the day after the oddest interview ever

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Well, true to his word, Prof. Taha (Minister of the Interior) got me a lunch and long sitdown with the man himself, Omar al-Bashir, the President of the Sudan!! He is a very imposing man, its not that he is huge and physically intimidating, he just had this imposing air about him, but one that I suspect that all dictators (admitted or otherwise) probably have. He (like Prof. Taha) suprised me, and he was incredibly intelligent, expounding about how the world and UN has the wrong perception on what is going on in the Sudan. I would beg to differ from what I have seen already, but I was more than smart enough to not let my own thoughts be known. The funny thing was, we actually didnt talk about domestic and world affairs for all that long, Pres. al-Bashir and I mainly talked about life as a whole. He describes life as this comparitively hollow thing, and that in his realistic view, he thinks that he should make himself out to be as great and powerful a man as possible, so as to be remembered. He also went to great lengths to let me know how much of a ladies man that he is, he said that (due to his total power in Sudan) he is able to get "any woman he wants", and that he does almost every night. He asked me what I thought about that, and I happily told him about Shirlina. He criticized me for not capitalizing on me being American to "have choice of many of the ladies of here" and that I should adopt more of an (I think existentialist) philosophy on women/love like he has. I responded with "Au chaque ses propres", French for "to each his own". He laughed a bit, and then praised me for being a "smart yankee boy who speaks many languages of the world".

Another benefit of that long sitdown was the fact that after the last aforementioned statement by him, we all switched to French, and it was really cool and beneficial to speak in French for about another hour and a half before they had to leave the cafe we were at. What was really crazy about when he left was the fact that his entourage was huge! As he was walking away (as the cafe was in the palace compund itself), I saw all these gunmen coming out of the woodwork (getting up from rooftops, coming out of alleys, and out from behind the low garden walls and such). I was really shocked for a while, but then I realized that I had just supped with a head-of-state, and that any head of state is privy to such immense and comprehensive protection. I am still (the morning after no less) shocked that a) I was given the privelege to meet with, much less informally eat with him...and b) that I didnt really find him to be the wanton butcher that the world would like to portray him as, I actually genuinly liked him. Even when I think about all the genocide that he has been the architect of, I still cant help but like him and admire him a bit. I know that some of the justification that he gave for some of the accusations against him has to be false, but then again...who am I to judge the affairs of this country that is totally foreign and nigh incomprehensible to me. I am not saying I advocate what he even admits (for his own "justified" reasons) having ordered, it is just something that still bugs me a bit. What was really funny and cool was that right before he got up from the table to walk the few hundred feet or so back to his palace, he apologized for the guys who beat me up the other day, and said that it is such instances of violence that he is trying to curb in his country. He said that he knew what lead up to me getting completely pounded into the dirt, and that I shouldnt try to stop something that is "just a part of our culture". I feel otherwise, but I know when to hold my tongue.

Well, I am actually publishing this in the morning, as there is a 9 hour (or so) time difference from USA's east coast to here. We are going out to Darfur again for the day, and despite the recent pickup in violence, I am pretty excited about going today. Man, Juan just brought me up a sandwhich, a turkey friggin sandwhich!! After chomping down so many pita's and chicken, and so much lamb, it is so great to finally get some "black market" (haha) American food up in this hotel. It doesnt matter that it was for breakfast, that turkey was so long overdue. Juan also told me that several of the Russians and Nigel had been up all night drinking and playing poker in the bar, and that Nigel lost bigtime, and they are shaving his head as compensation for the money that he refuses to give them. He said that (since Nigel had shoulder length hair) they cut the first bit off with scissors, and that they are getting ready to shave him clean with shaving cream and an old fashioned rezor blade. This should be a pretty funny sight when it is all done with. I spoke with (the soon to be bald) Nigel for many hours into the night last night. His girlfriend is American (from Jersey), and he says that she is her mind and actions are akin to the labyrinth of ancient greek mythology. He claims that American girls are much more unpredictable than girls from Europe (he claims to have been with many), and that he wanted my insight on the matter. As an aside, it is really funny to talk to him sometimes (especially after he has drank a bit) because he goes back and forth between his Oxford-educated speech to his lower-british, which is incredibly and comically colorful and profane. The reversions to and from seriousness that he has are hilarious, which is why I am def. going to take him up on spending a week at his place in London after all this is over. He asked me alot about Shirlina (my wonderful girlfriend), and I told him (largely) what he wanted to know. He said that it reminded him of his girlfriend (except he admitted that Shirlina was prettier, which I agreed to), and he asked me if Shir was a high-maintainance girl. I laughed, and he just nodded and said "I thought so". He asked me if I would be the best man at his wedding this summer after that, which really took me off gaurd. I know that he was definitely at least a little drunk, but I said sure. On a more serious note, it is actually pretty crazy how I have gotten to know some of these people in such a quick amount of time. I know that adversity and stressful (more classic understatement) breeds friendships with great expedience...but it is still both shocking and refreshing at times.

Well, I need to go get some more nasty black coffee before we head out, so I must go and bid everyone who reads this adieu.

Until next time,
David

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Comments

[colum]

wow, great post.. thankyou for updating this blog about sudan.