Sudan: Still in the Spotlight

Al Manar’s coverage of Sudan continued this week. Al Manar continued to cover Sudanese President Al-Bashir’s "defiance" via his travels abroad, reporting on his visits to Qatar for the Arab League Summit, Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage to Mecca, and Libya for a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. In addition to covering Al-Bashir’s travel itinerary, Al Manar also ran a story today about the US envoy to Sudan's visit to Khartoum and quoted the envoy, Scott Gration who said

"I come here with my hands open and it would be up to the Sudanese government to determine how they want to continue with that relationship.”

The article was brief but conveyed that the US government is eager for stronger ties with its Sudanese counterpart. Al Manar also reported the Sudanese government’s announcements that Sudan will hold its first general election in 24 years in February 2010. While the article did mention that the election was supposed to be held in 2009, it's tone attempted to provide the Sudanese government with more legitimacy as a regime dedicated to peace and progress.

In addition to reporting on actions taken by Sudanese leadership, Al Manar continued to cover leaders' rejection of Al-Bashir's indictment. For instance, in its coverage of the 2nd annual Arab-South American Summit, which was similar to Telasur’s coverage, Al Manar focused on Arab and South America’s rejection of Al-Bashir’s warrant, quoting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who referred to the ICC as "a judicial horror and a disrespect to the people of the Third World."

Al Manar also covered a meeting held for Arab foreign ministers in preparation for the Arab Summit where the ministers called for the annulment of Al-Bashir’s arrest warrant and urged Arab nations not to cooperate with the ICC. The Arab League's Secretary General said that the ICC’s case against Al-Bashir “shows the use of double standards” and called for objectivity from regional institutions such as the Arab League and African Union.

Al-Bashir Joins the Resistance

Al Manar has continued its coverage of Sudanese President Al-Bashir, reporting on his travels to other African nations as “defiance.”
On March 23rd, Al Manar covered Al-Bashir’s first trip outside of Sudan for a one-day visit to Eritrea. A similar story ran today about Al-Bashir’s trip to Cairo and meeting with Egyptian President Mubarak.

The articles shared a similar format. Both articles first featured quotes from the host nations about the illegitimacy of the ICC indictment. The story about All-Bashir’s visit to Egypt quoted Egypt’s foreign minister who said that many Arab and African states do not support ICC proceedings and that Egypt and Sudan must work together to

“secure the humanitarian situation in Darfur, so as not to allow any foreign party to claim that there is a humanitarian crisis in Darfur."

Similarly, the story on Al-Bashir’s visit to Eritrea featured the following quote from an Eritrean government document:

"The drama being orchestrated by the so-called ICC amply demonstrates the anti-people stance and defamatory conspiracy on the part of external forces. Eritrea sees the decision by the ICC as irresponsible and as an insult to the intelligence of African countries."

The articles then also quoted Sudanese officials who said that Al-Bashir’s ventures outside of Sudan were a deliberate show of defiance and that Al-Bashir would continue to travel to African, Arab and Asian countries. While both articles mention the charges Al-Bashir is facing, neither offers any details which would give the charges any credibility in the eyes of the reader.

Al Manar’s reporting equates Al-Bashir’s travel abroad with acts of defiance. As mentioned previously, I believe the repeated appearance of the word defiance in Al Manar’s coverage of Al-Bashir’s response to his indictment is meant to frame Al-Bashir as someone to be admired for his resistance to Western dominance. This notion of resistance is very important in Al Manar and Hezbollah’s rhetoric and I believe Al Manar is trying to frame Al-Bashir as part of this greater struggle against Western oppression in order to garner sympathy and admiration from its audience.

Al Manar: Rallying Public Support for Al-Bashir

Over the weekend, the ICC warrant for Sudanese President al-Bashir continued to garner the most attention and audience involvement on alManar.com.lb. Four out of the five most commented stories are related to the ICC warrant and Al-Manar’s coverage continues to support Hezbollah’s rejection of the ICC proceedings against al-Bashir and is very similar to coverage on Iranian state-sponsored network IRINN.

An article on March 6th which detailed Al-Bashir’s intentions to travel to Darfur this week said that the Sudanese President “vowed to press ahead with peace efforts in Darfur despite the international arrest warrant against him,” implying that the ICC prosecution was hindering the peace process. The article also reported that the African Union is planning to send a delegation to the UN to “try to halt the warrant to give a chance for peace in Sudan.” While the articles do not take the additional step of directly saying that the ICC prosecution is intended to hurt the Sudanese peace process, quotes from al-Bashir fill in the gap. Al-Manar quotes al-Bashir who refers to ICC prosecution as a “neo-colonial plot” and says

“If someone wants to fight us, then they should not come with resolutions from the United Nations Security Council or the ICC. They have to come to our land to fight us themselves."


The article also detailed Sudanese protests of the ICC warrant where Sudanese nationals burnt American flags and stomped on photos of ICC Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo attempting to illustrate that Sudanese popular will is supportive of al-Bashir.

There were several articles covering Al-Bashir’s visit to Darfur, which was repeatedly referred to as a “act of defiance.” I believe that this expression is meant to resonate with readers who admire organizations and individuals who are seen as standing up to America. The tone of audience comments was supportive of Al-Bashir and skeptical of the motivations of the ICC, which is seen as a tool of the West. For instance, an audience member from Trinidad and Tobago posted the following comment.

“It does not mater how far one goes to appease the White Man, he forever thinks that his station here on earth is god-like and we are all bound to his self anointed authority. Africa and the Middle East must come together and establish an impregnable block that no Authority or foreign entity shan't penetrate or influence.”

Rather then serving a news function and informing its audience about unfolding events in Sudan, Al Manar is seeking to color its coverage to rally its audience to support Hezbollah's stance of supporting Sudanese President Al-Bashir.

IRINN Coverage of Sudan

IRINN indeed has an English news segment. The English segment comes after the Persian news program has concluded. Among the news covered on the English broadcast (as well as the Persian broadcast) was the arrest warrant issued for Sudanse President Omar al-Bashir. 

The coverage by IRINN of Sudan was titled "Thousands rally in support of al-Bashir in Khartoum", alongside images and video from the protests. Furthermore, Iranian Foreign Minister Motaki met with Sudanese Parliament speaker in Tehran and said the prosecution of al-Bashir was wrong. Motaki said that Iran and Sudan have firm bilateral ties based on mutual interest. 

Coverage then again went to the protests in Sudan and a speech by al-Bashir condemning the warrant and agencies such as the UN Security Council, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Criminal Court as being neo-colonialist.

This coverage was lacking in reporting, as there was no coverage of those who oppose al-Bashir, particularly those Sudanse from that were affected by the years of fighting with Khartoum - such as Darfur, both the east or the south.