Jimmy Carter Shouts Down Security In Sudan

Former U.S. President Angered After Being Blocked From Meeting With Ethnic African Refugees

(CBS/AP)  Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter got in a shouting match Wednesday with Sudanese security services who blocked him from a town in Darfur where he was trying to meet representatives of ethnic African refugees from the ongoing conflict.

The 83-year-old Carter walked into this highly volatile pro-Sudanese government town to meet refugees too frightened to attend a scheduled meeting at a nearby compound.

Carter was able to make it to a school where he met with one tribal representative and was preparing to go further into the town when Sudanese security services interrupted.

"You can't go. It's not on the program!" the local national security chief, who only gave his first name as Omar, yelled at Carter, who is in Darfur as part of a delegation of respected international figures known as "The Elders."

"We're going to anyway!" an angry Carter retorted. "You don't have the power to stop me."

U.N. officials told Carter's entourage that the Sudanese state police could bar his way. "Let's go, or somebody is going to get shot," said one U.N. official, as an increasingly tense crowd gathered. Billionaire businessman Richard Branson and Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, tried to ease Carter's frustration as his U.S. secret service security urged him to climb into a car and leave.

"I'll tell President Bashir about this," Carter said, referring to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Carter later agreed to a compromise by which tribal representatives would be brought to him at another location later Wednesday. But the refugee delegates never showed up.

Most ethnic Africans appeared too frightened to speak in Kabkabiya, a North Darfur town that has long been a stronghold of the pro-government janjaweed militia.

Branson, who along with Machel was traveling with Carter, said some refugees had slipped notes in his pockets. "We (are) still suffering from the war as our girls are being raped on a daily basis," read one of the notes, translated from Arabic, that Branson handed to The Associated Press.

The note said that on Sept. 26, a group of girls had been raped, and a refugee had also been shot two days ago. Branson said it had been handed over by an ethnic African man.

The Darfur conflict began when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing it of decades of neglect. Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads - a charge it denies. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven out of their homes in four years of violence.

The visit by "The Elders," which is headed by Nobel Peace laureates Carter and Desmond Tutu, is largely a symbolic move by a host of respected figures to push all sides to make peace in Darfur.

"We are here in Sudan because we want to listen to the voices of those who have not been heard and want to explore ways that we can lend our own voices to peace," said Tutu, in the Elders' arrival statement for the mission to Sudan.

[gretagreen]

I applaud the efforts of President Carter and the others to do something to help the people of that region. I thank them for caring. The article mentions nothing about the UN troops that the UN voted to put in last month. I wonder what''s going on with that.

[Krazcarl]

SURCHFORTRUTH,,,,EXCELLENT POINT,,

[Krazcarl]

TRUEPROGRESS...You have this backward your the disgrace to the country not Jimmy you''ve done jack never heard your name in the news when is the last time you got a nobel peasce prize your bowling trophy don''t count. I get so sick of peple that have done nothing but advance themselves putting down a man that is and wll always be an example to the rest of us,

[Krazcarl]

B48161. Got me wromg never hit the site not my cup of tea but your still an ignorant pinhead what is it like to be publicaly stupid...I know your just a slimy green troll and lonely but stuff like this is why.

[pepperwood2]

The Politics of Humanitarianism

Why did the international community so quickly abandon Rwanda at a time when its presence might have stopped the genocide? Like Kofi Annan, many of the diplomats and government leaders in office at the time blame the failed Somalia mission, in which U.S. soldiers attempting to capture a Somali warlord were ambushed -- resulting in a fierce, 17-hour firefight that would leave 18 U.S. soldiers and more than 1,000 Somalis dead, 84 U.S. troops wounded, and images of dead American soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu flashed around the world.

"The Clinton administration was brought to its knees by the problem in Somalia," says Michael Sheehan, former peacekeeping advisor to the U.S. Mission at the United Nations. "Our secretary of defense was fired, our presidency was dramatically weakened, they were enormously criticized for this adventure in Somalia and now you had another situation unfolding in Rwanda. There was no democratic political operative that could advise President Clinton to virtually turn around the ships steaming out of Somalia and send them back into a new African adventure of a raging civil war in the early parts of this genocide."

Annan is more succinct. "To some extent," he says, "Rwanda became a victim of the Somali experience."

President Clinton affirmed his doctrine: Civil War or Genocide??

[trueprogress]

Carter has become a sad figure, and a total disgrace for our country. This current trip and his puff questions in Time Magazine is an effort at PR since so many of his supporters have quit the Carter Center out of disgust for his hate filled, propaganda book. He can''t even appear on C Span without angry callers one after another. His safe haven is the liberal media that is making an effort to ignore the obvious - that won''t ask him why his Carter Center and his book sales are supported by ARAB MONEY ! Millions and millions of dollars as a pay off . That the majority of his book sales were from ARAB hate groups, who distributed his books free to libraries, is a taboo subject. So sad. Shame.
Reader, ignore this stupid piece. This is a PR distraction.

[votepaul12]

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[Krazcarl]

realpatriot1. appreciate your post was not aware of the balloting machine issue. I moved to the south at 28 been here 22 years and thier is a lot to learn from these nen they weren''t all KKK they just did the best the situation allowed some more than other I''d dare say he was one.

[realpatriot1]

dukakislives,

I lived through that time too. Carter made many mistakes in office and he still does make mistakes, anyone who tries to do good will make some along the way.

I don''t mind people criticising politicians for their mistakes but I do object to those who will only talk about the bad and ignore the good that people do with their lives.

Carter brought some of his problems on himself, most notably by listening to Cyrus Vance and allowing the Shah into the U.S. for medical treatment. In fairness, would anyone else at the time have not let the Shah in after we had been propping him up for 26 years?

He does deserve enormous credit for his efforts to bring peace to the middle east and no one, particularly his detractors, has done more to bring peace and justice to all the people of the middle east.

As far as certifying the Chavez vote done on electronic voting machines, those machines are manufactured by Sequoia Systems of California which is partly controlled by Venezeualian interests. The same machines are used in this country, should we not certify U.S. elections done on these machines or the Diebold machines controlled by one of Bush''s chief campaign contributors?

[Krazcarl]

DUKAKISLIVES...I was just out of high school a program he started got me education and employment, After the war there was highspresd unemployment for obvious reason was not his fault he was trying to clean up the mess the worst job a a president could have and he tried and helped me thats all i know accept Raygunz canceled the program and left me in the cold. He was a great man that wanted to help the little mam haven''t seen that in a long time.

[cbs_oliver]

Good for Carter.

He is an inspiration for people to do good.

[Krazcarl]

b48151...your an impudent pinhead

[Krazcarl]

COLINIENY..Yes public opinion is based on what you think. But nevertheless you cannot use the word evil and Jinny in the same sentance yes there are things you would have done different but that will always be the case no matter who is in office.Again just because you were raised in the south does not I repeat does not make you a bigot I''ve had older blacks tell me of great things white folks did for them to ease there suffering. No matter how you look at it a 82 year old man had the guts to stand up to injustice and put his life on the line for common good if you can''t respect that you can''t respect anything and you are lonely. Jimmy is the only former pesident in my lifetime that you can be proud of Ford takes second.Sleep well with you hate...

[ioweign]

Billionaire businessman Richard Branson and Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, tried to ease Carter''s frustration as his U.S. secret service security urged him to climb into a car and leave.


U.S. Secret Service security - where is Blackwater ?

Bush/Cheney use Blackwater for security in Iraq - Why not the Secret Service for diplomats in Iraq?

[realpatriot1]

colonieny,

I''ve read the book and there''s no hate in it. Have you read it? If so, please tell me what hate you found.

[pepperwood2]

Apologies

In March 1998, President Clinton visited Kigali, where he apologized to the Rwandan people and the victims of the genocide. "The international community, together with nations in Africa, must bear its share of responsibility for this tragedy," Clinton said. "We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps to become safe havens for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide."

Those sentiments were echoed weeks later by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. In an apology to the parliament of Rwanda, Annan said, "We will not deny that, in their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda...."

"Ghosts of Rwanda" concludes by examining the aftermath of the genocide, the lessons learned--and not learned--by the international community, and by questioning whether the phrase "never again" has more meaning today than it did 10 years ago.

"When you are faced with the question [of] whether I think that we can avoid the Rwandas of tomorrow...my answer is I really don''t know," Annan now says. "I wish I can say yes, but I am not convinced that we will see the kind of political will and the action required to stop it."

Peace at all costs - I take it!

[colonieny]

Why won''t Carter debate Professor Dishorwitz ? HE wanted to write his stupid hate filled book to stimulate "dialogue" but will not debate anyone who knows the subject. What a coward Carter really is. A bully and a coward. A total disgrace to our great nation.

[colonieny]

This is all about re habituating this evil man''s mans''s reputation.
Carter is a liar , a bigot and two faced, who is on the payroll of the wealthy Arabs, he lies for, writes for, and pays all the bill at the so called Carter Center. ( a front for Hezbollah and such). What a disgrace.
But I see his PR firm is in over drive ( after scores of important people quit his center , in disgust). A puff piece in Time Mag, and now this. Wow.
Check out CAMERA. org.
Carter stood by when 5000 women were stoned in IRAN (thank you), tried to give up TAIWAN during the XMAS break of year 2 of his weak wrist presidence, courted ecnomic diaster with inflation of 14 % !!! , and then blamed us. What a walking diaster. CBS don''t be taken in by all this media planned PR. just ignore him, he and his ARAB rich handlers, can''t stand it.

[Krazcarl]

urhsong..Am in total agreement a GREAT americam one of the few legends of our time.

[urthsong]

Carter''s quiet courage, integrity and hard, hard work is a part of what helps me continue to be proud of being an American. I''ve heard him interviewed at length quite recently. He continues to be a brilliant man. Yes, Carter is and has always been a peacemaker. That is a part of his greatness. I would have liked to have been there, danger and all, to see Nobel Laureats Carter and Tutu. Magnificent. His work for health, peace and real democracy have brought Carter honors around the world. Carter, a nuclear expert, did in fact effect the saving of a goodly portion of the northeastern US during the TMI crisis. He personally pulled together a team, sent one scientist to describe the situation and narrowly prevented meltdown. It took nearly two years before they could get inside TMI to realize that Carter had saved the day. This from the former Governor Richard Thornburgh of PA. Reagan pulled down the solar panels Carter had installed on the roof of the White House. That''s how far ahead Carter was on developing renewable energy.