‘Darfur, it’s so difficult to get there!’

The session was titled “Darfur, the forgotten crisis” and its scope is

Are the Arab media turning a blind eye to a humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in their own backyard. Many Western journalists along with former U.S. Secretary Powell have characterized Darfur as a genocide. Sudan’s President Bashir accuses Western media and NGOs of greatly exaggerating the crisis. But are the Arab media reporting fully the events in Darfur and holding those responsible for it to account?

Let me first disclose that I arrived at the latter half of the session, so I did miss a lot. However, thinking that the second half of any session is where decisions and positions are reached, it was anything but! The esteemed journalists were complaining of the difficulty of getting visas to enter the Sudan!

The government representative – if he is indeed – was a gentleman who heads the Sudan TV & Radio apparatus, Mr. Ameen Hassan Omar said that all the figures of the dead, destitute and migrants are “rubbish”! All lies! It is not 2 million, it is not even in the thousands!

The NGOs responded that even if it is one life lost, 9 lives, 200,000 lives (as the UN suggests) it is still too much and something needs to be done to eliminate the problem and end the fighting!

That positions was not amplified by the other guests unfortunately, but mulled again on the logistical issues to get to the area to report from.

Ali Al-Ahmed, the director of Abu Dhabi TV – which ceased to be a news channel and is now focusing on general entertainment – interjected rather forcefully that journalists should stop whining and get on with the job; and if they “can’t stand the heat they should get out of the kitchen!”

I met with Ali in the break and asked him his views on the dearth of Darfur coverage, and asked him directly why that is when if we compare it with the Lebanese/Israeli recent war, and even though Lebanon suffered a lot less destruction and lasted a lot shorter, Darfur is completely ignored. He suggested that because of the “internationality” of the Lebanese/Israeli conflict and the Israeli dimension necessitated the “blow-by-blow” coverage. Darfur, he suggests, is a localised problem and is distant from the centre of the Arab psyche.

When the Arab networks were pushed to answer the allegation that they do not and did not cover Darfur effectively and certainly inadequately. Al-Arabiya and Jazeera vehemently denied the allegations and suggested that they have and do give it good importance. I would not be able to judge as I do not watch either channel; but the atmosphere of the venue suggests that they could at least do more.

I must admit that I do not know much about this conflict; the Abu Dhabi TV reporter suggested that the whole conflict started due to a conflict about camels! And that some of the beneficiaries of the continued fighting are some of the Darfurians themselves and gave examples that some Darfurians choose to live in refugee camps and rent their houses and live on international NGOs handouts!

This conflict must be brought to center-stage, as that is a conflict that must be understood and treated globally. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying needlessly and millions are destitute because of – what I understand – government rigidness and prevarication.