Deeply disturbing news arrives from Sudan. President Bashir has ordered a boycott of all things Danish in response to those cartoons of the prophet Mohammed being republished in newspapers over there. I suspect the Danish bacon industry will be unconcerned. But wait. What about the pastries served at Ozone, possibly the best coffeeshop in the East of Africa?
Turn up here any time past two o’clock and the place is full of aid workers (and yes visiting journalists) tucking into a coffee and a Danish.
Having tried his best to thwart the work of charities in Darfur itself, President Bashir may have stumbled upon the best way to bring the whole aid enterprise crashing to its knees. Morale will crumble within days. And it may not be entirely accidental. Aid workers still talk in despairing tones of the Great Tonic Water Crisis when the government allegedly blocked imports of Schweppes leaving expats wondering what to do with the illicit gin they had managed to source from around Khartoum. Say what you like about Bashir, sometimes you have to admire him.
Tags: Danish pastries, Ozone
February 28, 2008 at 3:45 pm |
You can call the Sudanese government anything but dumb. Al-Bashir knows how to play the game very nicely.
February 29, 2008 at 4:08 am |
Haven’t Southern Sudanese, who have the vice-presidency of Sudan, any say in the running of the country? Last time I checked, they were Christian and animists, and therefore totally removed from all this medieval hoo-haa over cartoons? Are they just there for the show? If so, it’s a disgrace to the memory of John Garang…
February 29, 2008 at 5:06 am |
Sounds kind of familiar. “Freedom Fries” anyone?