There are some destinations like Khartoum, the capital of The Sudan, that are neither inspiring nor is it a place to visit and have much to write home about. I have had the privilege to visit Khartoum twice as a journalist and almost forgot about the city on the banks of the mighty River Nile, as soon as I landed back at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
My first visit was in 2002 when I went to cover the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development Heads of State meeting where our Foreign Minister, Dr Bonaya Godana, the North Horr Member of Parliament, represented President Daniel arap Moi.
The second visit was a decade later in 2011, when I went to attend a regional African-Middle Eastern broadcaster’s media conference sponsored by the Arab League and an Association of Radio Broadcasters.
The essence of the media forum was to bring all the broadcasters under one roof and set an agenda for the region. But this move did not go far after the meeting. I honestly don’t remember much about the deliberations and the dignitaries who attended.
On the eve of the first trip, my Managing Editor and News Editor informed me that I had been selected by the Nation Media Group to travel to the Central African country, which by then was the biggest in Africa before the split a decade later, to cover the IGAD summit.
IGAD is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa formed in 1986 and includes governments from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and African Great Lakes with its headquarters in Djibouti. Its main aim was to promote achievement of peace and sustainable development in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.
The Managing Editor handed me a signed letter of introduction to present at the Embassy of Sudan, off Ngong Road, in Woodley Estate, near the private residence of President Moi, on Kabarnet gardens, in Nairobi, and fill the visa application form. I arrived at the Embassy the following morning armed with the letter and my valid passport ready for the interview and visa to be issued. It less than 30 minutes to go through the process as there were just a handful of women and men ahead who were waiting to be served.
Stress-free visa service
The head of the communication department, who was a lovely and jovial lady, was glad to receive me and lead me to her office as her counterpart in the visa section processed my visa. Within a blink of an eye, I walked out with my passport stamped with a visa, thanks to the stress-free exercise.
The next day, I ensured I was at JKIA two hours before the afternoon 1450 hours flight on Kenya Airways Economy ticket fully paid for by the IGAD secretariat. The smiling smartly dressed ground hostesses received my passport, air ticket and yellow fever certificate, vetted them and then gave me a nod to proceed to the departure lounge through the Immigration Department where I met mean looking male and female officers who worked mechanically.
Once through with the officers, I walked to the Departure Lounge and waited for my departure time as I read my newspapers and a novel to while the time away. Just when I felt relaxed on the rather uncomfortable seats, I had the KQ staff asking all passengers to Khartoum to get ready for boarding in the next 10 minutes.
Red Carpet Reception
I stood up and joined the long queue and waited to be cleared by the airline staff for the walk into the airplane ready for the marathon flight which was without any frills. We were served with light refreshments and left on our own to decide to take a nap, watch a movie or to listen to their audio channel and pick the music of our choice.
On arrival at Khartoum International Airport at dusk, all the delegates and guests, who were made up of journalists and senior public servants, were identified and welcomed by a big team from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who then broke us into groups and asked us to board several vans and 4X4 vehicles for a drive to our respective hotels, booked and paid for by IGAD.
The 15-storied Al-Fateh hotel I was taken to was a sight to behold; its design was of a giant dhow. It was on the banks of River Nile with the main entrance and reception strategically located on the second floor with a ramp for cars to drop guests on.
From my specious and well-furnished room, I drew the curtains to see the skyline of the city and the river flowing from Lake Victoria through Uganda, South Sudan and Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea to the North.
We were given 10 minutes to freshen up before being invited to enjoy five-course dinner on the fourth floor, overlooking River Nile and with a bird’s view of the many lights in the city.
Confluence of Blue Nile and Rive Nile
From that vintage point, were able to see the confluence of the Blue Nile, from Ethiopia, and River Nile, from Lake Victoria in Uganda.
On our first day, our tour guides took us on a tour of the city with stops at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who were our hosts, and later to a market, where we were shown a section set aside for Southern Sudanese and supported by the government of al Bashir, through soft loans, business premises and capacity-building programmes.
The latter was part of the Bashir government’s public relations (PR) exercise and attempts to “give our country a better image,” shortly after the United States government had blacklisted the country as part of “An Axis of Evil,” for supporting terrorism and hosting Al Qaida terrorist group leader, Osama Bin Laden, who was behind the New York Twin towers attack the previous year, in September, 2001.
At the Foreign Affairs we were also taken around on another PR exercise to show us how the government was “promoting integration” between the Arabs northerners and their black Southern Sudanese compatriots whose leader, Col John Garanga Mabior, had led one of the longest civil wars in Africa.
Public relations exercise
In fact, the Sudan conflict was one of the agendas on the IGAD Summit graced by several Heads of State from member countries led by Yuweri Museveni of Uganda.
For lunch, our delegation of journalists from the IGAD-member states and others from the international media houses like BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, DW SABC among others, were driven to a resort near in the middle of the city of about 3 million and given a sumptuous five-course Lebanese ala carte where waiters hand around and literally flooded our plates with different varieties of meat, fish, rice, bread and fruits before crowning it with glass of juice and/or cup of tea and coffee.
The following day, we were invited to attend the IGAD meeting a stone’s throw from our hotel where I saw one of the biggest meeting halls by then. Security was tight, as was expected, and when President Bashir arrived dressed in his favourite Muslim headgear and gown, his entourage took over the management of the Summit.
The Sudanese leader joined traditional dancers waving their sharp and long spears in the air as some musicians, male and female played an danced with and for him. After the jig, it was time for speeches in both English and Arabic; thanks to the translators we were able to follow the proceedings well and without much hassle.
We later faced discrimination at a press conference organized by the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, when he deliberately gave those speaking Arabic a chance to ask him questions which were later translated into English.
Day Two was an open day for touring parts of the city; we were taken shopping at one of the biggest built up areas I had ever seen on a flat plain. There we found many traders selling textiles, carpets, shoes, belts among others marked product of Saudi Arabia, China, and Jordan among others.
Dumping ground
Our breakfast table also resembled a super market with products from Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Iraq among other Arab League countries.
It was then that I realized why Sudan is a strong member of the Arab League: most member counties use Sudan as a dumping ground for their products including eggs, juices, fruits, milk and water!
We ended the day on a luxurious dhow ride down the River Nile all the way to the confluence with the Blue Nile, as we were entertained by a traditional local musicians, as a catering team served us with a menu fit for a king of fish, lamb, chicken and vegetables, as we enjoyed the sunset along the longest river in the world.
We were also taken on a tour of a so-called tourist site in the outskirts of Khartoum of the controversial chemical factory bombed by the US air force in protest after Al Qaida terrorists bombed the New York Twin Towers.
By then Bin Laden was being hosted in the Sudan before he fled and went to hide and carry out his terrorists activities in Afghanistan in Asia. While he was in the Sudan, he made a name building a number of the multi-million shillings ultra-modern bridges across the River Nile and the Blue Nile. As far as the Khartoum residents were concerned, he was not a terrorists but a develop-conscious civil engineer.
According to President George Bush, the factory was being used to make chemicals of mass destruction for Al-Quida operatives across the world. But this was never proved as the Bashir government vehemently denied the allegations and condemned the US in addition to protesting all the way to the United Nations Security Council.
On a lighter note, we were taken on a visit to Kenana Sugar Company headquarters, on the outskirts of Khartoum, where we were told and shown virtually the latest and most successful technology in strategic and effective commercial cane farming in the world.
Biggest Sugar Factory
Kenana produces over 400,000 tonnes of sugar per annum, 60 million litres of ethanol and other by products for sale locally and exports to Africa, Middle East and European markets.
But when we asked to be taken to the factory and farm, some 250Km, South of Khartoum, we were told it was unsafe to visit because of the hostilities between the Khartoum government and Col Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). So we could only watch videos and hear stories of the biggest and most efficient sugar factory in Africa, it is also the second in the world.
As a compromise, each guest was given a gift bag of vegetables and fruits from the multi-billion 100,000 acre agricultural project under irrigation established by the Khartoum government in 1975. Kenana is near the boundary of North and South Sudan; and is where the controversial oil wells are located, with the precious product pumped North to Khartoum and then to the Port of Sudan on the Red Sea, ready to be exported globally. These were the bone of contention pitting Bashir against Garang, as the latter accused him of exploiting the Southerners.
After the visit, we returned to our hotels ready to spend the night and return home in the dawn flight. The trip was a real eye opener about the complex issues pitting the Southern Sudanese and their Northern neighbours.
The gift of a basket full of extra-large grapes was testimony of the potential in future of the Central African country, which later split into The North and Southern Sudan, in July 2011.
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