SHR Quarterly

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim at SHRO-Cairo Women's Forum: Lecture on NIF Relief Agencies

From Quarterly, Issue No. 1, summer 1995
Translated by Rasha El-Tigani

The SHRO-Cairo Women’s Forum presented Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, President of the Sudanese Women’s Union (SWU), in a forum that discussed relief agencies under the NIF rule. The following summary contains some of the facts exposed by the speaker before the Forum.

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim said, “an Islamic organization had been formed from within the national movement because there are southern Muslims (equally interested in it). I had personally met with the officials of that organization who informed me about many difficulties that faced them in the registration procedure as it had been supervised by the Organization of Al-Da’wa Al-Islamiya [Islamic Call]. The difficulties were attributed to the NIF policy that adopts the concept of political Islam and discriminates between Muslims themselves. Moreover, I also knew that those responsible for the Organization of Da’wa Islamiya in the Sudan had been NIF-loyalists.”

Ibrahim explained that one of the problems that faced the southerners in dealing with the Da’wa was when they requested Da’wa to supply their people with relief because they had children who were dying of hunger and disease. The Da’wa officials replied that they needed time to consult Khartoum. It was shameful that Khartoum rejected the petition claiming that ‘southerners are rebels and are thus not entitled to relief.” After several negotiations the Da’wa agreed to consult the Nairobi Branch which acknowledged their eligibility and supplied them with relief.

The undergoing conflict unmasked the claims of the Da’wa officials that they are working “for the aid of Muslims” which was not true. Indeed, they were adopting political Islam which meant supporting their loyalists only. We had to take the initiative and give them an ultimatum, either gives us supplies or we unveil their motivations and intentions to the international community.

Fatima Ibrahim spoke about the NIF policy that the claim “condemns external hegemony” and said that the NIF with its political methodology “reinforces such hegemony.” The NIF has fully submitted without any reservation to a policy that advocates the decreasing of the value of the Sudanese pound [equivalent to US$2.5 until 1974]. When Nimeiri came to power he reduced the value.

Under the NIF rule the value of the national currency was astronomically inflated, yet Salah Dollar [Colonel Salah Karar, a high-ranking minister of the NIF military government] yells and claims that they came “to protect the national economy.” Nowadays, the value of one dollar is well above 570 Sudanese pounds (NOTE: one US dollar is equal to 2200 Sudanese pounds by January 2000 and is now approaching 2500 by 2001)

Since a long time, the policy of external hegemony aims to impel all African States to rely heavily on it for their imports, hence escalating foreign debt. This is the reason why certain international circles advise States to reduce the value of their national money. Their officials never dreamt that one dollar would be equivalent to 570 Sudanese pounds, notwithstanding.

The second point is that the officials of such circles require relaxation of State’s hold on the market prices, the result of which a financial chaos spreads all over the country and eventually disturbs the whole national economy. Then a parasitic class is formed and starts to control the country, thus becoming an exceptionally wealthy lot whereas the rest of the nation becomes increasingly poor and needy lot.

The only pursuit of this class would be to prevail and be engaged in activities such as smuggling, dominating goods, profit-making in Islamic banks, storing money in similar banks and sharing interests with them. Eventually, the economy, agriculture and industry would be destroyed. These people steal and benefit from the theft by abusing policies that are so harmful to the nation.

A third condition to which the NIF fully submitted is to waive all State subsidies to make the people suffer and that is what the NIF has actually accomplished in Sudan. The 4th condition is to limit and dismiss labor to decrease the expenditure - a procedure which aims to increase unemployment, decrease the production and produce a complete devastation of the economy so that we become totally dependent upon external institutions in every thing.

If any monetary organization had really been sincere about decreasing the expenditure, they would have better told the State officials not to establish 600 ministries, and to stop bribes, corruption, and theft. Indeed, State officials are living in luxury whereas thousands of people are dismissed and live in extremely poor conditions.

Ibrahim said that she made a statement at a press conference that the NIF officials were bribed to make people hate Islam. Nonetheless, they would not stop from fighting them. She declared, “We would take from them to give the needy but not to betray the cause.”

About the tragic violations occurring in Western Sudan, she discussed how a number of Nuba youth disappeared after NIF loyalists and officials made a big party for them. She referred to a major project adopted by the Sudanese Women’s Union that was hindered by the NIF coup about the displaced children who are called Al-Ahdath Al-Musharadeen.

She met with a member of the Union at the UN International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and asked her about the children. The SWU member said, “there weren’t any left of them and rumors say that they were taken to camps and harshly beaten up to learn and recite the Qur’an. The elderly were taken to the war zone to walk ahead of the army and explode bombs planted by the rebels!”

“This is incredible!” Fatima Ibrahim exclaimed.

Interviewed in Dakar at a press conference, Ibrahim told journalists that the news about displaced children “is a historical crime that cannot be documented unless they have means of accessibility to go and watch for themselves.” Also a British journalist interviewed Fatima Ibrahim in Nairobi representing the Oxfam Organization who was writing about Sudan women and displaced children. He only interviewed one girl who told him that she “is much better in the camp and thanks the government!” Fatima said that she attacked the journalist who naively believed that the girl told him and was going to write it.

The journalist said that the governments of China, Iran, and Iraq had projects for helping Sudan. Finally, she said that Sudan compared to Nairobi and England “is considered relatively safe.” She told him that he shouldn’t compare Sudan to England but rather with the periods before and after the regime’s coup.

For the first time in Sudanese diplomacy, a Sudanese ambassador, Abd-Allah Mohamed Ahmed, was being arrested in Rome engaged with the Mafia. The NIF policy is to take from every one and every source they can take from, whether Mafia, drugs, or even the devil himself. The NIF [ruling party] is now wealthier than any preceding government, party organizations, or individuals. Ibrahim had additional evidence on this fact from members of her own family who had been extremely poor in the very near past but have now become NIF millionaires.

The speaker focused upon the south because it is considered to be a war zone. There are other vices and horrific acts taking place in the west. Bolad was murdered because he said so although he was an NIF-loyalist. He was murdered by Al-Tayeb Sikha [Colonel Alp-Tayeb Ibrahim, governor of DarFur), another NIF loyalist.

Finally, Fatima said that women in the southern and western regions of the country are considered to be more developed than those in the east and the reason is due to a lack of leadership, education, culture and knowledge. It is our responsibility to educate them and wipe off their ignorance.”