2005-07-21

‘There is no freedom of the press here’


NBC's Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, was involved in an "incident" this morning in Sudan. As she asked a question during a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, she was grabbed by security and dragged from the room. Her first hand account can be found second column down here.

Even U.S. officials were barred.

Sudan apologizes. For this episode of violence. "We do not want to go back to war in any part of the country," said President Omar el-Beshir at the beginning of the meeting with Rice. But an official present for the entire meeting said he was noncommittal about disarming the government-backed Janjaweed militia.

The government's proxy militia has been accused of murder, torture, widespread rape and other human rights abuses against the civilian population.

Some 300,000 people have died so far in Darfur, mostly civilians. United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. After he bid Rice farewell at Khartoum airport, Ismail hailed her visit as "a positive sign towards improving relations between our two countries."

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