Sudanese Hospitality

Andrea Mitchell, who was among the reporters in Secretary of State Rice's group was accosted by Sudanese military/security personnel. She has said she was dragged away from the president of Sudan when she started questioning him about the violence in his country. And we're not just talking run-of-the-mill violence, but genocide; the systematic elimination of every man, woman, and child in Dafur.

Mitchell is lucky that she was accompanying a member of the current Administration on this trip. Had she asked this question without their presence [ed: who am I kidding - there's no way she'd ever end up in Sudan unless it was because some major US official made a trip there], who knows what would have happened to Mitchell.

Mitchell's colleagues in the US are often highly critical of the current Administration and the way they handle press conferences. I doubt Mitchell will look at the Press Secretary's handling of questions in the same way. After all, if a thug in Sudan doesn't like your questions, they simply drag you off, never to be heard from again. You may not like the answers coming from the US Administration, but you don't fear for your life after asking your questions.

Remember all those rights you have in the US (freedom of speech, religion, right to bear arms, due process under the law, etc.)? The rest of the world doesn't understand them, especially thugocracies that exist solely to enrich the leaders or theocracies where adherents to other religious groups are targeted.

“Diplomacy 101 says you don’t rough your guests up,” Rice senior adviser Jim Wilkinson had said earlier as he and reporters traveling with Rice faced off with guards at the ultra-high-security residence of Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir.

El-Bashir’s guards elbowed Americans and tried to rip a tape away from a U.S. reporter. At another point, Rice’s interpreter and some other aides accompanying her were blocked at a gate.

Ambassador Khidair Haroun Ahmed, head of the Sudanese mission in Washington, attempted to smooth over the situation. “Please accept our apologies,” he told reporters and Rice aides. “This is not our policy.”

Shortly after the first apology, another scuffle broke out when NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell tried to ask el-Bashir a question about his involvement with alleged atrocities.

"Why should the U.S. believe the Sudanese government will stop the killing when the government is still supporting the militia?" Mitchell asked, before guards grabbed her and muscled her toward the rear of the room as State Department officials shouted at the guards to leave her alone.

The session at el-Bashir’s residence capped a morning of meetings before a scheduled visit to the western Darfur providence, where the United States blames his government for recruiting and equipping rebel militiamen to massacre rural villagers and burn their homes.

He denies government involvement, but the United States and international organizations say his military sent helicopter gunships to bomb small villages before rebels swept in with horses, guns and knives.

So, this wasn't just a single episode, but two separate incidents between Sudanese officials and US reporters.

One time is a mistake. Twice is a policy. There should be no third time. Sudan needs to know that it will not tolerate that behavior in no uncertain terms.