In March 1996, the government of Sudan, poised to hold national elections, granted Nairobi-based journalists something they had never granted any of them before: visas. So I and several others flew to Khartoum. Once there, I did several things, and I will roll out reports about some of my activities over the balance of this week. First up, Sudan’s long links with terrorist training. Sudanese authorities were, in 1996, categorically denying western charges that they were training foreign terrorists at special camps scattered across the country. They did, on the other hand, acknowledge openly that there were training camps for the country's so-called Popular Defense Forces, where young Islamic fighters were undergoing military instruction. That March, I was among a group of reporters taken to one such camp outside Khartoum and had this report. Obviously it was a staged and highly-controlled visit but it provided some useful information and color.Under a broiling afternoon sun, a group of 16 new recruits practices assembling and disassembling AK-47 assault rifles. As each of them completes the test, they jump up, shouting “Allahu Akbar," God is great.
It is part of the course of instruction at a Popular Defense Force training camp about 25 kilometers north of Khartoum. The camp is named after Ebad Khatim, a student volunteer who was killed while fighting with Islamic militia forces against the mainly Christian and animist rebels in southern Sudan.
Officials at this bleak and sand-swept camp say the training typically lasts from 45 days to two months and that all of the trainees are volunteers, who serve without pay.
One of them, a 29-year-old bank clerk, tells visiting reporters he enlisted out of a sense of religious responsibility to defend Sudan. He says he wants to go to the south to fight rebels loyal to John Garang, who he calls a danger to the country.
The recruits seem enthusiastic as they sing and chant religious slogans for
visitors. Their commanders say they do not fear death.
Yet the more than decade-old war in the south, by all accounts, continues to remain a costly and draining venture -- both in terms of money and manpower.
Several relatives of senior government officials and other influential Sudanese have been killed in the fighting -- including the younger brother of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, whose death was announced last month.
Officials deny categorically that any foreigners are undergoing training in these camps. They say the recruits are 100 percent Sudanese.
Sudanese authorities charge that most of the claims about foreigners stem from Egyptian intelligence reports. They say they have repeatedly invited Egyptian officials and other critics to visit any part of the country to inspect alleged guerrilla training camps. But they say Egypt has rejected all such overtures.
It is part of the course of instruction at a Popular Defense Force training camp about 25 kilometers north of Khartoum. The camp is named after Ebad Khatim, a student volunteer who was killed while fighting with Islamic militia forces against the mainly Christian and animist rebels in southern Sudan.
Officials at this bleak and sand-swept camp say the training typically lasts from 45 days to two months and that all of the trainees are volunteers, who serve without pay.
One of them, a 29-year-old bank clerk, tells visiting reporters he enlisted out of a sense of religious responsibility to defend Sudan. He says he wants to go to the south to fight rebels loyal to John Garang, who he calls a danger to the country.
The recruits seem enthusiastic as they sing and chant religious slogans for
visitors. Their commanders say they do not fear death.Yet the more than decade-old war in the south, by all accounts, continues to remain a costly and draining venture -- both in terms of money and manpower.
Several relatives of senior government officials and other influential Sudanese have been killed in the fighting -- including the younger brother of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, whose death was announced last month.
Officials deny categorically that any foreigners are undergoing training in these camps. They say the recruits are 100 percent Sudanese.
Sudanese authorities charge that most of the claims about foreigners stem from Egyptian intelligence reports. They say they have repeatedly invited Egyptian officials and other critics to visit any part of the country to inspect alleged guerrilla training camps. But they say Egypt has rejected all such overtures.
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