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Defending a Terrorist Regime
On February 8, during a five-hour visit to Khartoum, the Sudan, Farrakhan met with
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Hassan al-Turabi, leader of Sudan's ruling
party. He told them, according to the government-owned news service Al-Hadith, that
Muslims in America stand behind Sudanese Muslims, whom "the Western enemy wants to
eliminate," and assured them that "More than 40 million American Muslims stand
with Sudan against the unjust plots that it is subjected to." Minister Farrakhan also
said that the "Western campaign" against the Sudan would ultimately fail.
Under Turabi's influence, the Sudan has become a launch pad for Islamic
extremist terrorism. Funded by Iran, the Sudan has provided safe haven for
accused terrorists, training at camps staffed by Iranian Red Guard Corps instructors,
while waging a bloody civil war against Christians and animists in the country's south.
According to a story in The Economist, the fundamentalist regime has a "ubiquitous
secret police, no free press and no independent judiciary ... . A Truth Authentication
Department helps keep watch on any challenge to political, social or religious
orthodoxy." In addition, reports conducted for the United Nations, the State
Department, and private human rights organizations have asserted that Muslims from
Sudan's northern region regions regularly enslave Sudanese blacks; some women and
children have been sold in slave markets for as little as $15.
Ignoring Slavery
Following Farrakhan's visit to the Sudan, Chicago Tribune columnist
Clarence Page criticized the NOI leader for his flirtation with the country's leaders and
noted that Farrakhan has ignored reports of black enslavement. "Farrakhan
typically turns a blind eye to reports of slavery in Africa, even when they're thrust in
his face. Sudan's president rebuffs the charges and the Nation of Islam helps."
Though Farrakhan has been silent on the issue, his International Minister, Abdul Akbar
Muhammad, has defended Sudan's leaders, and has characterized reports of
slavery as components of a "Jewish conspiracy" to divide the Muslim world. |
