The capital city of Sudan is Khartoum. It is located where the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers merge to form the Nile River.

Can you draw the path of the Nile, White Nile and Blue Nile rivers in Sudan?

Can you draw a star to show where Khartoum is on this map?

(Click the above image to download PDF version of worksheet.)

I am in the midst of reading an interview conducted by the Pall Mall Gazette on Jan 9, 1884 (the magazine is now defunct) with General Charles Gordon and I was amazed with the depth of information it contained. I never knew that Darfur was once an independent Kingdom ruled by a Sultan and that the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium had a stranglehold over the Sudan which was only broken by the rebellion of Mohammed Ahmad (the Mahdi) and the destruction of the Khartoum garrison in 1885.

This will dash cold water on the assertions of the Bashir Administration that Sudan had always been an undivided country, populated by Arabs, practicing Islam and exhorting the virtues of Sharia law. A referendum is due very soon in 2010 on the status of Darfur and the Southern regions (engineered by the SPLM) and I am more than confident that these new facts would further their aspirations.

The fact that Sudan was once a Colony of Egypt and Britain seems to explain the animosity that exists between the neighbors. The assassins who tried to kill Hosni Mubarak were granted asylum in Khartoum and during the recent World cup qualifier between Egypt and Algeria, the Sudanese were rooting for the Maghreb nation, Algeria than for their African neighbor.

In the interview, Chinese Gordon exuded the aura and personae of a well educated chap versed in military tactics, politics and understanding of the religion of Islam. He came across as an old fashioned fellow who believed in the virtues of Empire and the Sovereign (although he chose not to evacuate Khartoum despite remonstrations from Queen Victoria).He saw retreat as an act of cowardice and treachery.

These are his words. “Whatever you may decide about evacuation, you cannot evacuate because your army cannot be moved. You must either surrender absolutely to the Mahdi or defend Khartoum at all hazards. The latter is the only course which might be entertained. There is no serious difficulty about it. The Mahdi’s forces will fall to pieces of themselves”.

He was wrong on that count and Historians are still at odds on why he chose a doomed cause of action. Did he believe that the Muslim fanatics would buckle and flee rather give battle and die in the service of Allah? Or was expecting some divine providence from God and his Queen?

Gordon’s suicidal stance against the Mahdist forces ranks in the annals of Romantic History along the battle of the little Bighorn (known as Custer’s last stand) and the charge of the light Brigades( the battle of Balaklava during the Crimean war between 1853-1856) Custer was to suffer a similar fate to Gordon’s. He had his ears boxed and was given an ignominious burial by the Sioux Indians.

Gordon dismissed the Mahdi as an irrelevance and a puppet of one Ilyas, Zebehr’s father in law and the owner of one of the largest slave houses in Obeid.These are his words on the Mahdi. “I am convinced that it is an entire mistake to regard the Mahdi as in any sense, a religious leader. He personifies popular discontent. All the Sudanese are potential Mahdis just as all Egyptians are potential Arabs”.

In retrospect, Gordon was wrong to have underestimated his adversary and this was to cost him dearly. The only accurate description he made of the Mahdi was that he was a rising sun. In the newspaper interview, Gordon does not hide his compassion for the ordinary Sudanese whom he described as very ‘nice people’ who had been subjugated by the Turks and Circassians.

Gordon was not a reformer and was a supporter of slavery. He spoke out against the principle of emancipation which he called a form of confiscation. Immediate emancipation was denounced in 1833 as confiscation in England and was no less confiscation in Sudan (a strange stance considering the fact that the Nubia was a region for obtaining slaves for the Turks and Arabs).

He pledged to reform the prisons and abolish abuses. The Courts were to be mixed tribunals (staffed by European judges).Police Inspectors were to be appointed from the local pool of constabulary and the practice of Bashi-Bazouk was to be abolished.

He blamed Egypt for the problems in the Sudan. According to him, the great evil was not at Khartoum but at Cairo. It was the weakness of Cairo which produced disaster in the Sudan. He asked for the elevation of Nubar to the premiership of Egypt and described him as the ablest of the Egyptian ministers.

Gordon’s actions came to naught. His appointment as the Governor of the Sudan by Lord Cromer (Sir Evelyn Baring) did not quell the rebellion of the Mahdi.Gordon was killed at dawn resisting the warriors of the Mahdi. Mohammed Ahmad had given strict instructions that Gordon was not to be harmed. However, his orders were disregarded by three Khalifas who murdered him on the steps of a stairway of the palace.

His head was cut off and transfixed between the branches of a tree…..”Where all who passed it could look in disdain, children could throw stones at it and then hawks could sweep and circle above”. (A punishment reserved for common criminals who had broken the laws of the Koran and the prophet).
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Pasha Gordon’s demise was lamented by the British newspapers who castigated the Ministry of Defense and Whitehall for not evacuating Gordon in time and hinted at a plot to get rid of Queen Victoria’s favorite general who had captured the imagination of the public.

When the reinforcement forces arrived in Khartoum they could not recover Gordon’s body and had to retreat to Egypt. Mohammed Ahmad lived for a further five months before succumbing to the disease of Typhus. He was succeeded by an apprentice, Abdullah ibn Mohammed as Khalifa who would rule the Mahdiyya (Mahdi’s empire) until his defeat by the British in 1898.

Gordon was immortalized in films and arts of works. Eton College had a statue erected in his honor and the British Air force had a squadron, (Gordon bombers) named after him. He was eulogized by the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Several buildings were named after him at home and abroad. Gordon never married, (although he left behind two sisters and copious works of literature).

Gordon was an evangelical Christian. He was eccentric in many of his beliefs (like Lawrence of Arabia).The earth was not round and the theory of the Resurrection of the soul held a morbid fascination for him.

When the history of the Sudan is written, the names of Gordon and the Mahdi will play prominent parts. Both men were patriots who loved their countries separately and were ready to die for ideologies which meant so much to them.

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Le gouvernement algérien n’a pas laissé passer, sans broncher, les dépassements professionnels et moraux des chaînes satellitaires égyptiennes. L’Etat a enregistré et archivé tous ces dépassements pour répondre le moment venu aux autorités égyptiennes qui se sont cantonnées des semaines durant dans le rôle de spectateur, sinon celui de l’incitateur caché.

La position du gouvernement algérien et sa façon d’aborder les agressions égyptiennes à l’encontre de l’Algérie après le match de Khartoum, ont été révélées par le ministre de la PME et de l’artisanat. Mustapha Ben Bada a affirmé hier que le silence de l’Algérie tout au long de la campagne politique et médiatique de l’Égypte n’est pas synonyme d’indifférence ou de passivité.

Ben Bada a indiqué que le gouvernement a, dans ce cadre, enregistré tout ce qui a été émis par les chaînes égyptiennes en termes de dépassements, atteintes et violations médiatiques, qui sont actuellement en train d’être traduits vers l’anglais avant d’être utilisés pour défendre l’honneur, la dignité et la réputation de l’Algérie.

S’agissant de ce qui a été dit par les milieux médiatiques égyptiens sur l’interdiction faite au président de la FAF, de se rendre en Égypte, le ministre a indiqué que Mohammed Raouraoua n’a nullement besoin de visiter ce pays après ce qui lui est arrivé, ainsi qu’à l’équipe nationale et aux supporters algériens. Mais s’il doit s’y rendre, Raouraoua ira par force de loi. D’ailleurs la domiciliation au Caire de la fédération africaine de football est un motif suffisant pour que le président de la FAF se rende dans ce pays. Ceux qui y voient un inconvénient n’ont qu’à transférer le siège de la Fédération africaine dans un autre pays, a ajouté Ben Bada.

D’autre part, le ministre de la PMA et de l’artisanat a souligné que dorénavant, l’Algérie prendra en considération dans ses relations avec l’Égypte, ces récents incidents avec les autorités égyptiennes, et derrières elles, les médias égyptiens…allusion faite à la décision de l’Algérie de sortir l’Égypte de la liste des états qui bénéficient d’avantages particuliers dans leurs relations avec l’Algérie. [Echorouk, Algerie]

“فقد الجزائريون دينهم بعد أن فقدوا عقولهم من أجل مباراة كروية لن يزدادوا بها إلا خسارا”، “المنتخب الجزائري اللعين”، “ذلك المنتخب الذين يضم مجرمين،” “بعد أن فاز هؤلاء المتخلفون الأوغاد في المباراة وتحقق لهم حلم الوصول لكأس العالم الذي لن يحصلوا عليه حتى لو رأى رئيسهم الذي زج بهؤلاء المجرمين حلمة أذنه، وسوف يحصدون مر الهزيمة وحصرمها في اللقاءات الأولى، لأنهم عار على الرياضة وعلى الرياضيين. ولن يزدادوا بتلك الرياضة إلا شرا وبهيمية وتخلفا وحقدا وإجراما تشهد به الدنيا.”

هذه الكلمات لم يتلفظ بها مراهق أو إعلامي دعي في دكاكين الفتنة، انما هذا الكلام كان خلاصة “اجتهاد” أحد ابرز أعضاء مجمع البحوث الإسلامية وهيئة التدريس في الأزهر الشريف الدكتور عبد الله النجار الذي كتب هذا الكلام أول وثاني أيام العيد، وبعد ثلاثة ايام من زيارة شيمون بيراز إلى القاهرة، كتب هذا العالم المصري هذا الكلام في عموده اليومي “قرآن وسنة” الذي تنشره يومية “الجمهورية” الحكومية، وفي المقالين المذكورين طالب فضيلته الفيفا والمجتمع الدولي “بتطبيق الحد” على الجزائر
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ليس غريب أن يكفرنا مصري، لأنهم آباء التكفير وأئمته، ومن عندهم خرجت فتاوى دفعنا ثمنها من دمائنا، ومازلنا نرقع آثارها، لكن الغريب أن يخرج التكفير من معهد بناه الجزائريون وعمروه ليكون قلعة لنشر الإسلام وصد عدوان أعدائه، وأغرب من ذلك أن يصدر هذا الفقيه فتواه دون أن يذكر النصوص التي استند إليها أو الوقائع التي بنى عليها فتواه، وهل كانت شهادات فيفي عبدوه وصويحباتها عنده شهادة موثوقة إلى درجة يمكن أن نبني عليها حكما شرعيا بحجم إخراج أمة من دينها؟.
أو أن يوقع بناء على تلك الشهادات الكاذبة عن رب العالمين بيانا يصنف فيه لاعبي المنتخب الوطني مع ابليس ويقول فضيلة الشيخ النجار “المنتخب الجزائري اللعين”.
كما أظهر الشيخ الأزهري غلا غير مبرر ضد الجزائر والجزائريين، فتمنى على الله أن يخسر المنتخب الوطني الجزائري الذي قال بأنهم “سوف يحصدون مر الهزيمة وحصرمها في اللقاءات الأولى، لأنهم عار على الرياضة وعلى الرياضيين”.
إلى ذلك بدا من خلال كلام فضيلته أن هناك خللا في المعلومات التي يقدمها الأزهر لطلابه، تلك المغالطات هي التي جعلت الأزهر يفقد مكانته العلمية، لأنه عندما نسمع شيخا أزهري يقول “بعد أن فاز هؤلاء المتخلفون الأوغاد في المباراة”، ويقصد بالمتخلفين الجزائريين، فهذا يدل على أن الأزهريين لم يدرسوا حتى تاريخ الأزهر، وإلا كيف يدرس في معهد كبير بناه متخلفون؟.

Don’t point the finger at deeper ills. The violence in Cairo was just thuggery cynically fomented by President Mubarak

It really is about football. Local and international media can argue about the underlying reasons for the violence in Cairo that saw the Algerian embassy attacked, hundreds of riot police on the streets and a general atmosphere of fear. But if Egypt had beaten Algeria last Wednesday, instead of losing 1-0, it is clear that the riots would not have happened.

Reports that Egyptians were venting their anger over years of government neglect, corruption and poor living conditions are somewhat right. Egyptians may have plenty of reasons to be depressed, angry or frustrated but to blame that for the violence last week, which saw dozens of large police trucks roll into Cairo’s posh Zamalek neighbourhood, would be taking the easy way out.

The real answer is that Egyptians have had little to cheer about in recent years. Only the Cup of African Nations championships – won by Egypt in 2006 and 2008 – brought the country together more than its recent effort to qualify for next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa.

The loss left a nation wounded, unable to deal with the fact that even on the football pitch, they cannot achieve success.

It is easy to blame the “other” for what occurred in Cairo last weekend. President Hosni Mubarak attempted to do just that by fomenting anger and hatred toward Algeria over alleged attacks on Egyptian fans in Sudan following Wednesday’s match. Actors and other “stars” of Egyptian society went on national television detailing attacks against Egyptians by Algerians. This is what the government wanted: to whip up fear and anger over football. And the media helped them out, with headlines such as “Algerian terrorism” following the loss, and reports of violence in Sudan.

The result was a preoccupation with football and raw nationalism rarely seen in the country. Mubarak and the ruling party took the opportunity to enrage a segment of society that has long been excluded from any political or social advancement. It was a chance to create anger against the “other” (in this case, Algerians) for what may or may not have occurred.

The false sense of nationalism created in the wake of the defeat in Khartoum created a wave of angry supporters who remained at home on Thursday morning, lamenting their national team’s failure to secure a place in South Africa. It was about football then. By the evening, when word spread that Egyptians had been attacked by Algerians, all hell broke loose.

As the riots raged, the Egyptian leadership were most likely sitting in their villas smiling, knowing that for now, the Algerian conundrum would occupy the people, take their minds away from the real issues at hand and create weeks of “diplomatic” tension with Algeria.

On Friday evening, when I traversed the “war zone” in Zamalek, the generals were cordial, pointing the direction to go. As a foreigner, I found it easy to slip through the checkpoints at every corner. The Algerian embassy was damaged, but not too badly.

Talking with local shopkeepers, who stood only metres from destroyed windows, what they said was shocking but highlights the entire situation of Egyptian denial. “Nothing happened here, it is all the media’s hype trying to show how bad the Egyptians are,” said one shopkeeper. This, of course, was said as scores of soldiers blocked the middle of the street.

A number of Egyptians, when the reporting began to analyse the riots, began talking about the need to put it all in the proper “context”. They said the mob was responding to the attacks against their fellow citizens in Sudan. Yes, they probably were, but to attack one’s fellow citizens, their shops and their property because of reports from celebrities does not seem the proper response.

Many people agree that it was barbaric and childish, but they still want to argue it away as an attack against the government. No way was it an attack against the government. It was simply a riot out of depression for the loss of a football match and the loss of one’s perceived honour.

Women’s activists rightly object when sexual harassment is described within the context of frustration; the canard of young men and boys harassing women because they “have no other outlet”. Similarly, why should a riot against Algeria and Algerians be argued away as the frustration of a people? It cannot and should not.

In the end, observers and analysts, Egyptians and foreign, should put the blame on the people who fomented the anger and hostility, on the government and on the rioters themselves. Police did their job properly on Friday and we should not condemn the heavy hand of the state in this, but we should condemn the government for not openly chastising their own citizens who took the loss of a football match as a chance to lash out at the enemy: Algeria.

By next June, after the anger toward Algerians is spent, Egyptians will be supporting their Arab counterparts for the World Cup: Algeria again. [Source: Guardian Nov. 24 2009]

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ratcheted up the diplomatic tension with Algeria yesterday as football-related violence continued to spread across both countries. In a statement to parliament, he told cheering MPs that “Egypt will not be lax with those who harm the dignity of its sons”.

It is the president’s first public intervention in a row that has seen thousands of protesters flood the streets of Cairo and Algiers and a wave of attacks against Egyptian targets in Algeria and vice versa. The trouble started when Egypt won a World Cup qualifier against Algeria in Cairo, setting up a play-off between the two sides in Sudan to decide which country would progress to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

Last week Egypt recalled its envoy from Algeria after expressing its “outrage” at the treatment faced by Egyptian fans in Khartoum, where Algeria won 1-0. Despite appeals for calm by the general secretary of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, rioting has spread to both capitals. In Algiers the offices of Egypt’s national airline were destroyed, while in Cairo security forces battled with protesters trying to reach the Algerian embassy, which was reportedly hit by firebombs. Parts of the city are under police lockdown.

Mubarak’s speech did nothing to calm the frenzy, as he swore to protect the rights of Egyptians. “The welfare of our citizens abroad is the responsibility of the country,” he said.

However, there were signs last night that a public backlash against the government’s handling of the football storm was gaining strength. “Hosni Mubarak’s thugs have beaten and killed more Egyptians than any hooligans,” said Hossam el-Hamalawy, a journalist and opposition activist.[Source Guardian | Nov. 22 2009]

«La qualification de l’Algérie au Mondial est indiscutable », a déclaré,  le Secrétaire Général de la Fédération internationale de football (FIFA), M. Jérôme Valcke dimanche 22 novembre à Dubai en marge du Mondial de « beach ball ».

Le SG de la FIFA a été clair et net « la rencontre s’est déroulée normalement et aucun incident notable pouvant influer sur le résultat n’a été enregistré ». Pour le responsable de la FIFA, les évènements qui ont suivi la fin du match « n’avaient pas influé sur le résultat de la rencontre et seront étudiés sur la base des rapports de la commission d’organisation et des arbitres de la rencontre. La FIFA n’est pas responsable des évènements qui s’étaient produits en dehors du stade à la fin du match »

Par ailleurs, M.Valcke a félicité le Soudan pour la réussite de l’organisation de cette rencontre. « Nous saluons les efforts des responsables soudanais pour le bon déroulement de ce match », a-t-il dit. Le responsable de la FIFA a ajouté qu’il est encore tôt pour parler de sanctions contre les fédérations égyptienne et algérienne. «Nous allons étudier les rapports des matchs du Caire et de Khartoum entre les deux équipes », a-t-il expliqué.

Avec cette déclaration, la propagande égyptienne qui veut faire croire à un possible  match à rejouer est tombé à l’eau.

Rappelons également  que la FIFA a ouvert une enquête sur les graves incidents dont été victime la sélection nationale à son arrivée au Caire.

FAF

[Vidéo]Pour tous ces gens qui se moquent de l’Algérie

Reportage de Telefoot Ce matin a 11h Sur LA qualification de L’Algérie pour ceux qui l’ont ratés

Journalistes et sportifs regardent au salle de rédaction au stade de france le match Algérie Egypte en direct

Zidane s’exprime a propos de la qualification de son pays

Intervention de Anthar Yahia sur l’Equipe TV. Il dit vouloir jouer la France en Coupe du Monde.

Football matches can be a tribal affair and in several parts of the world the ‘beautiful game’ can turn into a battlefield. In Lebanon, so I am told, many games are played without crowds of supporters in case they break out into sectarian fighting and restart the civil war. In case you think that sounds far-fetched, remember that the Central American states of Honduras and El Salvador did indeed go to war in 1969 in a conflict triggered by their qualifying match for the 1970 FIFA World Cup (though of course there were political issues at stake as well). In an alarming development over the past few days a similar stand-off has been brewing between Algeria and Egypt following their recent 2010 World Cup qualifier replay in Khartoum, Sudan. The Algerians say some Egyptians threw stones at them, while the Egyptians claim Algerian fans set on them. Whatever the truth of the matter, there have been angry demonstrations in both Cairo and Algiers and many injuries. Ambassadors from the two countries have been called in by their respective host governments for a dressing down and the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, has waded into the affair, basically saying that it is normal for people to hit someone who insults their country. All this is a useful distraction for him, of course, to turn people’s minds away from Egypt’s own internal problems and the big question about what will happen when he dies or retires. Meanwhile, the new ’football war is a depressing reminder not only of how tribal soccer can become, but more seriously of how disunited the Arab world is, even within North Africa.

la vérité de Match Algerie – Egypte dévoilé par El Jazira Sport

Les autorités soudanaises ont convoqué jeudi l’ambassadeur d’Egypte à Khartoum auquel elles ont exprimé leur « mécontentement » après la campagne de presse égyptienne faisant état de « fausses informations » sur l’après-match qualificatif pour le Mondial 2010, remporté par l’Algérie contre l’Egypte. « Le ministère des Affaires étrangères a convoqué l’ambassadeur d’Egypte pour l’informer du rejet par le Soudan des informations diffusées par des médias égyptiens concernant les événements d’après-match », ont annoncé les autorités soudanaises dans un communiqué. « Plutôt que de souligner tout ce que le Soudan a fait pour ce match, l’accueil, l’hébergement de près de 25 000 personnes et la sécurité, les médias égyptiens ont diffusé de fausses informations », a expliqué le porte-parole du ministère soudanais des Affaires étrangères, Mouawiya Osmane Khalid.

Comme à l’habitude maintenant, Canal + nous propose un reportage plein d’émotions sur le dernier match des verts au Soudan! Nous tenons à remercier Guillaume Pivot et son équipe, pour avoir suivi l’EN durant toute cette phase retour! Chapeau Canal +.

Meilleurs moments du match Algerie Egypte