Luxury and Misery in Sudan

By Bushara Ahmed Gumaa, President of Darfur´s Friends Association(DFA).
April 1st, 2005, Madrid / Spain.
E-mail: darfurs_friends@yahoo.es

Yesterday, March 18, 2005 I had a severe stomach ache whilst I was reading the Article by Dr. Bakhita Amin entitled “A Gold Woman” that had been published on the website http://www.rayaam.net/22005/03/18/ As I was reading further the pains in my stomach were increasing, and when I finished reading it I vomited out all the text. Because it tasted bad and I was indignited by the senseless of the author towards darfurian women and their children who are suffering rape, assassination, shortage of food, water, medicines… and different kind of atrocities. Since 2003 more than 300.000 people have died and more than 2.000.000 have been made homeless and thousands took refuge in neighbouring countries. Besides, they suffer from diseases and the fascist pro government militia Janjaweed, and the majority of the victims are women and children.
All this misery and injustice are taking place in Sudan, the same country from which Dr. Bakhita wrote about the luxury life of the priveledged women who live in Khartoum, but she forgot that in the same capital there are millions of refugees, too. The majority are women and children who live on the margin of society in very bad conditions and treated as third class citizens. Meanwhile, in the centre of the city, from a well known international hotel near the Nile River beach, the wife of the dictator Omar Al-Bashir and others gathered to see the sudanese top models wearing very expensive silk dresses and Jewels. The event was organised by a luxury jewellery firm owned by a priviledged woman from Khartoum.

The following text is a summary of the Article mentioned before:
Five hundred sudanese woman and young girls wearing luxury… high heel shoes with the same colour as the dresses… and brilliant skin… perfumes from Paris and Sudan.
A jewel firm … organized this celebration and the wife of the president of the republic honoured it by her presence in the hotel…ebony young girls… with attractive bodies that achieved thanks to a unique regime. Their faces like the moon, their hands and fingers were impressive, and their eyes like an oasis, you travel through them without limit.
The public applauded this new idea, the gold made pieces were unique and the young girls with a feminine aspect and educated.
When a model dressed with a Sudanese wedding dress entered wearing pure gold it was impressive. Models dressed in silk with impressive colours and wearing pearl necklaces pearls, agate… for women from rich families. The hall echoed the warm applauses of the public for the return of gold as essential part of the sudanese woman outfit. What we saw yesterday represents a civilized advance for the woman, for a society that has many women like Ibtisam…

Dear Dr. Bakhita Amin:
Rich sudanese women have the right to wear silk dresses, pearls necklaces, pure gold meanwhile the native women of darfur are suffering from rape, shortage of water, shortage of food and genocide. But they haven’t the right to use their money to buy a Dr. like you, domesticate her and make her a frivolous commentator to serve their commercial interest, publicising products for a luxury jewellery firm. They should respect the majority of sudanese women and they should not hurt their sensitvity, because they live in very bad conditions, not only in Darfur, but also in the capital. They should restrict their publicity to their circle, Khartoum is not Paris, New York, London, Madrid…

Dear Dr. Bakhita Amin:
I believe in the free market economy, but there should not be any favouritism and the basic elements necessary to evolve as an individual in society, such as education, medical care, equal treatment and equal opportunity for all the sudanese citizens independently of their origin, religion, colour or sex. Unfortunately, the main problem in Sudan today is that none of the elemets mentioned before are granted by the state. Therefore, the majority of the citizens are suffering from misery and very few people can buy silk dresses, pearls necklaces, pure gold jewels, agate…

Dear Dr. Bakhita Amin:
In Sudan light skin is considered an added value. Therefore, women with an inferiority complex use certain cosmetic products to lighten their skin. I don’t know if this is your case, anyway, the problem of many sudanese is the issue of identity, especially for those who consider themselves as Arabs, but their aspects are Negroid. Even though their skin is a little bit lighter than native sudanese. Believe me “sister” yourself, the wife of the dictator, Omar Al-Bashir himself and more than 80% of the sudanese citizens are Negroid. But most of them don’t believe it until they travel abroad, especially when they go to work in rich Arab countries in the Gulf. Then they realize that they have woken up from a deep sleep, because Arabs consider the sudanese people as black. Moreover, some of them choke hearing a sudanese man/woman speaking fluent Arabic.

Do you know why the majority of people who work on Sudan TV. are lighter skinnned, I mean those who read the news, even though the majority of the sudanese people are dark skinned?

Dear Dr. Bakhita Amin:
In September 15, 2004 you wrote an Article titled “Prof Fidel and the rape” which was published on the same website. In that Article an Individual called Suleiman Fidel said that darfurian women didn´t know the meaning of the word “Igtissab”(rape) and continued arguing “…it’s true that they don’t know the meaning of the word “Igtissab” because when they met with the committee that was investigating the sex crimes, they couldn’t believe their ears that other men, not their husbands do sex with them ” this argument is ridiculous, even though it is given by a professor. Because rape means doing sex with somebody against his/her will, so the victims have no choice, they’ve been violated, ¿do you understand? The darfurian women are well known as the most honoured of the sudanese women and their men are the most brave and proud. But they’ve been killed by the force of guns and then their women are raped by the force of guns , as well.
Dr. Bakhita, you focused only on the version by the regime collaborators. I’m afraid that you yourself is a tool to the regime propaganda, since you didn´t ask the other part (the supposed victims and their relatives to tell their version) it’s indignant to read such false words with the intention to hide the atrocities and the crimes of the regime and its fascist militias called Janjaweed.

Dear Dr. Bakhita Amin:
In the same Article you mentioned the way of speaking Arabic in Darfur so as to ridicule the darfurian people and the women, in particular. You have to know that the majority of the sudanese people are not arabic speaking, I mean they’ve their own language (Routtana) like Danaglah, Mahas, Barabra, etc. even though, all the sudanese people understand and speak sudanese Arabic. So, when a donglawi man or women comes to Khartoum for the first time his or her accent is quite different from the Khartoum native and darfurians have the same case.
I’d like to tell you that I’m darfurian and “Rattani”. The following text I can’t call it a poem but it expresses my real feelings:

I´m “Rattani” (1) I´m “Zurga” (2)
My name is Issac, Abbakar, Haroun...
I know nothing about the “fous-ha” (3)
because I´m Rattani I´m Zurga.

Some Arabs call me “Abit”(4) because I´m black,
but I´m F R E E !! and Africa is my flag.

I was born in a dark night, I´ve a dark face,
a black heart and a black hand,
I´m a fighter for Justice,
I´m a life donor; I´m not arabic,
I´m black and it´s an H O N O R !!

Millions of our brothers, sisters and children
are suffering from ethnic cleansing and G E N O C I D E !!
and others have already died like rats.
But someday we´ll recover our dignity and soon
we´ll go back to Darfur to our home land.

Soon Sudan will be synonymous for Justice,
Equality and freedom. Then, I´ll write and sing
songs of freedom and victory in my mother tongue,
and a sudanese Zurga will be the “Rais”(5) of Sudan
like our brother Mandela in South Africa.

Then Sudan will not only be for “Jallaba”(6) but for all;
otherwise I´ll raise the flag of Justice and I´ll shout
FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM!...

(1) Rattani : Indigenous tribes like Zaghawa, Fur, Massalit...
(2) Zurga : Black
(3) fous-ha : Standard arabic language
(4) Abit : Slave
(5) Rais : President
(6) Jallaba : Slaves traders

Dear Dr. Bakhita Amin:
At the end of this Article I´d like to tell you that I´ve been living in Euorpe since 1981, that means I´ve been living here more than I have in Sudan. Here I live with a european standard of life (social security for everybody, discount for medicine, free education for our children, comfortable housing with air conditing and the most important thing,a real freedom) but my heart is still in my country, Sudan. So, believe me my “sister” I´d feel proud of you if you had enough courage to use your privileged status (as a Dr.) to write about the real problems of the majority sudanese women and the suffering of women who live in areas affected by civil war like Darfur. Any way, please don´t work as a frivolous commentator and a mere bridge to permit the AL-INTIKAS regime passing their false information so as to hide their crimes and to protect their interests.

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