Refugee Response to al-Bashir Guardian Interview

This last week, The Guardian posted an interview with president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. In this interview, he said that he took responsibility for what has happened in Darfur but then immediately went to say that what is reported by the “western media” are exagerations.

Watch interview and read Guardain article.

A refugee leader responded to this interview and al-Bashir’s assertions:

Hello my friends:

I want to explain to you what al-Bashir said in the Guardian News. I am sure that all he said is not true and meant for those who are far from Darfur. The reality is al-Bashir is afraid of the International Criminal Court (ICC) because, if he went to ICC, he cannot save himself, so he talks about other countries like IRAQ and Palestine. About the protests in Arab countries, he is afraid about that great change to democracy and freedom, so he always lies in the news so as to escape the justice, but all the refugees and displaced inside Darfur are sure that some day al-Bashir will face justice. We support protests in neighboring Arab countries because, if all of them changed to democracy, then al-Bashir cannot go anywhere, and maybe he is arrested soon. I also want to respond about what he said about the conflict in Darfur being between the farmers and herders. This is not correct because there is bombing by planes of civilian villages and genocide of three tribes in Darfur. There are no civilian that have planes in Darfur, but the government offers everything to Arab tribes to kill the blacks. Really, the people of Darfur are suffering and being killed since twenty years ago.

Your friend A, from refugee camp.

(Note: For clarity, minor edits were done in spelling and grammar.)

SGN’s Response: