Sudanese want action on Darfur

Alfred Taban, editor in chief of the Khartoum Monitor, one of the few independent newspapers in the country, says the Sudanese people want decisive measures.

"How many resolutions have there been – including one to make the government disarm the janjaweed [Arab militias]?" he asks. "So what more time does Ban Ki Moon need?

"The Sudanese people are becoming very angry at the lack of action, but they cannot talk, they cannot say anything because the media is all controlled by the government," says Mr. Taban.

He knows only too well how the government controls the press. His paper has been shut down 10 times in its seven-year history.

Like many here, he believes that Khartoum has no interest in ending the war in Darfur. After ceding control of the oil-rich south of Sudan following its own civil war, he says the government fears Darfur may also go it alone.

"The answer is that pressure must be kept on the government to find some middle ground with the Darfuris, to give them something, but at the moment there is no progress at all on finding a political solution," he says in his air-conditioned office above the paper's cramped newsroom.

Pushing Khartoum into a corner?

That argument falls on deaf ears among government supporters, including those who campaigned for the South's independence and are now members of a government of national unity.

Ghazi Suleiman, a member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which fought Khartoum for more than two decades, says talk of sanctions undermines recent progress.

"I would like to see President Bush say that Sudan did the right thing in accepting the package and that he looks forward to more cooperation instead of talking about sanctions. This causes us and our parties big problems," he says at his Khartoum home.

He insists that aid agencies exaggerate the scale of the humanitarian disaster, which results in unfair criticism from the West.

"They just come after us like a dog hunting a rabbit. The dog knows why it is hunting the rabbit but the rabbit does not," he says.

At the open-air Ozone cafe, where jazz gently buzzes in the background and increasingly wealthy Sudanese sip cappuccinos and nibble at cheesecake, there is little talk of Darfur – it could be a world away.

But when the topic is raised, many express sympathy for those in Darfur.

A young teacher, who gives her name only as Intesar, says international forces are the answer. Everyone in the small group with her nods in agreement. Most express similar views, but request not to be quoted, even anonymously, for fear of government.

"Khartoum must accept international forces to protect the people there and I think sanctions – targeted at the people responsible, not general ones that would affect ordinary people – would make Khartoum look for a solution more quickly," she says.

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