Change Begins at Home?

"I am offering a vision for my country,” Ibrahim said. “I am telling my people that they are worth fighting for."

One of my old University of Missouri history professors, Professor Abdullahi Ali Ibrahim (who, btw, I really enjoyed and thought had a great spirit), is retiring this year. However, instead of enjoying leisure time, he is returning to his native Sudan to run for President. A life-long activist, Ibrahim hopes to help bring peace to the country... I wish him all the luck that I have to spare, and more, as it doesn't look like anything fair will be happening in Sudan anytime soon... Though, Ibrahim thinks I'm wrong, and I sincerely hope he's right:

To Ibrahim, Johnson is simply another negative thinker who is writing off Sudan’s ability to hold legitimate elections based on past precedents.

“This is the same apathy I see in Sudan – that nothing is going to happen,” he said. "The election that brought Bashir last time – this was not an election. This was completely controlled by the government. This was a one-man show."

This time, Ibrahim is sure things will be different. Because the Naivasha Agreement was an internationally brokered peace deal, he expects that the involvement of foreign governments will ensure that the 2010 election will be run fairly and provide a new direction for the country's ailing political system.

"The election is going to be the way to establish democracy and to see to the implementation of these nation-forming charters [of the Naivasha Agreement]," he said. “If (the National Congress Party) would rig it, we would fight it.”

Here's a quick video: