Sudanese blogger Drima commented on the fact that Lubna will not be flogged now but reminded his readers of the (Teddy Bear Circus). Lubna was fined US $209 by a Sudanese court, refused to pay and was sentenced to one month in prison. She was later released after the Sudanese journalist's union paid the fine on her behalf. Her question now is: What happens to the 700 plus women who could not afford to pay for their trousers?

On the issue of flogging women in the name of religion, Egyptian blogger and journalist Mona El Tahawy believes that this is clear abuse of women and Islam:

Ten of those women [who were wearing trousers] accepted a fine and flogging but Ms. Hussein and two others contested the charges, which they’re now fighting in court. The Sudanese regime barred her from traveling to Lebanon earlier this week to give a television interview on her trial, which resumes on Sept. 7.

It’s bizarre to use the word “lucky” to describe a woman facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers, but by virtue of her position and clout, that’s exactly what Ms. Hussein is. She is also brave and defiant: Ms. Hussein resigned her position as press officer for the United Nations, which could have earned her immunity from the charges, to stand trial.

And most importantly she is a Muslim woman who knows that a flogging for wearing trousers is sheer and utter nonsense; she has said she was ready to “receive (even) 40,000 lashes” if that’s what it takes to abolish the law.

Not so lucky have been the thousands of other Sudanese women — Muslim and non-Muslim southern Sudanese women. They have served as the whipping girls for the Sudanese regime’s cheap game of flogging women to show off its “Islamic principles.”

Mona highlights the fact that:

Flogging is a cruel and inhuman punishment that is banned by international law and conventions like the one against torture, to which the majority of countries in the world are signatories.

She called on the international community:

to take away the pass to the international club from countries that duck out of their international obligations under the pretext of “cultural or religious” reservations.

Egyptian Seyasy Masry wrote in support of Lubna's cause:

Lubna clearly said :

The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights issued the following statement:

Khawater [AR] reported Lubna's refusal to pay the fine, her acquital upon paying, and the clashes between Lubna's supporters and the Islamists, and Mona ElTahawy wrote about how Sudan was caught with its pants downz:

The entire world was watching when a judge waived the flogging sentence Monday and ordered her to pay a $200 fine. But Hussein kicked the ball right back at the Khartoum government, refusing to pay the fine and choosing instead to spend a month in jail to show solidarity with the thousands of other women, Muslim and non-Muslim, that the so-called Islamic Sudanese regime singles out for its brand of hollow piety.

Shockingly, such charges are not unusual in Khartoum, where a police official says nearly 43,000 women were detained last year for indecent clothing offences. The Sudanese regime picked on the wrong woman with Hussein. Despite her request to family and friends not to pay the fine on her behalf, the head of the Journalists Union — a member of the ruling party — paid the fine and Hussein was almost pushed out of prison — television news reports show her looking upset at being told to leave.

Mona ends her post saying:

It’s about time the UN kicked out Sudan and other countries that so egregiously violate women’s most basic rights in the name of “decency.”

Morocco

Duncan is a Peace Corps volunteer working on a water infrastructure project in Morocco, and he has written some personal reflections on attitudes towards HIV/AIDS in the rural area he is working in. He believes, while the prevalence of HIV in Morocco is low among the general population, HIV/AIDS could prove to be a great public health risk to the country as a whole:

There are a number of factors that make the country vulnerable to the disease becoming wide spread.

First is ignorance about the disease. Speaking generally, people don’t know what it is. If people have heard of it they know no specifics and what they know might very well be wrong. They don’t know how it is transmitted. People say that the disease is transmitted by sharing toothbrushes, going to the hammam (public bath), and by being breathed on. I’ve never heard someone say that sex is a mode of transmission for the disease.

Second is that cultural boundaries that discourage honest discussion of the topic. This is a very religious society where appearing pure is very important to fitting into one’s community. So this makes it difficult to bring up such important issues as condom use.

Third (seemingly contradicting the previous issue) is the prevalence of prostitution in the country. This is particularly the case for my province, Khenifra, which is known for its prostitution. I’ve heard that the province has three of the four biggest prostitutions towns in the country. One of these centers is very close to me and I know that men from my village visit prostitutes there. They’ve told me. Compounding this problem is the fact that many of the sex workers in these prostitution centers come from out of town. I believe these places could easily become spreading points for the disease.

In sum, it’s a topic that people are ashamed to talk about and no one knows anything about.

Read more about Moroccan attitudes to HIV/AIDS in this post.

Sudan

Last year Bahraini blogger Suad attended a workshop in Cairo to raise awareness about AIDS, and she later wrote the story of Aisha, a Sudanese woman who contracted the virus through a blood transfusion. Aisha describes the process of falling ill, and how she finally discovered what was happening:

Yemen

Yemen has addressed HIV/AIDS in its national development agenda, but in a post last year, Omar Barsawad wrote that much needs to be done:

Even if Yemen is much more ahead of its Arab neighbors in tackling HIV/AIDS, it's still a long way from making facilities and medication easily available and accessible to those afflicted. HIV/AIDS testing facilities are available in all major medical centers and labs. But, it's when one has tested positive that the problem starts; it then becomes extremely difficult for the afflicted. At the moment, HIV/AIDS infected people have to travel and go all the way to Sana'a, Yemen's capital city, for them to have their CD4 cell count and viral load tested; it's only by having these tests, that a patient can be properly treated and medicines can be suitably prescribed. […] For HIV/AIDS medication too, patients have to travel, regularly (every 3 or so months) to Sana'a to receive the medicines; they are not available in other Yemeni medical centers or pharmacies. One can only imagine how difficult and exhausting this can be for the already mentally strained, HIV/AIDS afflicted person and the people around him. It costs much money traveling all the way to Sana'a; and food and accommodation cost even much more. […] And though, compared to two or so years ago, many people now are aware of HIV/AIDS - most simply don't understand the disease; and some people still consider it disgraceful and shameful for one to be afflicted by HIV/AIDS.

Egypt

However, it seems that steps are being made to destigmatise the disease in some countries in the region. The Egypt Guy recently had his first HIV test at a government lab:

To my amazement, the way I was received by the doctors prior to the actual testing was pretty welcoming. I found that they didn't ask for a name, but rather for a pseudonym and a birthdate to be my identity there. Then, I was sent to a counselor whose job was to give simple information about AIDS and HIV. The guy didn't show any signs of disrespect for the fact that I'm going to check if I have HIV, which was astonishing. I heard that until very recently AIDS was seen as such a taboo even by doctors. And after the counseling session they gave me a few condoms and lubricants, and three booklets with information about AIDS, and then I went to have the test. I'll go get the results next Sunday, hopefully it'll be negative, wish me luck!! :-)

Oh, I also didn't pay a penny for any of that.

It was a very nice experience that I didn't expect to have at a government lab, and I'm happy my country is having a more liberal approach to sexually transmitted diseases and is actually propagating against the whole stigma that's associated with them, especially HIV and AIDS.

You can read about an initiative by Egyptian bloggers to destigmatise HIV/AIDS here.

A few weeks after stating, in the middle of his solemn address to the French Congress of MPs and Senators, that «the burqa is not welcome on the territory of the French Republic», an «information panel» was formed by a group of majority and opposition MPs, to draw up an inventory of the situation, with six months' time to give their report. Meanwhile, police intelligence counted 367 women wearing burqas in France, the accuracy of which has left some skeptical and others snickering.

Feelings appear ready to heat up as they did with the ban on the headscarf from schools in 2004. French media and the blogosphere are abuzz again, all the more so as some draw a parallel between France's apparent intention of banning the burqa, and the flogging and pending trial of several Sudanese women, among them a journalist and UN employee, for wearing trousers under their islamic veil.

Indian blogger savadati explains what is at stake for Muslim women, in her post “We love Islam so we wear burqas” :

The burqa (and the hijab, the niqab, the chador) is possibly the most controversial garment in this century. It has been used on the one hand by fundamentalist power-seeking groups like the Taliban to attain their own end, through the suppression of women. Women have been handed grisly punishments – physical and even sexual – for refusing to wear it. It was turned, in Afghanistan, into a weapon of suppression. Being forced to wear a tent-like garment at all times, for fear of being labelled a “seductress” and subjected to indignity and punishment, is a blatant breach of human rights, and feminist and other activists all over the world have opposed this. In France, the group Ni Putes, Ni Soumises (Neither Whores nor Submissive) is strong in its condemnation of the burqa. They call it a “prison under open skies” for those who wear it, and deem it an instrument to force women into submission.

On the other hand, however, a lot of women in Europe, India and West Asia have found their cultural identity in the folds of this robe-like garment. They choose to wear it because it gives them a sense of comfort and religious belonging. They are not forced and simply choose to dress this way.
(…)

She concludes :

Women who choose to wear the burqa are choosing to belong – not to feel alienated. However, if the stigma and the stereotype are allowed to blindly thrive too long, they may indeed start to feel alienated in a society where they are looked upon as mysterious black-robed creatures, to be pitied and handled with care. Burqa bans will only end up doing this, besides driving the women who wear the burqa only reluctantly, back into their homes, depriving them of any freedom they may have had.

To which oukti asma echoes with a comprehensive “clarification” [Fr], coming to the conclusion that:

Le voile intégral est un réflexe identitaire, très minoritaire des musulmans de France.
Les parlementaires n'ont donc pas à se mêler de cette affaire, car celui-ci est et restera très marginale en France.
C'est aux musulmans d'expliquer à cette petite frange de la communauté, les aspects que nous avons cités ( des origines non-islamiques, les inconvéniants liés, la compatibilté de l'acsèse avec le monde actuel)
Je rajouterai qu'il ne faut pas prendre les membres de la communauté musulmane pour des abrutis. Et je m'adresse tant au non-musulmans qu'aux musulmans.
Les musulmans en France sont instruits, et savent majoritairement faire la part des choses. (…)

However, mainstream media, such as Le Monde, published op-eds of varying opinion.  French writer Pierrette Fleutiaux's ironic-–or all-too serious-–text entitled “Man's dignity requires him to wear the burqa” was re-posted by at least a dozen blogs. She carefully and wittily turns every argument for this piece of clothing on its male supporters [Fr].

Repoussons cette croyance absurde qu'il faudrait voiler les femmes pour que les hommes ne soient pas portés à désirer celles d'autrui. Une telle croyance est mécréante : elle accrédite l'idée que l'homme a été créé libidineux, violeur par nature et faible devant ses désirs. Et que, devant toute femme passant sous ses yeux, s'éveille aussitôt en lui la pulsion de lui sauter sur le râble pour consommer l'oeuvre de chair. L'homme a en lui la force de l'âme et le respect naturel de l'ordre divin. L'homme n'a rien à craindre des misérables appâts de la femme.

Que la femme aille dans la rue dans les atours aguicheurs qu'elle ne manquera pas de se choisir. Son regard s'épuisera sur les autres femmes, elle y verra comme dans un miroir sa propre indécence, sa futilité même la détournera de toute compétition malsaine avec l'homme. Quant à cette exposition de la féminité, elle ne saurait nuire à l'homme. Il s'y verra conforté dans son incontestable supériorité. Il saura, dans les autres burqas, reconnaître les hommes pieux et respectueux de la loi, et ainsi renforcera nécessairement la belle et indispensable communauté masculine.

Researcher Farhad Khosrokhavar, from EHESS, worries that a ban might actually end up bolstering the more fundamentalist groups of Islam in France. His article can be read here [Fr].

Whatever the arguments, the debate was renewed on Sunday when news came that Lubna Ahmed Al-Hussein, a young Sudanese journalist working for the UN Mission in Sudan (Unmis), had been arrested, along with a dozen fellow countrywomen, some of them from non-Muslim south Sudan, during a party at a Khartoum restaurant for wearing trousers under their Islamic veil. Most of were released after a flogging; three are being taken to court and face a sentence of 40 lashes and a fine.  Loubna Ahmed Al-Hussein denied the diplomatic immunity she is entitled to as a UN worker, saying that she wants the trial to go to its end. Arab human rights activists, as well as some journalists, think the Sudanese regime «wants to smash a free pen», as she used to write a column in a non-governmental newspaper.

Some French bloggers did not fail to draw a parallel with the burqa issue.

Rimbus blog focuses on the necessary reciprocity of tolerance [Fr]:

Mais sur le fond, il s'agit de la même chose. Le pays occidental veut condamner l'expression d'une pensée qu'il combat, la dictature musulmane condamne l'expression du mode de vie occidental.

La seule position honorable pour la France serait de tolérer officiellement ces 400 femmes voilées intégralement, au nom de la liberté de pensée, et fort de ce principe, condamner vigoureusement l'attitude de Khartoum, par voie diplomatique et officielle. Dans le cas contraire, nous ne pourrions qu'accepter une réaction du pouvoir soudanais, comparable à la notre.

Il faut soutenir la journaliste soudanaise Loubna Ahmed al-Hussein, et laisser les femmes s'habiller librement, en mini-jupe comme en niqab, en garçon si elles le souhaitent.

Allain Jules, writing on collective blogging website agoravox, is more scathing and wonders why the case did not draw more attention [Fr]:

La journaliste indique qu’elle en a assez du silence des femmes de son pays qui se laissent flageller pour rien. Ainsi, elle a déclaré : « Des milliers de femmes sont châtiées à coups de fouet mais elles restent silencieuses. La loi est utilisée pour harceler les femmes et je veux dénoncer cela ». Courageuse, elle est donc prête à subir ce châtiment. (…) Il est d’ailleurs étonnant de ne pas voir les défenseurs des droits de l’homme se lancer à corps perdu dans ce combat pour les droits des femmes. Mais où sont-ils passés ? Sont-ils plus préoccupés par leurs petits intérêts et trouvent ridicule le combat de cette femme courage ?

A Nigerian performer impersonates Michael Jackson at a concert in Abuja. Photo courtesy of N.R. on Flickr.

The death of American pop star Michael Jackson has sparked an outpouring of emotion from nearly every corner of the world. Fans are sharing their memories of Jackson on his official site in nearly a dozen languages, and the news made the front page of papers across the globe.

In Africa, bloggers are paying tribute to the King of Pop by posting pictures and music videos. Writing from Nigeria, Oluniyi David Ajao offers a list of his 26 favorite Michael Jackson songs, while Ugandan blogger Serakelz honors Jackson's memory with instructions on how to do the moonwalk, a dance move created by Jackson.

In Ghana, Kent Mensah of Africa News collects reactions to Jackson's passing on Twitter and Facebook:

“Africa loves Michael Jackson… from birth you learn how to survive and that Michael Jackson is music… the most famous musician ever,” Rasco Patterson said on twitter @chickenwang4.

“Make this world a better place for me and you these are the words from a true legend like Michael Jackson. I will always remember you Waco Jaco,” Elton Afari, Accra, Ghana said on Facebook.

Echoing the sentiments of many African fans, Sudanese Thinker remembers the pop star fondly:

In a lot of ways Michael Jackson was my childhood. His music filled it with lots of joy and beautiful memories. It uplifted me when I was down. It made me happy when I was sad.

And as awkward and flawed as he was, I will dearly miss him and his talents.

And Ugandan blogger Dickson Wasake honors Jackson with a poem:

On the death of Michael Jackson;
The tears fill the earth,
Black or white;
The Liberian girl cries,
And so does dirty Diana,
even the stranger in Moscow,
We all scream;
“Oh it’s too bad; oh it’s too sad;
The king is gone too soon,
And I just can’t stop loving him!”

Though many bloggers are grieving over Jackson's death, others are questioning his eccentricities, including his changing skin color. In Ghana, blogger Emmanuel Bensa laments:

….the African culture tells us that we don't speak ill of the dead–and I am not about to do so anytime soon, but what I will do is to categorically state how much of a bad decision it was to become a white man.

Black is beautiful–and it will forever be so. As a Black Man, Michael Jackson had the looks, the voice; the talent. Oh what a shame.

For Ugandan blogger Rosebell, Jackson's death prompted reflections on why the news pays so much more attention to the death of a pop star than to other tragedies:

As I watched the reaction around the world to Jackson’s death I wondered if really all humans can ever be equal. Not that I don’t recognise MJ’s contribution to music and his great talent, I would be naïve to do so, but I wonder why we no longer get the shock when we see death around the world. Everyone seemed to say oh he died young at 50, and then I thought that actually in Uganda life expectancy is at 50. Do you know in many African countries dying of old age is almost history? Do you know that this shock we feel at the loss MJ’s death, many Iraqis face it everyday? The fear for the loss of their own lives and the puzzles of how their children will grow, grips people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Omar Basawad of Safari Notes dismisses these criticisms, focusing on Jackson's legendary talent:

Whatever might be said about Michael Jackson, whatever one might think of him - one thing is certain: he defined an era.

“RIP MJ,” writes Kenyan blogger WildeYearnings. “You now have the whole sky to moonwalk on…”

In the last three decades, Egypt has become host to refugees fleeing conflicts and persecution in Africa, Asia and Middle East. Many refugees have made Egypt their home and various refugee communities live amongst Egyptian, contributing to the Egyptian society. Though Sudanese are considered to be the largest refugee population, there are also large numbers of Somalis, Eritreans, Ethiopians, North Africans, and even more from Central and West Africa as also Iraqis. Refugees from the Middle and Far East also seek asylum in Egypt. In addition, there are an estimated 70,000 Palestinians. These refugees are often falsely identified as economic migrants, rather than a vulnerable population who fled their homelands due to political unrests and violence.

The Cairo Refugee Film Festival is an attempt to integrate refugees in their new host country:

Since the vast majority of refugees will never be resettled, integration in Egypt is of great concern and the need of the hour. This is possible only when when the misconceptions between the host communities and the refugee communities are cleared and an appreciation and understanding of the others' circumstances is fostered.

Against this backdrop and with a view to bring the refugee and the egyptian communities together, the idea of a film festival took birth.

Taking place from June 16 to June 20 at the Rawabet theatre in downtown Cairo, the festival being held in commemoration of the World Refugee Day, seeks to:

chronicle the lives, struggles, and achievements of refugee populations around the world from the 1930s to the present day. We aspire to break the Egyptian myth that the refugee movement is an Afro-centric problem and that refugees are always African. Through the medium of film, we aim to sensitize the Egyptian community on refugees’ stories, obstacles and resilience.

The blog also lists sponsors, collaborators and organisers, schedule, and workshops being held in conjunction with the event.

Consequently, many Sudanese people were forced to leave the country, seeking asylum abroad. Victor Angelo [pt] was in Goz Beida camp, 200 kilometers south east of Abeche, in Chad, and from there he sent some pictures and reported on attacks by the Jenjawid, or “men on horses”, a militia allegedly paid by the Sudanese government.

Ouvir atentamente. Refugiado sudanês com quem me encontrei hoje em Goz Beida, 200 quilómetros a Sudeste de Abeche, durante a visita que Bernard Kouchner, Alain Le Roy e eu fizemos ‘a localidade

As consequências da expulsão de 13 ONGs do Sudão sobre os parentes destes homens foi um dos temas que mais preocupou a assembleia. Que vai acontecer aos familiares que ainda se encontram no Darfur e que dependiam das ONGs humanitárias no que respeita a necessidades básicas, como água, alimentação , saúde e escolas?

A sina do Presidente Al-Bashir atraiu as atenções de todos. Os refugiados apoiam freneticamente a decisão do Tribunal Penal Internacional.

Vítima de ataque dos cavaleiros Jenjawid, aliados armados e organizados sob a forma de milícias, do Presidente do Sudão. Certos Jenjawid, palavra local que inicialmente queria dizer “homem a cavalo”, tornaram-se os principais actores dos crimes de guerra.

People from the Abeche region have been treated by doctors from Médecins Sans Frontièress. Despite being a well-known NGO, MSF is one of those banished from Sudan. The refugee camp was perhaps the most sensitive place of those where it worked. In Kalma, located in the South of the Darfur region, the 6 kilometer square camp holds 100,000 people living in “houses” made of wood, plastic and anything that can be used as protection against the high temperatures during the day and the low temperatures at night.

In the Kalma camp, MSF used to run a basic health care clinic, a women’s health unit, and an outreach department, where they saw between 200 and 300 patients on a daily basis (Monday to Monday) in the out-patient department and 200 in the women’s health unit. The team was made up of both foreigners and Sudanese people, and now just the Sudanese employees remain at work. However, according Lydia Geirsdottir, former supervisor of the camp, among those who stayed “there are only two MSF-trained medical staff able to treat basic health problems and the supplies will run out quickly”. Cíntia Rojo [pt], who became aware of the news through the NGO website, comments:

“Darfur concentra a crise humanitária de maior proporção na atualidade. Ou seja, um lugar onde vida e morte são separadas por uma tênue divisa. Desnutrição, doenças, violência. Os conflitos em Darfur se tornaram quase que crônicos e, como tudo que se prolonga, acabou caindo no “esquecimento” da comunidade internacional. A saída dessas ONG´s acarretou consequências graves para a população sudanesa pois grande parte dos projetos sociais vigentes na região eram patrocinados por essas entidades.

Darfur on March 5 - see an info graphic on the left showing a description of the population range affected after the NGO ban: 4.7 million people, the centre served by NGOs, and the 13 banned NGOs: Action Contre la Faim; Solidarité; Save the Children (UK and US) Médecins Sans Frontièress (NL&FR); CARE International; Oxfam; Mercy Corps; International Rescue Committee; Norwegian Refugee Council; CHF and PADCO. Material distributed by ReliefWeb. Click on the picture to maximize.

Save the Children had been operating in Sudan for over 20 years, and for the last 6 had worked with war refugees in Darfur and South Kordofan, a region which saw the return of more than 50,000 adults and children in 2008, and where an emergency unit used to be located. According to Charles MacCormack, the NGO President, the withdrawl of the Save the Children, “poses a serious threat to the well being of more than 1 million children and family members whom the two agencies have been supporting in West Darfur, North Kordofan, South Kordofan and Red Sea States and communities in Abyei and near Khartoum”.

Among other projects, Save the Children dealt with food distribution (3,583 tons of food in 44 locations), water and sanitation (448 points of water and 177 water pumps, which supply about 201,500 people) primary health, agriculture as well as construction and teacher training.

(Refugees - Photos by V. Ângelo)

CARE had been operating for 28 years in the country and was also expelled, reportedly has halted all activities and had part of its equipment seized by the Sudanese government, including computers, cars and houses. CARE worked in the fields of agriculture, water, basic sanitation as well as education and health. The Norwegian Refugee Council reports that not only was their equipment seized by the government but their employees were arrested and suffered aggression. OXFAM had been in Sudan for 26 years and worked directly with 600,000 Sudanese people, it has also been forced to leave the country and is now waiting to return.

The atmosphere in Darfur is tense, according to AK. from the Forsudan blog:

“The reaction in Khartoum by the government was almost instantaneous. After speaking with some relatives in Sudan, the situation seems normal and as one of my cousins put it, ‘business is as usual.' People were expecting there to be a coordinated attack by the Darfuri rebel group Justice and Equality Movement, similar to the one that occurred back in May 2008. People also expected for general violence to breakout, but none of the sort has happened. That being said, people are very tense on the ground and anxious for what is to come. I think people are worried most about the implications on the North-South peace agreement (CPA) and the reaction of the southern government. Here are the positions of Sudanese most prominent political parties. Also, the government has kicked out several international NGOs, among them are OXFAM, Care, and Doctors without Borders.”

The forecast made by the majority of NGOs is that a disaster will happen in the refugee centres, and that an estimated 4.7 million people will be affected, of whom an exodus of 2.7 million is expected. What’s more, 1.5 million need some medical help, 1.1 million do not have food to eat and a million do not have access to water (data from OCHA). In addition,  there is a meningitis outbreak and “no treatment available in the camp, no one to refer patients to the hospital in Nyala, and no mass vaccination. It means that people may die”, reports Lydia Geirsdottir (MSF).

Because of this, Lise Grande, the UN’s Deputy Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Southern Sudan said: “One of the things that those assessments will look at is possible migration flows”. There are more than 100,000 people vulnerable as a result of the upsurge of LRA attacks including over 36,000 internally displaced people who fled their homes in South Sudan, and more than 16,000 refugees from the DRC. “An additional 50,000 people in host communities … are reported to be vulnerable and need humanitarian assistance,” said Grande.

Migration has already started, and some reports have already started to appear via blogs. The sudan-blog reports the reconstruction of a new camp of refugees in Chad, a neighboring country, which expects to attend to about 6,000 refugees.

Nasr was detained only a few hours after he expressed his support for the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on the online International Forum for Nubia, where he is a moderator.

In this chilling post [Ar], on the forum which is now open to members only, Nasr details his arrest:

On his treatment during his detention, Nasr writes:

Nasr then details how he was woken up from his sleep by one of 11 men who raided his home:

The men then took him through a few villages, changed cars and stopped to pray. Nasr recalls:

Toothless and badly-timed as the indictment of Sudan's president may be, morally we cannot afford not to support it.

… The timing was unfortunate. Many in the Arab world are still reeling from the recent incursion into Gaza and governments are continuing to capitalise on anti-western sentiment. The ostensible hypocrisy of targeting Bashir when apparently Israel and the west are impune renders his martyrdom on the altar of international double standards convenient for Arab or African heads of state living in their own glass houses.

Second, we have Sudanese Optimist, a student in the United States, who isn't too happy and shares with us what the pragmatist in her wonders:

Every media outlet is giving a voice to a plethora of self appointed political pundits, common-sense-loathing activists, and confused citizens of the earth, all trying to make sense of the International Criminal Court’s issuance of a warrant for the arrest of Omar Al-Bashir. However, the one voice that seems to have been muffled by the pandemonium surrounding the issue is that of the Sudanese citizen. I ask: what about me Luis Ocampo?

(…)

… the pragmatist in me is questioning the effectiveness of the ICC’s decision, and the extent of ‘justice’ it will provide for the victims of the Darfur conflict. It could be too early for the man on the street to speculate, but I sincerely hope that Luis Ocampo and the ICC have a follow-up plan to assuage the commotion caused by the indictment of a sitting head of state. Does the ICC consider this the end result, or a starting point in the quest of peace and justice in Sudan? This question remains unanswered.

Now, let's see what AK, also a student in the United States, has to say.

The first thing that I noticed was the fact that the Court only charged him on two of three accusations, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The prosecutor did not get his third request for the crime of genocide. This is very telling. Both the first two crimes can be very easily proven and linked back to Al-Bashir, however, the third accusation (of genocide) cannot be as easily proven or linked back to the President.

… Also, the ‘Save Darfur‘ crowd in the United States cannot be happier. In fact, they are using this opportunity to raise funds, as if this arrest warrant is all due to their so-called “advocacy.” This is a snapshot of their website's home page taken after the arrest warrant was issued.

Along with most Sudanese I know, I am very critical of Save Darfur (et al.). They have been the strongest proponents of intervention in Sudan, something which will undoubtably exacerbate the situation for the worse. But I'll leave that for a later time.

(…)

Here is a clip of the scenes from Khartoum today:

AK also posted this video of Sudanese ICC supporters and Bashir supporters clashing in NYC.

At about 1:30 in the clip, you can see the clashes between the Bashir and ICC supporters.

Next up, we have Mimz with her thoughts and an important observation on what the ICC's decision could mean to this year's planned elections in Sudan.

I am not a big fan of El-Bashir, in fact I despise the man (would be an understatement) for what he has been putting our country and our people through for the past god knows how long. But the ICC just could not delay this decision, which we all knew was coming, and felt the need to make it today and ignore the fact that the first democratic elections in more than twenty years are expected this year.

Finally we have Path2Hope who isn't joyful either.

Now the warrant has been issued and exactly what this means for Sudan I do not know. But what I do know is that expelling the activities of 10 of the aid agencies does not help either. Hasn't the average Sudanese suffered enough? Now that these agencies can no longer do their work - who will step in and fill the gap? I am so angry at not only this reaction in Sudan but by the idiotic ruling of the ICC in the first place.

On a related note, here are Rob Crilly's latest Twitter updates directly from Darfur where he is right now.

10:07 AM Mar 5th # NGO staff held at gunpoint in Nyala on way to airport to leave. They were stopped by national security, very people kicking em out 7:07 AM Mar 5th

# Tired, smelly. Out of anti-perspirant. Word is Bashir coming here on Sunday but I need a drink 8:18 AM Mar 5th

# aid workers now stuck in Khartoum. Must wait for exit visas - the final irony 9:07 AM Mar 5th

# Unamid staff now being allowed out of base to go home after 48hr lockdown. All calm in El Fasher 2:10 AM Mar 6th

# three aid vehicles burned in Khartoum last night 3:01 AM Mar 6th

# Aid workers staying in khartoum for now as negotiations continue. No-one holding much hope. 6:00 AM Mar 6th

See past coverage of Sudanese blogger reactions to the ICC arrest warrant on Global Voices.