Mission & Justice

Alain Navarro; 10/6/08

In Sudan, gum arabic is “manna” from heaven and a key ingredient in iconic brands of globalisation despite US sanctions on this African country listed as a state sponsor of terror in Washington. Hands covered in balls of see-through resin, Issam Siddig is categorical: Gum arabic is the food which both the Bible and the Koran say fell from heaven to save the Israelites from starvation during their sojourn in the Sinai Desert. “Manna, it’s the bread of heaven. Allah expelled Adam and Eve from paradise to Darfur, giving them manna to survive,” said the boss of Mannafibre Company. For him the acacia sap is a “pure miracle”. In Saharan Africa, the gum grows west to east, from Senegal to Somalia. Sudan is the world powerhouse of “manna”, providing more than half the total and the best variety, known as Hashab.

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2/5/08

Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj has hit out at the US treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison where he was held for nearly six and a half years. Saying that “rats are treated with more humanity”, al-Hajj said inmates’ “human dignity was violated”. Al-Hajj, who arrived in Sudan early on Friday, was carried off the US air force jet on a stretcher and immediately taken to hospital. Later, he had an emotional reunion with his wife and son His brother, Asim al-Hajj, said he did not recognise the caeraman because he looked like a man in his 80s.

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