The man is a representative of a jihadist regime engaging in a genocide of rebellious tribes in Darfur. His "government" is an illegitimate regime that oppresses its people with violence, torture and murder. No offense to all who will attend, but what good does it do expressing your concerns with a jihadist diplomat whose government does not give a damn what any American thinks, let alone its own citizens.
Instead of listening to this man's lies, why don't these people show up at a meeting with a Congressional representative or senator and express their outrage at the genocide committed by this regime?
The actions of Sudan's regime (engaging in genocide, political oppression, massive violations of human rights) warrant no aid from the international community, especially America. For this university to hold what will amount to be a propaganda opportunity for this ambassador is greatly troubling. Where is the moral opposition to genocide, tyranny and terrorism at this university, which invites the ambassador of a regime guilty of all three to speak to its students, faculty and neighbors?

The Sudanese ambassador was invited to listen, not to talk. He is coming at the invitation of the university's vp for spiritual life (it's a Baptist university), who decided he could not sit by and do nothing to voice objection to the genocide in Darfur as pretty much we all did nothing to stop what happened in Rwanda.

Eddie, I share you concern about the Sudanese government. But please read the university's media alert, which explicitly states that the ambassador was invited specifically so that the university community can "express concerns to him about the genocide in his country."

(An internal email alerting staff/faculty/students of the event went on to state that "The purpose of having Ambassador Kabeir visit campus is to draw attention to the continuing genocide in Sudan."

This event -if covered by the press - will help raise awareness in the Nashville area re Sudan, and perhaps that will lead to the kind of political pressure that is needed.

In the meantime, aid is greatly needed for the people of Sudan who, remember, are not their government. Millions are at risk of starvation or dying at the hands of violent genocidal militias.

Sudan is not a Jihadist regime. They got rid of some of those guys a few years ago. They are an Arab fascist regime---very much like---you remember, Saddam Hussain.

Jihadists of the sort your commenter imagines would try to preach their version amongst the Darfur Muslims, much like the Muslim Brotherhood among the Egyptian poor townspeople and peasants.

Obsessing about Jihadists, or seeing them behind everything will not help fully explain what ails the Arab and Muslim world.

The main problem is that Muslims believe they have to tolerate the brutes that rule them. In the Arab world, most of these brutes are Arab Fascists like the above-mentioed former Iraqi President, the Assads, Mubaraks, etc...

Mr. Hobbs,
Thank you for your concern about Darfur and highlighting this event on your blog. I wonder however whether this event will achieve anything worthwhile. What goal is achieved by having people talk and relay their concerns to a represenative of the government committing the genocide? A government that is not a democracy but one of the world's most oppressive regimes (and that does not give a damn what an American thinks about its internal crimes)? Would this well-meaning university VP have invited the represenative of Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin or Saddam Hussein at the height of their regime's mass murders/genocides?

Inviting a US Senator (and TN's two senators have been quite involved with Darfur/Sudan and would more than likely be interested in the concerns and/or support of their constituents on this issue), a represenative of the White House or even someone from the State Dept. would have a much higher chance of achieving something worthwhile for the people of Darfur and raising awareness about the genocide there.

Btw, in the case of the people in Darfur in need of humanitarian aid, it is this diplomat's government that is culpuable if not outright responsible for the hinderance of humanitarian aid delievery to those in need. As Mark Leon Goldberg notes in the "American Prospect",

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=9390
According to Eric Reeves, a Bard College professor who has written extensively on the conflict in Sudan for The Washington Post and other publications and testified before Congress, the central government in Khartoum has devised a policy of targeting foreign humanitarian workers in Darfur. “Khartoum has ambitious plans for accelerating the obstruction of humanitarian access by means of orchestrated violence and insecurity,” explains Reeves, “including the use of targeted violence against humanitarian aid workers.” To back up his claim, Reeves cites well-placed intelligence sources and relays outrageous accusations by government officials that aid organizations are running guns for the rebels.

Reeves’ contention is also supported by news accounts of a surge in armed attacks against foreign humanitarian workers in Darfur since the second week in March. On March 15, that new front apparently opened when Janjaweed militiamen carjacked a convoy of United Nations trucks driven by Sudanese UN contractors delivering aid to a refugee camp in west Darfur. They let the drivers live, but instructed them to tell their employers that it was now open season on foreigners in the province. Two days later, the UN envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, ordered his foreign staff in west Darfur to relocate to the relatively secure confines of the region’s capital city.

To be sure, the central government tries to portray the Janjaweed as bandits beyond Khartoum’s control. But collusion between the Janjaweed and the government of Sudan has been a hallmark of a two-and-a-half-year genocidal campaign that has made refugees of 2 million Darfurians and claimed the lives of some 300,000 people. In January 2005, Antonio Cassese, a past president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, led a UN fact-finding team in Darfur that found evidence of a criminal back channel between Janjaweed commanders and the Sudanese government. The report further alleges that Khartoum entered into a joint criminal conspiracy with the Janjaweed to purge the non-Arab population of Darfur.
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Thank you again for posting about Darfur and raising awareness about what is happening there.

I haven't finished writing my report on the event for the university's news site, but I can tell you it was a powerful event. No, it won't change the ambassador's tune. No, by itself it won't stop the killing in Darfur. But one of the university's soccer players is a Sudanese refugee. He spoke before the ambassador and, staring straight at the ambassador, verbally dressed him down and declared, staring at the ambassador: "I want you to get a good look at me because this is the future. The people that you have oppressed ... will go back and build a better Sudan."

His quote was actually longer and better than that, but that's what I remember without looking at the tape.

The Amb. was also confronted by a "truth squad" of three Sudanese refugees now living in Nashville who offered to respond and "tell if what he [the amb.] is saying is true."

I am glad the event was a powerful experience for those who attended. May we all hope those who witnessed the "truth squad" and the brave young Sudanese refugee are moved enough by the power of their testimony to take political action. Because at this point, the American people getting involved and pressuring their government to do more is the only thing that will save Darfur. Not the UN, not the African Union, but the American people, the most generous and powerful group of citizens in the world.
Thank you again for highlighting the genocide in Darfur and what is happening in Sudan.