on its territory”.
To his credit, James Copnall dared to cite the documentation of the investigative US journalist Rebecca Hamilton of the “informal” “Council” of persistent operators who (behind the scenes) worked for tens of years to split the Sudan. Ted Dagne, Eric Reeves, Roger Winter and John Prendergast, wrote a prescient warning of instability in South Sudan (July 2013). Copnall correctly notes that the Council was “not a lone voice”. We know that John Prendergast was a key player in Save Darfur Coalition which was formed by the Israel lobby in the US (as reported by the Jerusalem Post and the Darfur authors Alex de Waal and Julie Flint). The author reports that Israel supported the first (1955) rebellion in the South and that John Garang leader of the second rebellion)was trained in Israel, to which all anti-Sudan campaigns seem to lead, openly not in a hushed manner. Although the book devotes space to the SRF (Sudan Revolutionary Front) that tries to unite Darfur rebels and SPLM-N, he has no illusion about their prospects: “Even together, there is very little chance of the rebels overthrowing the State”.
Mr. Copnall’s insight in relations between the two Sudans is far-sighted and balanced: “Sudan and South Sudan are joined by more than a name and their people will have no choice but to write a joint narrative for many years to come”.
Mr. Copnall’s book is thesis-like full of footnotes and a good index. As I said during the launch at SOAS, its only shortcoming is that it tries to do too much. This led to some points that need a comment. He quotes Tayeb Saleh’s criticism of the government’s early years which was widely disseminated in the media in English; but seems unaware of the hour long Arabic interview with Khalid Al Ieisir weeks before his death. The great patriot praised the government and had very harsh words for its foreign sponsored opponents. He actually visited the Sudan and met President Bashir.
The book also seems to accept the premise that the National Congress Party stands almost alone. There are two flaws in this assumption. The first is that the NCP has passed through stages. In 2005 it accepted an interim constitution that enshrines the description of the Sudan as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious multicultural country. The South shared power and wealth and Dr. Garang (a Christian) became 1st Vice President. Leaders of the opposition, including the communists returned from London and took op seats at the National Assembly. Today there is a communist party center in Khartoum but none in London or Washington. The “international project” was quietly side-lined and a pragmatic Sudanese project replaced it.
The author, who is not a practicing politician, seems to think that the desire to remain in power is a sin or crime. It is not, especially when a party leads a broad coalition without which it could not have survived for 25 years.
Mr. Copnall repeats what has also been written by Andrew Natsios, George Bush’s former envoy about the hegemony of 3 tribes in the Sudan. This overlooks the fact that the word tribe in the Sudan has lost most of its demarcation characteristics. Thanks to the railways, the Gezira scheme and schools, people have moved away from their ancestral areas, intermarried and lost the historical prejudices that are still a cause of friction in both Darfur and South Sudan.
The claim (voiced also in JEM’s inaccurate Black Book) that river Nile Sudanese are 5% of the population is a glaring error. The heartland of the Sudan which includes the river Nile basin population, the capital and the Gezira are the most populous part of the Sudan. It is also the most productive (for historical reasons and the most modernised and detribalised). The population in the Northern Province (Nile State) is limited indeed because the majority have migrated southwards and towards the towns and cities all over the country.
It is also interesting that the author, who documented the austerity riots of September 2013 seems to support the IMF recipe that led to them. Is the government wrong even when it is right?
He objectively and honestly refers to the “closed districts” policy that encouraged the growing cultural and religious divide (a fact which is avoided by many writers whose integrity is not comparable to his) but goes on to overblow the statements of Tayeb Mustafa and Al Bagir Al Afif that are a distortion of the true Sudanese psyche.
A reading of Mr. Copnall’s countryman’s book “Bloody Foreigners” (The story of Immigration to Britain by Robert Winder) will show that the legendary British Tolerance which is admired the world over did not coalesce out of the blue. There were in history episodes of prejudices and atrocities; but the real character of the people shone through in the end. The Sudan is not different
Two more points:
The risk in demonising the moderate NCP (despite its proven record of ability to adapt, reform and change course), witness the CPA and a Christian as first Vice President, is not only Sudanese. It is the wrong message to the real extremists and fanatics in Africa and the Middle East – that moderation is met with sanctions and suffocation. “Why be moderate if the result is what the very moderate Sudanese face” they would ask.
The Sudan is not perfect; but this should be said bearing in mind that the most advanced democracies are still grappling with security and intelligence regulation (as Mr. Snowden has shown), with the balance between freedom and responsibility (as the deadlock over Lord Leveson’s report shows) and with the taming of the market (as the financial crisis has demonstrated)
Our stern judges and critics should be more modest.
This a very good book, which I will keep as a reference and will no doubt read again.
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