He always kept talking about this. I most certainly will send this post to
him. Fairly certain he will have a great read. I appreciate you for sharing!

It just seems difficult for men, especially, to settle down
and not work. The dramatic difference between Obama’s statements and his subsequent deeds has prompted
Abbas to announce, in frustration, that he will not seek another term in office.

by Eric Reeves

Khartoum’s deputy ambassador to Norway, Mr. Onour Ahmed Onour, dismisses my recent account of Darfur as “alarmist.” This would suggest that Mr. Onour sees no “alarming” facts to be reported, no soul-destroying accounts from Darfuris to be trusted, and no worrisome humanitarian reports of significance. I defer for the moment questions about the honesty of National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime in its public statements—on conditions in Darfur and elsewhere—and focus simply on what has been very recently reported by the most authoritative sources to which the international community has ready access.

Displacement has been extremely high over the past year, exceeding a quarter of a million people. The UN’s Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), one of the best sources of news about Sudan, reported on April 19, 2013:

“An estimated 2.3 million people remain displaced by Darfur’s decade-long conflict. A number of peace agreements – most recently the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur—have failed to halt the intermittent clashes between the government and rebel groups in the region…. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (http://tinyurl.com/cqp8rrz), more than 150,000 people were displaced by renewed violence in Darfur in the first three months of 2013.”

The displacement of 150,000 people in three months I regard as highly “alarming.” These civilians are in addition to the many tens of thousands who have been displaced in North Darfur, especially in Jebel Amer and the Hashaba region in the months following August 2012; they are also in addition to the very recent and accelerating displacement in various regions of South Darfur (Darfur’s most populous state), and there is yet further recent displacement into eastern Chad from West Darfur.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported from Tissi, eastern Chad (April 26, 2013):

“Violent clashes in Sudan’s Darfur region have driven approximately 50,000 people across the border into southeastern Chad since early March, where a lack of food, water, shelter, and basic services is developing into a humanitarian crisis, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.”

While reports from humanitarian organizations are regularly dismissed by Khartoum, MSF in particular has a reputation for scrupulous statistical accuracy. Such a refugee flow I find distinctly “alarming,” given the conditions into which these people are fleeing.

On the question of mortality in Darfur, the Khartoum regime continues to insist that “only” 10,000 people have died during the ten years of conflict in Darfur. According to the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED; Brussels, Belgium), the figure in late 2009 was approximately 300,000. This is also the figure promulgated by the UN, but the CRED report—while lacking key data on violent mortality—is a thoroughgoing professional estimate. (Olivier Degomme and Debarati Guha-Sapir in “Patterns of mortality rates in Darfur conflict,” The Lancet, January 23, 2010 (pages 294-300, http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2809%2961967-X/abstract )

I find a figure of 300,000 dead—overwhelmingly civilians from the African tribal populations of Darfur—”alarming” in the extreme. My own estimate—indebted to the CRED report but based in part on data available only subsequent to the appearance of the CRED report—is approximately 500,000.

Rape is reported by Radio Dabanga on a virtually daily basis; indeed, it is clear that an avalanche of sexual violence continues to sweep across Darfur, affecting women and girls of all ages. Khartoum has always denied the existence of rape in Darfur, and the regime’s record of non-prosecution is consistent with this view. But the epidemic was reported early on, in detail, by MSF-Holland; and for their labors, two senior officials of the organization were arrested by Khartoum (the offending report? “The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur,” MSF-Holland, March 2005). In March 2009, the French and Dutch sections of MSF were expelled on charges of “espionage.”

So how seriously are we to take Khartoum’s word, its denials, its various assertions? There are so very many statements that are demonstrably false that it’s difficult to know which to cull out. But the assertion that I am an “alarmist” over Darfur might be usefully judged against such claims as made by Khartoum following the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) bombing of Yida refugee camp in Unity State (South Sudan) in early November 2011; there could hardly be a better demonstration of the regime’s capacity for mendacity:

“Sudan Armed Forces spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad vehemently denied any links to the raid. ‘This information is completely false. We didn’t bomb any camps or any areas inside the borders of South Sudan,’ he told the AFP news agency. ‘What is going on in South Sudan belongs to the southerners. We don’t have any links to this.’” (Agence France-Presse, November 10, 2011)

Khartoum’s ambassador to the UN was equally mendacious:

“Sudanese Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman told journalists after a Security Council meeting on the matter Friday that the reports were ‘fabrications’ and ‘there was no aerial bombardment.’” (Associated Press [UN/New York], November 11, 2011)

And yet the details of the bombing attack were fully confirmed. There were, in fact, several journalists present in Yida at the very time of the bombing, including those of the BBC and Reuters, as well as representatives of the nongovernmental humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse, with a long history in Sudan. All confirmed that the refugee camp was hit by four bombs, one of which did not detonate: that bomb landed just outside a school where some 200 students were present. The UN High Commission for Refugees also condemned the bombing attack on Yida in unequivocal terms, on the basis of its own separate investigation (November 11, 2011).

How can we take seriously any claim by a regime capable of such outright lies? such demonstrable falsehood? And these lies have been countless, including about Darfur. The international community is well aware of this, but chooses expediently to ignore such outrageous behavior.

Certainly if we really want to know about conditions in Darfur we would do better to rely on Radio Dabanga—based in The Netherlands—which has established itself as a highly credible journalistic source, with an extraordinary number of contacts on the ground, including sheiks, omdas, nazirs, camp leaders, humanitarians, and rebel leaders. With able assistance from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), it has become without question our most reliable source of information about what is occurring on the ground in Darfur. Many of their recent headlines are deeply “alarming,” and any honest reckoning of Darfur’s realities must take these dispatches seriously. The following are just some of those that have appeared in the past week alone:

•2,200 families fleeing Sudan army, rebels battles arrive in camp
(KALMA CAMP, April 26, 2013)

•Deadly air strike ‘hits area south of Nyala’, South Darfur
(NYALA, 29 April 2013)

Camp residents protest against repeated attacks and lack of protection, N. Darfur
KABKABIYA (28 April 2013)

Militants rape and beat two women near Kabkabiya, N. Darfur
KABKABIYA (28 April 2013)

Camp market closed ‘indefinitely’ after attacks by militants, W. Darfur
SIRBA (28 April 2013)

‘Abu Tira’ forces loot displaced inside Central Darfur camp
BINDISI (25 Apr.)

300 people fleeing South Darfur’s battles ‘attacked’ by militias
NYALA (24 April 2013)

Militias ‘from Umm Dukhun’ loot police, citizens in Darfur
BINDISI (22 April 2013)

40%’ of Umm Dukhun’s population fled Sudan to Chad
UMM DUKHUN (24 April 2013)

‘Abu Tira’ forces shoot dead sheikh of Darfur camp
TAWILA (23 April 2013)

Two rape attempts in one day near North Darfur camp
KUTUM (22 April 2013)

10 West Darfur camps without food rations for 2 months
EL GENEINA (22 April 2013)

Pro-government militia ‘kill 18 civilians’ in Muhajeriya and Labado, East Darfur
MUHAJERIYA / LABADO (21 April 2013)

The tenor of these dispatches has not changed for several years, though their number is increasing; and this is what should “alarm” anyone who truly cares about the people of Darfur. My own most recent and detailed account, using the reports of Radio Dabanga and a wide range of other credible sources, can be found at: http://www.sudanreeves.org/?p=3838. Yes, Mr. Onour, my “alarm” could not be greater.

Eric Reeves
April 29, 2013

And as we speak, 2 years after the “Imminent closure” – we are today writing 26 April 2013, Inoorero is still ‘Grinding on’ – on a positive note – Inoorero has 1000+ students. That does not smell of closing down :-) As any other (!) institution, Inoorero has received both accolades and critique. The positive thing with Inoorero is, that they do LISTEN to both.. Instead of all these negative connotations from the word Inoorero, yes, surely a university can change its name if it is not fit from a particular connotation. I happen to not belong to any tribe – and when I researched, I found that Inoorero means ‘Sharpening Stone’.

So, out of Inoorero, should come ‘sharpened students’. We happen to be working with Inoorero University, or IU as they are now being called.

We are impressed with their work within Problem Based Learning – which we also do embrace in Digital Age Institute Ltd. – PBL is one of the strongest winning training / coaching styles – originating from Aalborg University in Denmark (Professor Dirkinck Holmfeld) – and it has shown to produce some of the strongest candidates with both academic and hands on skills. Professor Niels Arnfred told me recently during a meeting with our Danish Ambassador, that he has worked for some years with IU to implement PBL, and that it has been taken up well.

Thus, if it was up to me, I would from that point of view, keep the name Inoorero, while – naturally – if there are any tribal issues linked to the name, it would maybe be wise to find a similar sharp name – but either in English or Swahili.

I find it remarkable, that someone has the odacity to write about what appears as mere gossip – about a university which has adapted to some of the most challenging, result producing teaching styles – and who has some of the best academic staff one can dream about.

We in Digital Age Institute are happy to work with Inoorero University, and we are proud of that we are sharing not only the vision of excellence – but we also share many principles of how to operate a top training institution – in terms of discipline, commitment, integrity. We expect to grow the ICT sector together with Inoorero University, to enable us to become both continentally and internationally known as a place of choice.

With humble respect for the original author, though, with a different view I remain yours sincerely

David Svarrer,
Principal,
Digital Age Institute Ltd.

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