Darfur in danger despite Bashir’s solidarity victory

"Hold me, hold me.” My response was; ‘‘where?’’ and the journalist answered, “here, on my waist”.

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That was all part of the action in El Fasher, Darfur as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived early last week to denounce the warrant of arrest issued for him by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

The reason for the sudden cry by the journalist was that we were riding on the back of a pick-up truck that was right in front of another truck used by President Bashir, but given the speed, the photographer, Ms Zohra Bensemra, who I later learnt works with Reuters news agency, could not maintain balance.

But the real sign of what the journalists covering the event were up to came minutes later when we lost sight of President Bashir and soon all the reporters on the vehicle jumped off.

All the journalists knew was that this was the story of the moment, despite earlier warnings by Darfur rebel groups, among them the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), that they were ready to arrest the Sudanese leader.

Massive following

And to the Sudanese leader, this being among the most emotive time in his country’s history, he was out to show the entire world that he had some massive following and he was out to show it in the real theatre of conflict. The journalists were very willing to play along.

It was a case of being at the right place at the right time.

There were many questions during those first hours. The ICC had warned for months that it would issue the indictment and everyone was wondering, what next?

The moment President Bashir’s office announced that a trip to Darfur was possible, all other plans were cancelled.

Any reporter in Khartoum, who knew of the planned trip, sought a seat in one of the two Airbus planes set aside for the journey.

One plane was to carry newsmen and diplomats and the other one was reserved for the President and his close advisers.

The media jet was the first to leave, but, the moment newsmen left the advance plane and prepared to cover the arrival of the president in Darfur, there was a surge of interest by the local politicians who had arrived to welcome the visitors.

Finally, they said what they wanted. They wanted a sip out of the bottles of mineral water the reporters were carrying and, why not?

Darfur is among the hottest places on earth. Looking down from the air as we prepared to land, all one could see were dry river beds.