World

In Sudan, Poverty, Heavy Security Grip Under Longtime Leader

Published

10 years ago

April 16, 2015

In this picture taken on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, a Sudanese boy gestures to the camera for a smoke, outside his home in Izba, an impoverished neighborhood on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — During a quarter-century in power, President Omar al-Bashir has succeeded in keeping an iron grip on Sudan despite repeated disasters that would have toppled many leaders. This week’s election seems certain to entrench his rule.

Sudan lost a third of its territory as South Sudan broke away. The country has been torn by internal wars and battered by international sanctions for alleged support of terrorism. Al-Bashir is the world’s first sitting president wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. And poverty is a constant.

Al-Bashir’s success has come in part from a heavy security hand that has silenced dissent. Despairing of any vote breaking his grip, few Sudanese turned out for an election extended over four days that ended Thursday. But snapshots can be found of Sudan’s dissent and discontent.

IZBA

The impoverished neighborhood of Izba is one sign of how constant wars have shaped Khartoum. Before the 1989 coup that brought al-Bashir to power, Izba was a small community of Arab tribesmen who settled on the capital’s edge. But through the 1990s and 2000s, it ballooned with the Sudanese fleeing war zones around the country, particularly South Sudan, Darfur in the west and Kordofan on the border with the south.

Now 70,000 residents live crammed in about a square mile area. Half-naked barefoot children play in dusty, unpaved alleys between mud-brick houses.

The worst is during the summer rainy season, when the neighborhood floods. Residents scramble to scoop out rising water in their homes. The mud brick dissolves in the rain, damaging homes — last season, 250 houses were destroyed.

Mariam al-Mahdi’s five-room home was washed away in the night last year. “In the morning, the house was gone,” she told The Associated Press. It’s still in ruins, and the 30-year-old’s family lives in a shack nearby.

Every year, residents have to rebuild their houses. Around 80 percent of residents make only around $5 a day and are unable to afford more sturdy homes. Most men work as day laborers in construction, some of the women are tea vendors in the streets. The district has suffered from years of neglect. Public transport doesn’t reach it. There’s a single medical clinic but no hospitals, and few people have public health insurance.

The neighborhood got its first paved road just two months before this week’s election. Residents saw it as a sop from a president who has otherwise ignored them.

Abdel-Motalib Abdullah, a resident who campaigned for candidates running against the ruling party in the election, drew an analogy:

“A hunter in red clothes dug a trap for an elephant. The elephant fell in the trap and got injured. Next day, the same hunter, but dressed in white, comes and treats the elephant’s injury. This is what al-Bashir does to us.”

THE OPPOSITION

At midnight on Dec. 6, security forces descended on the home of Sudan’s most prominent human rights advocate, Amin Mekki Medani. He had just returned from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where he met with opposition parties to work out their unified demands that al-Bashir postpone elections, form a unity government and amend the constitution.

The 76-year-old lawyer spent the next 15 days in solitary confinement, a small cell with no windows, a mattress on the floor and a neon light and air conditioning blasting non-stop.

“It was the most awful thing you can imagine,” Medani told the AP. “For 15 days … I never left the room, not knowing day from night.”

He was charged with forming a terrorist cell. For the next four months, he was in prison as his trial went on. Then last week, the charges against him were dropped and he and two other opposition figures were freed — a goodwill gesture before the election.

Over 25 years, al-Bashir has done away with what was once a vibrant opposition. His main tool has been the powerful security establishment. At the top stands the National Intelligence and Security Services, or NISS, which monitors the press, political parties, unions and public gatherings. Recent constitution amendments gave it even more power, changing its mandate from simple information gathering to give it authority as an outright security force.

“State security is the real ruler of this country,” Medani said.

Sudan saw its biggest anti-government demonstrations in September 2013. But the protests were swiftly put down by a police crackdown that killed around 200 people.

Still, Medani insists the protests signal the emergence of a young opposition that, if joined with traditional opposition parties, could force change.

“We haven’t lost the spirit,” he said.

THE GHOST HOUSE

When student activist Mohammed Salah was arrested last May, he was taken to one of Khartoum’s most notorious detention centers, known as the Ghost House. There, he told the AP, he received the “reception” given to newly arrived, political detainees. Over several days, he was systematically flogged, kicked, beaten, even bitten in the cheek, all while blindfolded and handcuffed. Once, he was hit so hard he temporarily lost sight in one eye.

He was held in solitary for 60 days, removed only for interrogations sometimes lasting more than 20 hours.

Salah was arrested for leading a university protest denouncing the killing of another student. He and his colleagues demanded the removal of so-called “jihadi crews,” groups of armed government supporters stationed at universities to crush any protests — one tool of the government to silence dissent.

Human rights groups have frequently denounced Sudan’s use of torture. Amnesty International in a report last month pointed to arrests of students, activists, rights workers and journalists from 2012-2014, some of whom faced torture and other abuses.

The arrest — and an earlier one also over protests — gave Saleh an experience in the ways of torture.

“The main concept is humiliation,” he said. Detention, he said, aims to instill fear in the detainee by controlling and isolating him.

“In the end, I keep this in my mind,” Salah said. “The death of an individual will not kill the cause.”

THE NEWSPAPER EDITOR

When the weekly newspaper Al-Midan ran a statement by a rebel group supporting protesters demanding better services, authorities quickly confiscated the edition. The paper’s chief editor, Madeha Abdullah, was hauled before prosecutors and charged with “attempting to topple the constitutional system” — a crime punishable by death.

When she heard the charges, “the prosecutor wondered why I was so cool,” Abdullah recalled.

Probably because it was nothing new for Sudan’s journalists. Newspapers are heavily censored, and editions are often pulled from the shelves after publication. On Feb. 14 alone, more than 15 different papers had that day’s edition confiscated. Journalists never know the reason as the measures are taken without written orders.

Abdullah said security authorities instruct editors over the phone on topics to avoid — the International Criminal Court, the conflict in Darfur, economic problems or corruption. Editors who don’t comply are summoned for prosecution.

From 2011 to 2013, Al-Midan —which is connected to Sudan’s Communist Party — was censored or banned nearly every week, though it was still able to appear on line.

Abdullah said the stress of being banned and censored is even worse than prosecution. “We keep working. We send the paper to the print house. They stop the publication,” she said. Her case has not been sent to trial and she suspects the charges will not be pursued — just left open to use against her later if needed.

The government also uses its monopoly over advertising to put a financial squeeze on papers.

“They wage different wars,” Abdullah said. “There is direct war through confiscation and censorship. There is an indirect siege on the paper’s resources.”

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Newsom, Pelosi Welcome Election of First American Pope; Call for Unity and Compassion

“In his first address, he reminded us that God loves each and every person,” said Newsom. “We trust that he will shepherd us through the best of the Church’s teachings: to respect human dignity, care for the poor, and wish for the common good of us all.” Newsom also expressed hope that the pontiff’s leadership would serve as a unifying force in a time of global instability.

Published

5 days ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Pope Leo XIV. Screenshot.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom on May 8 issued a statement congratulating Pope Leo XIV on his historic election as the first American to lead the Catholic Church.

The announcement has drawn widespread reaction from U.S. leaders, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called the moment spiritually significant and aligned with the values of service and social justice.

In their statement, the Newsoms expressed hope that the newly elected pope would guide the Church with a focus on compassion, dignity, and care for the most vulnerable. Newsom said he and the First Partner joined others around the world in celebrating the milestone and were encouraged by the pope’s first message.

Newsom also expressed hope that the pontiff’s leadership would serve as a unifying force in a time of global instability.

“May he remind us that our better angels are not far away — they’re always within us, waiting to be heard,” he said.

Pelosi, a devout Catholic, also welcomed the pope’s election and noted his symbolic connection to earlier church leaders who championed workers’ rights and social equality.

“It is heartening that His Holiness continued the blessing that Pope Francis gave on Easter Sunday: ‘God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail,’” said Pelosi.

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Retired Bay Area Journalist Finds Success in Paris with Black History Tours

In the late 90s, Stevenson finally realized her dream of living in Paris, now with her daughter. She started exploring the history of Africans in the city and would go on to teach others the same. Her business, which she named Black Paris Tours (BPT), received a significant boost when a family friend gave her a stack of cash and encouraged her to expand on the knowledge that she had only started to share with people she knew.

Published

3 months ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Ricki Stevenson, Blacks in Paris. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

There were two things Oakland-born, East Palo Alto-raised Ricki Stevenson always dreamed of:

Going to New York as a newscaster to tell the true story of Blacks in America.
Living and working in Paris one day.

Her dreams of life in Paris began when she was three years old and her mother, a former professional dancer, took her to see Josephine Baker perform. She was 11 when her parents took her to the Stanford University campus to meet James Baldwin, who was speaking about his book, “The Fire Next Time.” Ricki says that’s when she knew she’d one day live in Paris, “the city of light!”

But before that would ever happen, she had a tumultuous career as a newscaster across the country that was inspired by her family’s history.

Stevenson recalls marching with Cesar Chavez as he fought for labor rights for farm workers in California.

“Are we Mexican too?” she asked her parents. “No, but we will fight for everyone’s human rights,” they responded to her.

Ironically, Ricki’s paternal family roots went back to Greenwood, Oklahoma, infamous for the 1921 bombing of Black Wall Street. A time when Black people had oil wells, banks, and a thriving business community.

This background would propel her into a 25-year journalism career that gave her the opportunity to interview greats like President Jimmy Carter, PLO leader Yassir Arafat, James Baldwin, Rev. Jesse Jackson, UN Ambassador Andrew Young, Miriam Makeba, and the leaders of South African liberation movements.

A job offer from KCBS radio brought her back to the Bay Area in the 1980s. Then came the switch to TV when she was hired as a Silicon Valley business reporter with KSTS TV, working at the first Black-owned television station in northern CA (created and owned by John Douglas). Along the way, Stevenson worked as an entertainment reporter with BET; coproduced, with her disc jockey brother Isaac, a Bay Area show called “Magic Number Video;” lived in Saudi Arabia; worked as an international travel reporter with News Travel Network; and worked at KRON TV a news anchor and talk show host.

In 1997, Stevenson realized her dream of living in Paris with her young daughter, Dedie. She started exploring the history of Africans in the city and would go on to teach others the same. Her business, which she named Black Paris Tours (BPT), received a significant boost when a family friend, Admiral Robert Toney put a chunk of money in her hand. He said, “Ricki, my wife and I have been coming to Paris for 20 years, but in just two days with you and Dedie, we’ve learned and seen more than we ever did before.”

Years after BPT took off, Ricki met Nawo Carol Crawford and Miguel Overton Guerra, who she recruited as senior scholar guides for Black Paris Tours.

Guerra says he is proud of his work with Black Paris Tours in that it provides a wealth of information about the rich legacy of African and African American history and influence in Paris and Europe.

“I tend to have a feeling for history always being a means of a reference point backwards … you start to understand the history, that it isn’t just the United States, that it began with African people,” Guerra says.

He said that it’s been a pleasure to watch people learn something they didn’t know before and to take them through the city to key points in Black history, like hangout spots for writers like Baldwin and Richard Wright, restaurants in the busiest parts of Paris, the home of Josephine Baker and so much more.

Although the tours are open to all, Guerra hopes that those of African descent from all over the world can embrace that they don’t have to just stay where they are because movies and media have portrayed cities like Paris to be only white, it’s multicultural and accepting to all.

“We’ve been here, and we’ve been there, going way back when. And we shouldn’t be considered or consider ourselves to be strangers in any place that we go to,” he said.

Stevenson notes they’ve had 150,000 people take their tour over the years, with notables like former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Smokey Robinson, Steve Harvey, Miriam Makeba, and more.

Friends and former media colleagues of Stevenson compliment the BPT crew on their knowledge of the city and their ability to always keep it interesting.

“He [Guerra] just had a deep, deep wealth of knowledge and he was constantly supplanting information with historical facts and the like. I love that it was demonstrating and showing how Black people have thrived in Paris or contributed to the culture in Paris,” Candice Francis said.

She toured in the summer of 2022 and stated that in the two weeks that they visited Paris, BPT was the highlight of her trip. She shared that she was proud of Stevenson and the life she’d managed to manifest and build for herself.

“Even if you’re visiting Paris for the tenth time, if you haven’t taken the tour, then by all means, take it,” Francis emphasized.

Magaly Muñoz, Gay Plair and Paul Cobb also contributed to this story. You can book your own adventure with Black Paris Tours at www.blackparistour.com.

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COMMENTARY: Will a Dictator’s Loss Change Trump’s Tune?

What’s happened in Syria has the potential of reshaping the politics of the entire Middle East. The U.S. can’t afford to sit back and do nothing. Now is the time to exert peaceful, diplomatic influence on how Syria maintains stability and goes forward with a new democracy.

Published

5 months ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Emil Guillermo

In our polarized country, half of America can’t wait, while many of us still wonder, “where’s Kamala?”

I hope President-elect Trump — who famously said during the campaign that he’d be a dictator on day one — eats his words.

Dictators aren’t doing so well these days.

Last weekend, the dictator Bashar al-Assad was run out of Syria and sought exile with his puppet master/dictator Vladimir Putin of Russia. In just about two weeks, a coalition of rebels applied enough pressure to end a family regime in Syria that lasted 50 years.

al-Assad’s wealthy family dictatorship plundered Syria and ruled in terror.

It sounds all too familiar to Filipino Americans, many of whom came to the U.S. fleeing the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

al-Assad’s end was different from the Filipinos who forged a peaceful People Power movement that chased the Marcos family to Hawaii where they sought refuge from their U.S. puppet handlers.

But as in Manila, there was cheering on the streets of Syria. Men, women, and children. Christian, Muslims, different sects and ethnicities, all united against al-Assad.

al-Assad has been described as a genocidal narco-trafficking tyrant, whose friends were America’s biggest enemies, Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia, said Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, on CNN.

Moustafa said it was amazing that there would be no more Russian airstrikes, no more al-Assad gulags torturing civilians. “To see good triumph over evil is an amazing thing,” he added.

But last weekend has some trickle down.

Consider that we are talking about al-Assad, the one Tulsi Gabbard consorted with and hyped to her colleagues when she was in Congress. Now Assad has been shamed into exile with his puppet master Russia, and Gabbard wants to be the U.S. director of national security? Given her wrongheaded judgment on al-Assad, can she be trusted with any national secrets?

It’s still not over in Syria, as now there will be a scramble to see what kind of governing democracy emerges.

Predictably, Donald Trump has said, “The United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved.”

Nouveau isolationism?

Overall, the ouster of the dictator should give Trump pause.

If by nominating MAGA loyalists like Gabbard, Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel, Trump’s testing the evolution to strongman rule in the U.S., he should consider what happened before last weekend.

In South Korea, a weak president tried to declare martial law and was voted down by Parliament. That’s a faux strongman.

Let’s hope Trump learns a lesson from the week’s news.

The next president sets the tone for a politics that’s already toxic.

He needs to remember the joy in Syria this week when an autocrat was dumped in the name of freedom and democracy.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning Bay Area journalist. His commentaries are on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. Or join him at www.patreon.com/emilamok