Fourteen thousand feet above the barren landscape of Sudan an 18-year-old Antonov 30 carries some of the country’s most powerful women to Darfur. Among them are doctors, academics and the president’s legal advisor. They are heading for Al Fashir, the Northern capital, for a groundbreaking summit on challenges facing the region’s women.

It’s hard to grasp that this group of brightly dressed ladies being served refreshments in a small VIP charter aircraft are changing the face of the largest country in Africa. But this is no mile-high tea party and these are no ordinary women. Travelling with them is a voyage of discovery that dispels myth after myth and reveals some surprising facts about political realities in Sudan.

For instance, the fact that President Omar Al Bashir, the man recently indicted for war crimes by the ICC, (International Criminal Court) and represented as a bloodstained dictator by elements of the international media, is widely loved and respected for his role in empowering women. Secretary General of the National Council for Children’s Welfare, Amira Elfadil, says “He comes from within us all. He has a military background but he is a simple man, a man of the people, with good Islamic values. He speaks from his heart.”

Not all the conference’s 250 female delegates share her unqualified admiration for the man, but most of those I speak to admit that he and his coalition party offer the best hope of achieving enduring stability and peace in Darfur. When the ICC indictment was announced, women took to the streets of the capital to protest.

For many westerners Sudan, and Darfur particularly, represents a place where life for women is as harsh as its terrain. Victims of conflict, rape and violence, they are consistently depicted as helpless and rarely considered as a political entity. Yet female activism in this country is well established. Darfur was the first region to elect a female MP, Zakia Abdul Rahaman, in 1976. The Sudanese Women’s General Union was formed more than half a century ago and one of its members reminds me that in ancient times the old kingdom was “ruled by a queen, even before the pharoahs”. It is a tradition that fills them with pride.

They are proud also that a British politician has taken up their cause – Pakistani-born Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, who became the United Kingdom’s first Muslim life peer in 1998 and took his oath on the Koran. Controversial Ahmed, who owns up to a childhood more ’chip butty than silver spoon’, has become a champion of Darfur’s women. He operates as a neutral peace-broker under the banner of British Moslem rather than party politician, but he has clearly captured the hearts of many Darfuris and is welcomed in Al Fashir.

Ahmed’s initiative means a lot to Sudan’s women who are instinctively mistrustful of any UK/US intervention in their country. Ironically the ICC charge has united them in support of President Al Bashir and convinced many of those who were ambivalent that the international media are either too lazy to come and see for themselves how things are in Sudan, or already committed to an agenda.

Ahead of the main event Ahmed is a guest at the Sudanese Women’s Activity Centre in Khartoum, a city at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile and tipped by some to be the next Dubai.

The Centre was funded entirely by women, for women, and features a conference centre with simultaneous translation facilities, meeting rooms, and guest accommodation. Government Minister Theresa Siricio Iro speaks eloquently about the role conflict has played in the empowerment of Sudan’s women and adds: “There must be positive discrimination. We thank our government for listening to our problems. In the coming elections there will be a quota of 25 per cent for women, but we can get even more. ”

The conference in Al Fashir is a big deal for Darfur and the first of its kind. The delegates from Khartoum deplane to a reception worthy of royalty. Blinking into sunlight it takes several seconds for the images before us to resolve into what is clearly a huge welcoming crowd of women. Warm, friendly they sweep us along on a wave of excitement for refreshments and a brief meeting with the Wali (Governor). It’s the start of a surreal experience that deconstructs much of what is written about Sudan.

In Al Fashir it takes in two days of impassioned debate, a visit to IDP camp Abu Shouk, an interview with President Al Bashir and the man who tried to tell Chatham House about the real issues facing Sudan, Dr Ghazi Atabani. Atabani is leader of the majority National Congress Party; an urbane polymath he is adviser to the President and active in strategic studies and leadership training.

In August it will be 10 years since the US bombed the Al Shifa pharmaceuticals factory in Khartoum alleging intelligence that it was making weapons for Osama Bin Laden. This was soon disproved and the bombing seen as an act of malice and aggression by appalled Sudanese. The destruction created mass unemployment.

Atabani said at the time: “Workers, who a few hours before the incident had been happy and treasured hopes in this world, became jobless, with thousands of their dependants affected. Sudan as a whole, the sick, the poor, humans and animals, lost a precious source of medicine. It was a factory which was making available 50 to 100 per cent of various types of medicine for Sudanese citizens, and at affordable prices for the poor. In just a second this hope was shattered and the factory turned into a miserable scene of destruction and ruin.”

Today he is equally articulate about the ICC’s indictment and recent outcry about expulsion of 13 NGOs. “From our perspective it is an instrument of Western subjugation. Our culture is one where reconciliation is the rule and that is the spirit of what we are trying to achieve in Darfur. The ICC is seen as an organisation that is vindictive and retributive. That is alien to Africans.”

He points out that while more than 60 per cent of UN Security Council business concerns Africa, there are no permanent African representatives on the Council and Africa has no veto: ICC judgements are “ handed down as punishments” to countries unwilling to toe the US line, regardless of wider risks to ongoing peace and security processes.

The fact that Articles 13 and 16 give the UN Security Council freedom to step in and suspend proceedings that it does not approve of makes a mockery of its impartiality according to Atabani who wryly offers the Orwellian wisdom that while all animals are equal, some are ‘more equal than others’.

Dismissive though he is of the ICC ruling he is clearly frustrated by its effect on the ongoing peace process. “Why should the rebels sit down and negotiate with the Government when they can just wait for the ICC to do their job for them. Some rebel factions will use it as an excuse not to come to the peace talks.”

President Al Bashir acknowledges that there are big security problems in Darfur. “They started with the insurgency against the Government. We gave priority to finding a peaceful settlement and only after exhausting all possibilities did we decide that there was no option to military action.

“Wherever there is conflict civilians want to flee and look for secure places . . . in Darfur these citizens moved from conflict areas to Government controlled areas. The Government has a duty and responsibility to look after its people, provide them with shelter, food, water and basic services. The fact that it does this surely belies allegations that the Government practices ethnic cleansing, rape or genocide?”

An officially sponsored summary of what the government has achieved in Darfur includes “prosecuting suspected individuals from regular forces who committed violations against human rights”. Some were jailed; others, allegedly, sentenced to death.
In Abu Shouk many people are unsure who drove them out of their homes; some are past caring and simply accept that the camp offers a degree of safety. Some rebels have sought refuge in, or infiltrated the camps but security there is generally good and in 2007 there were only four murders.

Kaltoum Hamid is 45. She and her seven children have lived in Abu Shouk for six years. A four sqm sprawl it once housed more than 50,000 displaced persons. That number has reduced to just around 38,000. The camp has 17 schools, clinics and commercial activity based around a market, furniture manufacture and variety of cottage industries.

Kaltoum sells vegetables to survive and supplement the aid that is distributed. Driven out of her home in Korma she says it would be ‘too humiliating’ to go back. The family’s home was burned; her husband is now in Khartoum. Who drove them out ? She shrugs, looks around. “They wore military uniforms. Maybe Government troops? Janjaweed?”

It’s not a conversation she wants to have.

Elsewhere I meet Matar Mohammad and his family of 14.They live in a house with just two rooms. They came to the camp in 2004 from their home in Taweela. We had a good life,” he tells me. “I was a farmer growing tobacco, sorghum – now we depend on relief.”
He’s a proud man whose wife and children make us welcome, but sceptical about the prospect of speedy return. Security is the main problem. It’s a political game. Even the Janjaweed can’t control what happens in war.”

Matar lost relatives in the fighting and he’s unforgiving about Government failures. Although not a fan of Al Bashir he concedes that, with compensation, reconciliation could be possible, but only if security is assured.

Boundaries between the camp and Al Fashir are fluid; the refugees are not captives. Just a short drive away the women are starting the second day of their conference. Each has a personal issue; some burn with such passion to use this unique platform that they tussle over the microphone. Some have travelled for hundreds of miles to be there and they intend to be heard. They may speak from their hearts, but their presentations are underpinned by research and have academic rigour.

These are ardent, politicised women, fluently articulating concerns about violence, rape, education, healthcare, media manipulation and increased profile for women in the political process. They may not all see eye to eye, but unlike the region’s men they are willing to set aside their differences to pursue the greater goal of peace.

Any thoughts I had that this might have been an exercise in window dressing are rapidly dispelled as first the Wali of North Darfur, Osman Kibit, then later the President acknowledge their relevance and power. Kibit told them: “The Holy Koran says that a man who honours women is an honourable man. The women of Darfur have a special role – they are our nurturers, mothers, wives, sisters, providers of food and clothing, agricultural pioneers, carers of animals. Our women are influential through their poetry and their understanding; their energy can be a strong positive force if harnessed. God created this land for these beautiful creatures – but sadly they are also targets and violations happen in war.

“We need to tackle the issues with neutrality and comprehensively – not just in terms of the IDP camps but the whole community of Darfur. The eyes of the world are on Darfur; the decisions made here by Sudanese women can have far-reaching effects. The challenge is to harmonise local efforts with those at national level.”

Community Development Association delegate Saffa Adam echoed this: “We have good laws but we need women to put them to good order and use politics as a tool to rebuild our communities. Sudan has no real future until Darfur’s issues are resolved.”

Amira Elfadil is a lifelong supporter of Al Bashir. An attractive, 42-year-old mother of four from central Sudan she is well-travelled and educated. She first visited Darfur 10 years ago and has an outsider’s perspective on developments there. “It’s better in many ways – not in others. Just a year ago it was impossible to enter the camp (Abu Shouk). It was just five minutes from the airport, but ruled by factions. Now that has all changed.”

Like many Elfadil believes that the constant conflict and insecurity has also changed Darfur’s people. “Before the wars they were different; dignified, hard working, traders, builders and farmers. But events have changed the fabric of society here; people sit in the camps doing nothing; their children either leave to beg or join the rebels. Or they just sit and wait.”

No-one understands better than women how important children are to Darfur’s future. Elfadil says “In a post-conflict society many fathers are either dead or have fled; 30 per cent of households are headed by women. Many children drop out of school, get caught up in street violence or recruited by rebels. Then they are taken over the border to places like Chad and trained as soldiers.

“One rebel gang fighting the Government started the conflict; now, according to the UN, there are at least 16 factions and it is no longer a local issue but a global one. ”
In response to this Darfur’s peace hungry women want action and are bullish about driving it from community to capital. It’s easy to forget that they are subject to the same Sharia Law that is used to subjugate their sisters in Afghanistan. Amira, whose first degree is in sociology, has a theory.

“We are different because we are African/Arabs and when Islam came here in the 13th century it came through trade, not war. When I go to places like Saudi Arabia I thank God that I’m Sudanese. “

Women are represented in most professions, including the police force. The Wali has a female advisor, the state has a female high court judge, the government has appointed women prosecutors in the IDP camps to trace violations of women’s’ rights and investigate cases of violence. “Men are preferred when it comes to promotion, but no jobs are restricted,” says Amira.

Is the support of one foreign male significant I wonder, as the conversation turns to Lord Ahmed’s British Moslems’ initiative and presence at the Women’s Conference. Surprisingly her answer is an emphatic “Yes”.

“Last time he came people were surprised. There were reports on TV and it had a big impact. I don’t think he’s naive. His support won’t solve our problems, but it really counts.”
International media reportage is a big issue and the conference delegates make much of how the Darfur issue has been ‘spun’ to seduce celebrities, charities and play into the hands of groups with their own agenda. This latter claim is made again by President Al Bashir when we meet in Khartoum.

Nimaat Bilal, author of a conference paper on information handling, is as scathing about the double standards of the Western media as Al Bashir and Atabani are about the ICC’s targeting of African indictees. She says “The West moves in accordance to (sic) specific strategies in which the information battle is the first step to achieve its goals and ends. The information media are used to prepare the community to accept political decisions and be ready for military intervention as necessary.” A technique familiar to all who recall the hysterical headlines about Saddam’s WMD capability.

Bilal goes further, claiming that within their own territories, Western media are committed to the principles of responsible journalism like ‘fact, depth, balance and fairness’. When dealing with the Third World, however, these principles are sacrificed on the altars of paranoia, Islamaphobia, political expediency and reluctance to look further than the well-rehearsed views of others. Western media ignore these principles and work according to their own purposes and desires.”

Some heavyweight issues get an airing at this landmark summit; outside the conference room another celebration is in place – a traditional circumcision ceremony for young boys celebrating the rite of passage from childhood to manhood. By evening the two events have converged and raised index fingers are waved to the peace chant of ‘Salaam, Salaam, Salaam Darfur’.
As the women prepare to leave for their flights to other countries or various parts of Sudan I wonder whether anything will change as a result of this event.

As euphoria gives way to practicality we are reminded that this is a country with a coalition government, serious domestic problems and an election scheduled for 2010. The peace of the Wali’s compound is, perhaps, illusory. Can the women really make a difference?

Flying back to Khartoum I sit with one of the most respected delegates, Rajaa Hassan Khalifa, Secretary General of the Sudan Women’s General Union. Re-elected twice, not even her huge popularity can get her a third term at the helm of this 3 million-strong organisation with its 27,000 branches throughout Sudan.

As pressure groups for women’s’ rights go, WGU is monolithic, networking between NGOs on health, education, economics, peace and awareness raising. Rajaa is in no doubt that what the union has achieved in all these areas is considerable . “But we want the world to know about the women of Sudan and their work in Darfur. We are glad that people like Lord Ahmed come because we know that others care and want to help and that is good for morale.”

On my way back to London I travel in the company of another impressive Sudanese woman; Amna Akeelo, a mother of seven now living in Loughborough. Born in Ed Da’ein, in North Darfur, she has been married to an Englishman since 1984, but visits her extended family in Sudan regularly. Amna’s conversation revolves around a more domestic perspective of what’s needed such as facilities to help the disabled, and those suffering from depression.

“My family have not ever been refugees but many have had to relocate for economic reasons due to the recent history of Darfur. It is true to say we have all shared in the suffering of our Darfur brothers and sisters. They feel more secure now but so many people need help with things like aids to study and work.”

Amna is happy in Loughborough but Darfur is where her heart is and she speaks poignantly about childhood evenings enjoying the peace by firelight. A woman of many talents she has recently opened a shop in Loughborough offering products from Darfur and services based on skills she learned there.

“When I was young we sat under the trees and learned many skills like hair braiding and hand painting with henna. In the shop we also do these things and sell home-made perfume, sandalwood, dilka, Sudanese products and abayahs.”
The shop is very much a family affair and Amna’s eldest daughter Zara, 23, is heavily involved in it.

Amna may have been a long time away from home, but listening to her describe the entrepreneurial skills that she is developing to help her family and her people I realise that I have met yet another phenomenal Sudanese woman!

ENDS

NOTE: The conference on Challenges Facing Women in Darfur was organised by the Sudanese Women’s General Union & International University of Sudan in co-operation with the British Moslems Commission. It was held in Al Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, May 23-25,2009.