Report after return from Sudan, July 18. 2012
Report after return from Sudan
The Slovenian humanitarian organization H.O.P.E. and Tomo Križnar Foundation have succeed in bringing in a new shipment of cameras for documenting the hidden war to the Sudanese provinces of Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains, just before the peak of the rainy season. When South Sudan declared independence last July, these provinces were left to fend for themselves, even by former comrades in the 21-year war that has taken two million lives in South Sudan.
In the war zones around the still undefined border between the new state of South Sudan and what is left of old Sudan, more than 600 cameras now lie in wait, helping the African natives, together with laptops and satellite modems, to compensate the almost complete absence of the world media and professional observers of the international community.
The world establishment has still not succeeded in forcing the Sudanese military dictatorship of Omar Hassan al Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague on charges of the worst crimes against humanity, including genocide, to stop the bombardments by Russian Antonov and Chinese Mig planes. Access to the victims, trapped in mountains, caves and forests in war areas, has also not been negotiated and humanitarian corridors for distributing food and medicines have not been established.
The Slovenian camera distribution initiative, resulting in footage of atrocities, recorded by local volunteers, succeeded in attracting the limelight of global journalism, and even the heavenly glow of the stars. George Clooney visited the Nuba Mountains illegally in February, testified in Congress and let himself be arrested in front of the Sudanese embassy.
The cameras stay with the natives even when darkness falls again.
The means to equip indigenous volunteers have so far been obtained exclusively from individual donations, without any support from institutions. The majority has been contributed by readers of Križnar’s book »Oil and Water« and viewers of the documentary »Eyes and Ears of God – Video surveillance of Sudan«. This is now the third movie made in cooperation with director Maja Weiss, Bela Film and RTV Slovenia, successfully activating the love of humanity and lobbying for the survival of indigenous people of Africa.
The humanitarian organization HOPE, founded by Klemen Mihelič and sympathizers in December 2009, after returning with Križnar from Darfur, is collecting funds on the principle of full transparency and without any costs for itself. Every contribution becomes immediately visible at the Web page www.hope.si. Everything collected is used for equipment, nothing is lost on wages, insurance, travel costs …
Križnar and Mihelič crossed the border from South Sudan to the Sudanese province Blue Nile at the end of May. They met with members of the SRF (Sudan Revolutionary Front) that now connects fighters against the regime in Khartoum along the entire frontline from Darfur in the west, across the central Nuba Mountains, to Blue Nile in the east. They visited the indigenous tribes Komo and Ganza in the south of the »inaccessible territory«. These tribes are being denied help by UN agencies and even non-governmental humanitarian organizations because they are – in their own words – »afraid that the Sudanese Air Force will bomb them like the natives«.
In the middle of June, Križnar was joined by his niece Živa Ozmec, executive producer of the documentary »Eyes and Ears of God«. They tried to reach the Nuba Mountains, but the advancing rain season stopped all vehicles and prevented access to the border. Križnar was successful only when it stopped raining for a few days and the black soil dried up just enough to permit crossing the border in an all-terrain vehicle belonging to one of the three humanitarian organizations that covertly provide help to the Nubas. He distributed cameras and equipment, trained volunteers and then, on a borrowed all-terrain motorcycle, spent three weeks filming tens of thousands of refugees from the mass starvation that befell the mountains because the natives could not plant enough sorghum due to incessant intimidation and persecution.
Fresh rains delayed Križnar’s return for two weeks. Everybody knows that when the rains stop, sometime in October, the biggest attack by the government army will follow. The Africans in Sudan do not expect that the Arab spring of protesters in Khartoum will save them. All Arab governments have been racist. Thus, only one solution remains: attack on Khartoum.
Križnar flies home with footage of the dying of besieged people on the altar of the world. He will use it to enrage the Europeans and activate them to prevent the greater suffering on the horizon at the end of the rainy season.
Tomo Križnar, for Tomo Križnar Foundation and Hope. Cairo, July 18.th 2012, 17.09.pm
