The National Press Club presnted a speech/talk by Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, head of the Amel Center for the Treatment of Victims of Torture (Sudan). Dr. Abdallah is in Washington as part of his international humanitarian tour to draw attention to the latest situation in Darfur. Horrific, crisis, emergency and genocide are words that have become commercially connected to the name of Darfur whenever it appears in the media. However, in this instance Dr. Abdallah’s speech was critically informative, but what was even more revealing was seen in the meeting itself which I will address below the fold.
Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah’s appearance before the National Press Club was also broadcast on the CSPAN2 network. Dr. Abdallah in additiona to being the founder of the Amel Center for the treatment of victims of Torture in Sudan, is the only medical Doctor from his birthplace in Darfur a town of originally over 10,000 people. He is also the winner of the 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights. Dr. Abdallah was in the Darfur IDP camps as recently as 7 days ago.
Considering the the fact that Darfur is one of the major troublespots that currently commands the attention of the world, you would think that such an highly esteemed person recently on the ground in Darfur appearing at the National Press Club would command standing room, or at least a full house audience to receive his report. Not this time!!
There were so few people present, that the CSPAN camera operator had to be content with scanning the multitude of empty chairs in the room.
The Press Club moderator depressed me so much that I didn’t bother to get his name. The elderly gentleman was so inept and confused in his introductory remarks that it made me wonder why he was picked to act as moderator? As the CSPAN camera panned the room I could only count 6 or 7 people comprising the audience, so the Q&A session consisted of questions from the same 3 or 4 people, with the moderator throwing in a question or two whenever the silence became too embarassing.
The highlights offered by Dr. Abdallah was the heavy involvement by Libya in the oppression of the African people of Darfur. He estimated that there are over 2 million people in the IDP camps inside Darfur. However, the purpose of his visit and his message is the the proposed introduction of UN troops into the Darfur region sometime next year will be too late. The Sudanese government has started a campaign to clean out all of the existing IDP camps, by forceably removing people out of the area. As a prelude to the current operation, the government has ordered all foreign aid personnel out of the area, so currently food and medicine are not availble to the people suffering in the many IDP camps. He stated that it is the Sudan government’s intent to make sure that no native tribal (African) people will be alive in Darfur when the UN troops arrive. Between now and then, without intervention, native people will all perish from either starvation or disease.
I wonder where all of those people and organizations in America who are “so concerned about Darfur” and post signs “Darfur – Not on our watch”… where were they when Dr. Abdallah was giving his report? Once again, thanks to CSPAN his report will not be missed, but will it be heard?
