The Psychologically Defeated…!!
By Al-Tahir Satty
When the Bedouin student failed his composition exam due to poor concentration, the headmaster summoned him and asked him to talk about the spring season. The boy began: “Spring is one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. Pastures become plentiful, allowing camels to feed well. The camel is a wild animal that endures thirst and is known as the ship of the desert…”
The headmaster cut him off and told him to leave spring aside and talk about industry in Japan. The boy said: “Yes, Japan is famous for car manufacturing. But our people travel by camel, and the camel is a wild animal that endures thirst, known as the ship of the desert…”
For the third time, the headmaster interrupted him and asked him to forget Japanese industry and speak about the computer. The boy responded: “The computer is a useful device, but it doesn’t exist in the desert. What we have plenty of are camels, and the camel is a wild animal that endures thirst, and we call it the ship of the desert…”
The headmaster became furious and expelled him. The boy then sent a complaint to the Minister of Education, writing: “Your Excellency, I submit my grievance against my school headmaster, after having been patient with him like the camel — and as you know, Your Excellency, the camel is a wild animal that endures thirst…”
He forgot the complaint entirely.
This was exactly the case with “Somood’s” leader, Khalid Omer Yousif, during his Sky News Arabia interview. When I saw him stuttering for six full seconds in response to a sudden question, I couldn’t believe it. I went back to the channel’s website to double-check. It was indeed the longest stutter in the history of speech.
People in my country, even non–Arabic speakers, might stutter for a second or two when surprised, while they reorient their thoughts. But six seconds? That’s one of the oddities of this era—worthy of the Guinness World Records.
Back to the Bedouin student…
The moment Khalid began speaking with the eloquence of Al-Mutanabbi about Dr. Jibril Ibrahim’s qualities—his ideological affiliation and his motivations for war—the anchor suddenly asked: “And what about Dagalo?”
That was the moment of stuttering, confusion, and lost focus…the Bedouin-student moment.
What condemns Khalid Omer is not only the stutter, but what followed. In answering the question “What about Hemedti?”, he ignored Dagalo entirely and spoke instead about the Rapid Support Forces: how they were a product of the Bashir regime, born out of the army, endure hunger and thirst, and in the desert we call them the ship of the—well, you know the rest.
This evasiveness wasn’t due to lack of focus, like the Bedouin student, but because he cannot speak about Dagalo personally. Jibril, he said—not once but twice—is an “Islamist mercenary.” But what about Dagalo?
He and the Somood activists do not and will not speak of Dagalo except in ways that condemn those who created the RSF (the Islamists).
But those who currently sponsor Dagalo in Abu Dhabi, using his forces to kill Sudanese people and destroy Sudan—that part, Khalid and Somood activists will address only with stuttering, fumbling, and ultimately reverting to the Bedouin-student routine. Such is the state of the psychologically defeated.
If I were the interviewer, I would have asked him:
“Mr. Khalid, we know the RSF is a creation of the Bashir regime. We know Jibril is, as you say, an Islamist mercenary. And Burhan, Kabashi, Atta, Jaber, Minawi, and everyone fighting the RSF—army and civilians alike—are all Islamists and mercenaries in your narrative. But what about the Dagalo family? And what is their relationship with the Al Nahyan family? Are they cousins, perhaps?”
At that point, Khalid wouldn’t just stutter. He would choke in terror.
