Powell, Annan only get partial view of refugee camp

WASHINGTON — It was the leather shoes that caught the eye of U.S. officials with Secretary of State Colin Powell in a camp for Sudanese uprooted by ethnic violence.

Sudanese forced from their homes by war or famine normally have the most primitive footwear or none at all. Many had leather shoes at the camp and obviously didn’t belong there. As U.S. officials saw it, they were assigned to intimidate actual residents who might be inclined to tell their harrowing stories to Powell and his party, including reporters.

In the days before Powell’s visit to Darfur region in western Sudan last week, he and his colleagues had been aware that the Sudanese government might try to put the best face on a dire situation.

Powell has said repeatedly that the visit to the al-Shouk camp was not to investigate but rather to call international attention to the Darfur crisis, for which he believes Sudan’s Islamic government bears heavy responsibility. The number of Darfur’s displaced by raiders exceeds 1 million, many of whom are expected to die.

Powell also was relying on other sources to keep tabs on the situation. He got an earful from private U.S. relief groups and U.N. officials during an hourlong meeting before visiting al-Shouk, where 40,000 people are sheltering. He was told of the murders, rapes and the razing of villages, all said to have been committed by government-backed ethnic Arab militias against Darfur’s black African population.

The government denies any role in supporting the so-called Janjaweed militias. It attributes the unrest to competition over land and resources.

Powell made a 25-minute walk through the camp, accompanied by relief experts. He moved hurriedly because he did not want to get caught in a sandstorm brewing nearby.

When he finally reached a shelter at the end of his tour, a group of women presented him with a petition suggesting that all was well in Darfur.

His delegation realized that the women were government agents. Not only were they well-dressed, they were overweight.

Sudan’s effort to orchestrate perceptions about camp life in Darfur did not stop with Powell.

The day after he visited al-Shouk, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a stop at the Meshtel settlement, where he expected to find 1,000 displaced people. To Annan’s astonishment, all had been loaded on trucks and carted away.

“Where are the people?” Annan asked incredulously. A Sudanese official explained that the people were removed because conditions were too grim.

Annan turned down an offer to tour the same camp visited by Powell the day before.