Donate Now
Note: I wrote this post about two weeks ago. I am yet to be granted permission to move outside Khartoum.
Supremely frustrating day. My driver was called by an agent from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) - in local parlance, just "Security." It is Sudan's internal security agency and its agents are ubiquitous. They have infiltrated every aspect of Sudanese life and enable the ruling regime to keep a pretty decent track of what any person vaguely opposition-minded person is doing at any given moment. They are also the people who implement the censorship of local media and who torture political dissidents, human rights activists and the like. Moreover, they operate in an accountability-free zone as the national security law (which was "reformed" ahead of the election) gives agents of the NISS immunity from prosecution.
"You are Sudanese so you will help us" the agent apparently told my driver. "Did you know that Rebecca tried to come to Sudan through Kenya last year?" My driver, better described as my production assistant, is someone I would do nearly anything for. He can be stubborn as all get out, but he works around the clock, is of strong moral fiber, and has somehow managed to retain his indignation at the hassles journalists face here without ever getting eaten up by it. In any case, he called this morning asking to meet in a different location to tell me what had happened. As I explained to him, I did not "try" to come through Kenya last time, I did come through Kenya. Of course I came through Kenya – where else could I have come from given that I was living in Nairobi?!
Next stop was the daily ritual – visiting the External Information Council. In theory this is the government department through which foreign journalists should arrange every aspect of their schedules. You might think that being given a visa to Sudan means you can move inside Sudan - - you would be wrong. The visa gets you into Khartoum. Once here, you need permission to get out. And the External Information Council is the place where foreign media must apply for a travel permit.
In theory, External Information should also arrange all your meetings. They ask you to submit the names of officials you want to meet with and, when the government is feeling particularly prickly towards outsiders – as it is at the moment, you will also be asked to submit the questions you want to ask any official in advance. In theory, the staff at External Information will liaise with the various government ministries to set up interviews for you.
I say 'in theory' because in practice I am yet to see this system work. Anyone who wants to get work done before their visa expires needs a parallel process to actually make anything happen. Nonetheless, there is a certain amount of deference that must be given to the formal system – hence the daily visit so they can tell you they have been unable to do anything.
Today at External Information, a terribly nice man who does a good impression of being willing, albeit unable, to help, explained that once again, no permission had come through for me to meet anyone. "Bukra, inshallah" (tomorrow, God willing) was the entirely predictable conclusion to his apologies. This was expected. To be told to come back tomorrow is the standard response. Only on the rarest of occasions will anyone actually say "no", or tell you that you have been denied or refused anything. Instead, you get "malesh, malesh" (sorry, sorry), and a request to come back tomorrow.
Yet on the topic of travel to Darfur, today was one of those exceptional moments when I was given a different answer. "You know Darfur – Darfur is a problem." I was told that since early July there has been a ban on any foreign journalist going to Darfur. Apparently it is "temporary" (although its length is as-yet indeterminate) and is at the directive of Security.
When I met with government spokesperson, Dr Rabie Abdul Atti, later in the afternoon, he denied there was any such ban. He was at pains to tell me how safe Darfur is with nearly 20,000 UNAMID soldiers there and that there would be "no problem" with me going – it is just it may take time. "Our government employees are very slow you see" he said.
It's impossible to know for sure if there is a ban in force. I guess if I sit in Khartoum for the next month without my application to travel being processed I will conclude that a ban has indeed been in place.