NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Here are four 30-minute video chats between Dr Layla AbdelRahim and Dr Ushari Ahmed Mahmud Khalil. The chats cover wide ranging topics focusing on Sudan's war and civilisation. After finding Part 2 by accident and viewing it, I am documenting all 4 here.
War and Civilisation 1: What we can learn from Sudan - 14 Nov 2023
War and Civilisation 2: Sudan and the Roots of Turmoil - 9 Dec 2023
War and Civilisation 3: The Genealogy of Genocide - 30 Dec 2023
War and Civilisation 4: The State is Corruption - 6 January 2024
War and Civilisation 1: What we can learn from Sudan
14 Nov 2023
To view the 26 minute video discussion click here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/war-and-1-what-92303767
Description:
All raging wars are alike; each peaceful initiative fails in its own way.
September this year marked the 40th anniversary of the implementation of Shari'a Laws in Sudan. 1983 thus took a step out of the geopolitical crossroads into the direction of today.
Even though humanity has waged war for thousands of years, we are still surprised each time a new war erupts. We are baffled by the narrative on the “other” side. We are outraged. Dismayed. And passionately, we fall into the trap of the narrative we believe.
I was a teenager, studying civil engineering and working several jobs at a time, when the Second Civil War in Sudan broke out. The narratives explaining the war seemed lopsided to me, even false. So, I decided to investigate for myself. Ushari and I met at the Sudan Times daily. Bona Malwal was the editor-in-chief at the time. Indignant at the cruelty and injustices around us, we both strove to uncover the truth and right the wrongs. It is rare to meet someone with such integrity and dedication as Ushari. Even after political imprisonment and now in exile, he remains the voice of human conscience.
I hope you will find this conversation interesting and helpful in your own endeavours to better humanity. This is the first of five parts.
You can support Ushari Ahmed Mahmud Khalil’s work by engaging his translation services or donations and follow him on Twitter; YouTube; Faceook.
Ushari Mahmud analyses and reports on the political situation in Sudan. He started as a sociolinguist dedicated to understanding the impact of the diversity of languages in Sudan on the society and politics. His M.A. thesis at the I.A.A.S (Institute for African and Asian Studies) at the University of Khartoum in 1974 was titled “The Phonology of a Dying Nubian Language Birgid”.
He defended his doctoral dissertation in 1979 at Georgetown University on pidgin Arabic in South Sudan, titled “Linguistic variation and change in the aspectual system of Juba Arabic”.
In 1987, he and his colleague, Suleyman Ali Baldo - a defender of human rights - published a report on “Al Dhaein Massacre and Slavery in Sudan” for which both were imprisoned.
His book on language, titled “Arabic in the southern Sudan: History and spread of pidgin creole”.
A relevant article by Zeinab Mohammed Salih: “Viewpoint from Sudan — where Black people are called slaves”.
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War and Civilisation 2: Sudan and the Roots of Turmoil
9 Dec 2023
To view the 32 minute video discussion click here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/war-and-2-sudan-94372301
Description:
In this part of my conversation with Ushari Ahmad Mahmud Khalil, we delve into the root of the unending turmoil in Sudan. We discuss religion and the role it plays in framing the politics around resources.
Sources and further reading:
Mahmoud Mohammed Taha
Glimpses of the life and thoughts of Ustadh Mahmoud Mohamed Taha. Documentary by Steve Howard, Ohio University
Interview with Asma Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (daughter) by Steve Howard
Documentary by Ahmed Al Muhanna in 2 parts (Arabic)
A brief history of Mahmoud Mohammed Taha’s life and work
An overview of events regarding Mahmoud Mohammed Taha
Book: Quest for Divinity: A Critical Examination of the Thought of Mahmud Mohammad Taha, by Mohamed A. Mahmoud
On the thought of Mahmoud Mohammad Taha
Jean-René Milot wrote a Master’s thesis on Mahmoud Mohammed Taha at the Faculty of Law, University of Montreal in 2007
U.S. and Muslim Brotherhood
See books and articles by the Montreal-born, American journalist Ian Johnson
Investigative journalist Robert Dreyfuss’ work, for example: Cold War, Holy Warrior
Eric Reeves on U.S chargé d’affaires to Sudan Steven Koutsis’ statements on U.S interests and policies vis à vis Sudan
Wildlife trafficking
UN report on wildlife trafficking
European Union funding the Janjaweed to Curb Migration
An independent report by the Swedish Development Forum on EU funding the Janjaweed (RSF) to stop migration
A report by Suliman Baldo “Border Control from Hell: How the EU’s migration partnership legitimizes Sudan’s ‘militia state’” (2017)
UN project ReliefWeb on Baldo’s report: “Border Control from Hell: How the EU’s migration partnership legitimizes Sudan’s “militia state” Support Forces (RSF) to stop migration to Europe”
A question to the European Parliament on EU funds for the Rapid Support Forces (Janjaweed) in Sudan to curb migration to Europe
Criticism of EU and UN training and funding the RSF or Janjaweed in Sudan
An article by Bashair Ahmed and Salih Amaar “Escaping Sudan’s Prison: Deciphering the Realities of the EU-Sudan Migration Deal”
Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan Relations
South Sudan:
Putin and South Sudan leader agree to cooperate on security Military base
Russia and South Sudan agreement on mining uranium and lithium in South Sudan
Sudan:
Cooperation on gold and rare metals mining in Sudan
Expert on world politics and professor of political science Natalia Piskounova’s analysis of Sudan’s strife for dominating mining resources
Sudan and Russia agree on military base
Music By Ayman Mao
Tags Sudan geopolitics religion resources war
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To view the 28 minute video discussion click here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/war-and-3-of-95549957
Description:
Sources and further reading
History of slavery in Sudan
Map of eastern slave trade route through Sudan
Professor of Anthropology from South Sudan, Jok Madut Jok, on slavery in Sudan
UN definition of “crimes against humanity”
“My Career Redeeming Slaves” by John Eibner, in the Middle East Quarterly, Dec 1999, pp. 3-16
Ushari and Baldo
On Ushari’s detention and imprisonment for his work on human rights
Sudanese forces for change: beware of Sadiq Almahdi
Map of 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries Sudan
Report on Sharia law and the death penalty
South Sudan Secession
The timeline in the video comes from the Center of International Media Assistance
Al Arabiya on the referendum for the secession of South Sudan
Photo credits
The following come from archaeologist Shadia Taha:
Photograph of camel caravan entering Suakin port in the 1830s from Durham Sudan Archive
Map of trade routes
Plan of Suakin’s districts on the three islands and the historic centre from British Museum
Suakin, between the sea and the desert: connected landscapes
Photographs from and more info on the ancient Sudanese Kingdom of Kush
Photographs of John Garang, Ushari, and myself were taken by Atem Yaak, journalist and former Deputy Minister of Information (from my personal archive).
Photographs of SPLA/M leadership.
Omar al Bashir and John Garang sign peace deal and John Garang joins the government.
Photograph of Addis Ababa airport 1984
Photograph of Juba, capital of South Sudan
An early 20th-century IWW poster depicts the workers who hold the edifices of capitalism on their shoulders. Above are the government and religion. From 1911 IWW newspaper/WikiMedia Commons.
This poster echoes Leo Tolstoy’s famous quote from “What Then Must We Do?”:
“I sit on a man's back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible… except by getting off his back”.
Photograph of woman, man, and sheep in Khartoum market by Marwan Ali from AP
Photographs of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue and an American soldier from AP
Photograph of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Ghaddafi from a 2015 article on Donald Trump
Photograph of Old City, Mosul, Iraq by Felipe Dana, AP
Photograph of destroyed Iraq, 20 years on by Khalid Mohammed, AP
Photographs of Iraq from Wiki commons:
Lamassu from the Assyrian gallery at the Iraq Museum, Baghdad
One of the oldest Christian monasteries, Dayro d-Mor Mattai monastery in Bartella, Nineveh, Iraq. Holds a rich collection of Syriac Christian manuscripts
The head of an Akkadian ruler from Nineveh, presumably depicting either Sargon of Akkad, or Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin in bronze
Tags Islamic Brotherhood SPLA/SPLM Sudan civilisation domestication genocide pol slavery war
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War and Civilisation 4: The State is Corruption
6 January 2024
To view the 30 minute video discussion click here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/war-and-4-state-95977497
Description:
Sources & References
Map of Sudan comes from ISS
EU tied to violence in South Sudan
Working at the nexus of human and nonhuman animal exploitation
Music by Tinariwen Sahara
Contact information for Ushari Ahmad Mahmud Khalil
Tags SPLA/SPLM Sudan civilisation politics war
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