May 17, 2008
An afternoon out in Omdurman
Another sunny Saturday afternoon – and what better way to spend it than visiting the new Chadian invasion exhibition - AKA the 'Exhibition of the Brave' - in Omdurman.
Just in case you missed it (and I understand the story didn't get a lot of play on British TV), this time last week, Darfur rebels were mounting a full-on assault on Omdurman – one of three cities that make up greater Khartoum, just 30 minutes drive away from our home.
After almost a day of fighting, government forces pushed the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) troops out of the city, leaving behind them at least 220 dead (rebels, civilians and army - according to the army), rows of bullet-scarred buildings and a huge pile of hardware.
Sudan quickly blamed its western neighbour Chad for funding and directing the attack. It then spent most of last week making mass arrests and collecting all the captured hardware together for an exhibition.
The show took place in the grounds of the Khalifa's Mosque. Outside there was a line of slick Photoshopped banners with pictures of victorious Sudanese government troops waving their weapons under slogans like 'Chad will pay' and 'We are not afraid'.
The gates were guarded by two huge tanks with little Sudanese flags tied to their barrels and soldiers armed with everything from rifles to rocket-propelled grenade launchers all around. I wasn't allowed to take photos of the tanks, but everything else was fine – this was a 'victory' exhibition after all and they had a lot to show off.
Inside, it was a bit like a village fete. Singers blared out popular patriotic sings in one corner, surrounded by dancing men and children waving sticks in time with the music. In the centre of the field, there was a pile of twisted and battered vehicles the army said had been captured from the invading JEM forces.
Along one side of the field was a line of military vehicles carrying mortars, grenade launchers, anti-aircraft guns, and chains of what were either small rockets or huge, huge bullets.
Soldiers posed for photos, answered questions from the crowd, swivelled in their captured gun turrets and let children climb up alongside them for more photos.
Every so often someone would come up to try their English, grin madly into the camera and shake their fists in victory.
Over on the stage another song blared out. Another crown of men and children rushed to dance on the stage. A small boy climbed up on to the shoulders of a dancing soldier, grabbed his assault rifle and waved it in the air.
There are a few more photos on Flickr.
UPDATE: Dangerous things these post-victory examine-the-military-hardware exhibitions. An hour after we left, a visitor was killed when one of the exhibits - some sort of grenade - exploded in his hand.
Posted by aheavens at May 17, 2008 2:02 PM