Khartoum's Spin Zone

by Michelle

categories: Darfur & Sudan, Obama Administration

Published November 02, 2009 @ 05:31AM PT

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Misinformation is the cornerstone of dictatorship -- control of dominate political narratives allows for the manipulation of public sentiment. Those of you familiar with certain cable news programs may know this as "spin."

An intriguing interview from the latest edition from the Sudan Radio Project (an excellent program, if you're not familiar) makes me wonder exactly how the Sudanese government is spinning the Obama Administration's recently-released policy review. In a segment on Sudanese perspectives of the plan, a 27-year-old woman from Khartoum incorrectly states that Obama supports unified Sudan, with "no division between South and North," presumably following the 2011 referendum on Southern independence.

The policy statement, in fact, wisely does not take a stance on the outcome of the referendum, but states the administration's intentions to ensure peace both before, during, and after Southerners head to the polls. It is, after all, not our right to weigh in on what the outcome of the referendum should be -- the vote for self-determination was a key component of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended two decades of war, and the right to chose unity or independence belongs to Southerners alone.

Given that the National Congress Party (NCP), the CPA signatory from the North, has done little to make unity an attractive option for the South, secession is almost a foregone conclusion. The benefit of convincing the public that Obama is on the NCP's side is clear: It validates the positions and actions of the North while portraying the South as something akin to a red-headed stepchild.

This chronic two-faced nature is just one more thing for Obama's team to keep in mind as they attempt to coax the NCP out of its war-footing.

(PS - The rest of the radio program is quite interesting as well -- the segments on women in war and peacebuilding in the South and on the humanitarian situation in Darfur are worth a listen. I'm not one for genocide-inspired ballets, but you can make up your own mind on that one.)

[UN Photo/Tim McKulka: Residents of Abyei Celebrate Permanent Court of Arbitration Decision - Residents of Abyei march to celebrate the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, ruling on the boundaries of the Abyei Area after the two parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement referred the case to the court according to the Abyei Road Map. 24 July 2009.]