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3:00 A.M. It is now 3 A.M. in the morning Dubai time (Friday, 7 P.M EST in the U.S.) and I have gone to the bathroom at least 6 times since leaving JFK. Whew --- I never thought I would get sick leaving America. I thought I would get sick in Sudan as my doctors’ warn me at the time of my mandatory shots for the trip. The food on Emirates Airlines looks good and the service is superior. Here’s an airline that gives you real silverware and treats you like you really matter. U.S. airlines should follow Emigrates’ Airlines example of quality customer care and service. Absolutely superb. 8:00 A.M. We prepare to land in Dubai for a layover of approximately 5 hours and then on to a 4 – 5 hour flight to Khartoum, Sudan.
9:00 A.M. to 1 P.M. We are delivered to the VIP Lounge of the airport and permitted to enter the City and begin our tour of this very rich city in the Middle East. Dubai is a fabulously rich City. We take a quick bus tour of the City looking at the new construction in the City and key historic sites, including the grand shopping centers. This City is being developed in the middle of the desert. It is often called the “Las Vegas of the Middle East”. Incredible City.
1:00 P.M. We head back to the Dubai Airport to check-in to our flight to Khartoum, Sudan at 2 P.M.
2:00 P.M. The Delegation departs for Khartoum, Sudan.
6:00 P.M. We land in Khartoum, Sudan, and the plane reaches the gate. Looking out the window, we see that we are being greeted by a contingent of security folks, government officials and the colorful women and men of Sudan in traditional dress welcoming us to the country. Very nice. Slowly, we begin to leave the plane. It is hot --- very hot. At 6 P.M. the temperature was hovering at about 85 to 90 degrees. We pay our respects to the Sudanese folks greeting us and head toward the bus that will take us to the “Palace Hotel” in the City. The Sudanese government gives us a very warm greeting reception. My first impression of the people of Sudan, just based on the folks greeting us, is that they are a kind and warm people ---generous and caring to a fault. As we travel from the airport to our hotel, I am surprised at the condition of this international city ---- a tad bit worn and in disrepair ---principally because of the informal sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its international partners on what they call a “sanctuary for terrorist” which has halted all economic development in this capital city. In many ways, this is at once a post modernist city and an ancient city at the cross roads of the Middle East. One member of our delegation, photographer extraordinaire and professor Jules Allen, noted that in many ways Khartoum was “ten minutes [in either direction from the City] from 10,000 years ago”. A deep thought. Indeed, as you move about the city, you can see hundreds of incomplete construction projects and garbage and plastic gas and containers littering the landscape as if planted in the ground. I wondered to myself: Why is this capital city so dirty and seemingly disorganized in the face of potential formal sanctions by the U.S. and the U.N. as a result of the Darfur crisis?” As I looked out the window of the bus, I am immediately struck by the fact that I appear to be in another century ---- the 14th or 15th century to be exact---without the cars and other trappings of a modern civilized society. The Sudanese people have been living like this for centuries it appears. As we move toward our hotel, I note that the traffic is very heavy and yet there are few traffic signals controlling the maze of traffic jams in Khartoum. It seems like cars are moving at their own pace and direction without regard to the traffic conditions. We are lucky to be traveling with a security detail as we move through the Khartoum traffic jams as we head to our hotel. Khartoum is at once a modern city and at the same time is a 15th century city. Our government handlers (yes there were government handlers) were assigned to provide security for us while in the Sudan and, I suspect, to make sure we did not stray to far away from what the government wanted us to see and hear. Nonetheless, our handlers and security agents are wonderful young men in their late twenties or early thirties--- very helpful and accommodating to the delegation’s every need.
8:30 P.M. We arrive at our hotel simply called “The Palace Hotel” which, in many ways, is an oxymoron. The Hotel was not a “Palace” by any stretch of the imagination. We check into our rooms and turn in our passports to the delegation head’s administrative assistant. I am given the key to room 901 of the “Palace.” I walk in my room to find it slightly dirty and in disrepair. The bathroom toilet was intermittently inoperable and the bathtub was dirty. Oh, well, I might as well not complain about the conditions of the hotel. I have been in worst and I have to remind myself that, as the saying goes, “This is Africa”. The more important task for me and the delegation is to ferret out the truth of what is happening in Darfur and the people who are suffering in the refugee camps. Forgot about the comforts of the old USA for the moment. I turn on the “BoobTube” on only to find nothing but news programming and old US movies with Arabic subtitles. Time to go to bed and get ready for tomorrow’s briefing. Mtume, Fatiyn and I are planning to do the our Show from Sudan by phone.
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