Arab media

March 6 , 2008

Source: Al Khaleej (UAE daily, with over 80,000 in circulation)
Headline: Al Mahdi Says Abdul Wahid Nour Crossed a Red Line and Announces Agreement with Al Bashir’s party
By: Al Haj Muz

• Opposition leader Sadig Al Mahdi of Umma Party called on President Omar Al Bashir to organize a national conference to propose a national reconciliation plan that leads to just peace, democratic change, and a detailed mechanism to implement this plan
• He also urged the government to provide fair compensations to displaced civilians and refugees in Darfur, encourage their return, remove those who occupied their lands, provide security and stability, and protect freedom 
• Al Mahdi criticized Abdul Wahid Nour’s opening of an office in Israel and said the move crossed all “red lines”
• He said revolutionary leaders should align themselves with other revolutionary leaders and not with Fascists occupiers

Source: Al Jazeera (Leading Arabic News Channel, headquartered in Qatar)
Headline: Darfur Lawyers Accuse China of Providing Khartoum Government with Military Support in Darfur
By: Emad Abdul Hadi

• Darfur Lawyers Group called on China to play a positive role in Darfur crisis and stop arming government troops
• The group handed a letter to Chinese envoy Liu Giulin urging China to stop selling arms the government can use in Darfur.  The group used Giulin’s assertion that China provides 9% of Sudan’s weapons as proof of Chinese negative role in the crisis
• The group accused China of focusing on economic gains instead of the suffering of millions in Darfur and criticized its efforts to thwart any UN Security Council resolutions to pressure the Sudanese government
• The letter also called on China to pressure the Sudanese government to let UNAMID carry out its mission without interference

Source: Asharq Al Awsat (Saudi-owned Pan-Arab daily with wide circulation)
Headline: French Soldier’s Body Found and France Apologizes to Khartoum
By: Mustapha Sirri and Isamil Adam

• Ali Sidig, spokesperson of Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs, said body of missing soldiers was located near the border with Chad and that it will be transported to Khartoum
• He added that Sudanese government was cooperating with EUFOR and France to ensure the body was returned
• The soldier was killed during a clash between EUFOR and Sudanese army inside Sudan near the border with Chad
• France and European Union apologized to Sudan for the incident

Source: Al Ahram (government-friendly, Egyptian daily with over 1 million in circulation)
Headline: Abdul Wahid, Israel, and Darfur Crisis
By: Hani Ruslan

• Abdul Wahid Nour’s announcement that his faction opened an office in Israel will have dangerous repercussions not limited to Nour’s influence in Darfur but also exposes the reality that some rebel groups have become tools for Israel and Western organizations working on its behalf
• It was evident to any monitor the existence of a Zionist plot to exploit Darfur starting in 2003 when Sharif Haris, a leader in Democratic Federal Union, resigned along with three others for receiving financial support from Israel
• The Zionist hands became more apparent in using international media to wage a media war kicked off by “Holocaust Museum” in New York
• These same hands were the ones that created Save Darfur Coalition, which succeeded in influencing US Congress, the White House, and the many UN Security Council resolutions
• Due to this and other lobbying groups, Darfur crisis became fashionable with Hollywood actors and directors seeking to exploit it to gain more fame
• All these groups and individuals were blind and deaf to other horrible violations in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, and Congo
• The crisis in Darfur was the result of neglect and lack of development and political participation; it did not need all these complications, crimes, and human rights violations if it were not for competing regional and international agendas
• The most dangerous of these agendas is that of Israel, which wants to exploit ethnic and racial tensions in various parts of Sudan in order to break it up and gain a foothold from which to surround Egypt from the south
• Israel was the only country in the world whose cabinet ministers held a special session to study the crisis and adopt a set of measures to deal with it. It is therefore no coincidence that Israel offered political asylum to 600 Darfur refugees some of whom belonged to Nour’s faction
• Israel was also implicated in some reports for supplying Idriss Deby’s regime with weapons in its latest clash with Chadian troops
• Abdul Wahid’s move would further weaken him ground in Darfur as opening an office in Israel was opposed by his tribe.  It is likely that it will strengthen his rival Ahmed Abdul Shafii
• It is also likely that Nour’s open acknowledgement of political ties with Israel would complicate efforts to resolve the crisis politically, as he would be rewarded with the support and backing of influential groups in the West