By Faith J. H. McDonnell (@Cuchulain09)
Last week I wrote an article for Front Page Magazine (and reposted on this blog) about the Obama Administration inviting Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie, the Advisor to ICC-indicted war criminal Sudanese president Omar al Bashir to Washington for “high-level” diplomatic talks. Since that time, outrage has been growing about the inappropriateness and downright offensiveness of this invitation. But the Obama Administration appears to not care what the human rights community thinks of this unthinkable visit.
News of the invitation to Dr. Nafie and his delegation was met with instant protest by Sudan human rights activists and others. U.S. Representative Frank Wolf wrote to President Obama, asking him to rescind the invitation. Fox News show host Greta Van Susteren, who frequently speaks about the current genocide in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile State, has also added her voice to the outrage over Nafie’s visit. And the Act for Sudan alliance, of which IRD is a founding member, is protesting the Nafie visit through a social media campaign.
In addition to representing a genocidal regime, Nafie is detestable in his own right, as the creator of Sudan’s torture chambers known as Ghost Houses, and behind-the-scenes architect of genocide in South Sudan/Nuba Mountains, Darfur, and now again in Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile State. The Act for Sudan website features the testimonies from Nafie’s victims, and even a short (3:40 min.) video about Nafie from Operation Broken Silence, “Ghost Houses and War Criminals.”
The State Department knows all of this, of course, and yet it has not been swayed. A Khartoum-based Sudanese newspaper, The Citizen, on May 5 reported that “Diplomatic sources unveiled to The Citizen yesterday that the United States administration is determined to complete the Washington meeting in two weeks, despite the fierce opposition.”
Here’s how you can register your protest about the visit of Nafie Ali Nafie:
Act for Sudan is urging concerned citizens to ask Secretary of State John Kerry to rescind the invitation to the Sudanese delegation. On the Act for Sudan website is a prepared letter to Kerry warning that the invitation “undermines established U. S. policy and violates President Obama’s promise to bar perpetrators of serious human rights violations from entry to this country.” It adds that the invitation is an “affront to the victims and vulnerable people in Sudan.” The social media campaign also provides suggested Twitter and Facebook messages. Please add your voice to the campaign today!
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