Libya/Egypt/Sudan advice please

[ianbaker]

Hi all

Have seen the latest news on the Sudan, and it looks like it is getting worse. Is it still "safe" to travel through.

These are my options:
Libya, into the Sudan and bypass Egypt. This means that I save a fortune on carnet fees, but looks to be quite a serious route and I will be skirting the top of Darfur, well, not skirting it but relatively close. Possibly too close for comfort (?)
Libya into Egypt and then the Sudan, the standard route. So I pay the huge fees for the carnet but go through the safer part of the Sudan.
Are Libya's borders still pretty much closed except at the main tourist/commercial entries?

The thing is, is this standard route any safer now adays? Seems that aid workers are being harrassed. Any reports of travellers getting into any difficulty at all on this strectch?

Might just be nerves as its getting nearer to the setting date.

Any advice, views?

[Chris Scott]

<Are Libya's borders still pretty much closed except at the main tourist/commercial entries?>

The latest news from Libya seems to be that south of the Kufra line is now closed to tourist and their escorts - and even before then I've not heard of a tourist taking the direct route to Sudan (even Sudanese guestworkers skirt round the north side of Uweinat to avoid patrols).
If you do so you'll be effrectively making a run for it; I don't think it is an option

For tourists, Libya's only borders are on the Med: top left , top right.

<.... I pay the huge fees for the carnet but go through the safer part of the Sudan.>
That's what money is for ;-)

Ch

[ianbaker]

"That's what money is for ;-)"

Hmm, that might just be the best advice I've seen yet!

Cheers, sounds like I'm seeing the pyramids then

btw - best option for the sudan visa still in cairo? Heard its 24 hours there?

[roamingyak.org]

DemocracyNow.org has some quite good coverage of Sudan at times - detailed interviews that you don't tend in the mainstream media so often - so worth checking out for a more 'on the ground' update of the situation in the country...

This from yesterday:

The Sudanese government is increasing its attacks in Darfur as the African Union confirms it will withdraw peacekeeping troops by the end of the month. We speak with Alex de Waal, an advisor to the African Union and author of "Darfur: A Short History of a Long War."

Interview at
http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl?issue=20060907


This from August 25th:

The Sudanese government rejected a draft UN resolution on Thursday that called for a 17,000-member international security force to be deployed to Darfur. President Bush is sending a senior envoy to Khartoum to try to persuade the ruling party to accept the peacekeeping force. We speak with Smith College professor and Sudan expert, Eric Reeves. [includes rush transcript]
It has been three months since the signing of a peace deal between the Sudanese government and one of the three main rebel groups in the war-torn Darfur region. The deal was touted by the international community as a possible end to the three-year-old crisis, but since the deal was signed, violence in the region has in fact increased.
Yesterday the Sudanese government rejected a draft UN resolution which called for a 17,000-member international security force to be deployed to Darfur.

In response, President Bush on Thursday announced that a senior US official would visit Khartoum to pressure Sudan's government to accept the joint US/UK force proposal. The government in Khartoum has long opposed the idea of a UN security force, depicting it as a front for Western imperialism.

Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College who has devoted nearly a decade to research, analysis, and advocacy on the Darfur crisis.

The International Rescue Committee released a report this week documenting an alarming rise in instances of sexual violence in Darfur. According to the IRC, more than 200 female residents of one refugee camp have been victims of sexual assault in the past five weeks alone.

Interview at:
http://www.democracynow.org/article....=thread&tid=25

AND:

Heidi Lehmann technical advisor for Gender-Based Violence programs at the International Rescue Committee. She recently worked to set up programs in Darfur, and returned from Sudan just last month.
On the issue of rape as a weapon of war, before the show we reached Jane Alao Odo. Jane is originally from the South of Sudan. She was displaced from the south early in her life.

In 2004 she co-founded the Amel Center for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. In addition to providing medical support for victims, the Amel Center has attempted to prosecute the perpetrators of rape and torture. Jane talked about the legal obstacles to holding perpetrators of rape accountable, and she also described some of the long-term effects of systematic rape on society.

Jane Alao Odo, co-founder of the Amel Center for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. She joins us on the line from southern Darfur.

Interview at:
http://www.democracynow.org/article....=thread&tid=25