MERIP Media Resource List, August 4, 2005

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topics:
- Unrest in Sudan
- Iraqi constitution writing process
- Militant Islamism

KHALID M. MEDANI
Khalid M. Medani is assistant professor of politics at Oberlin College and a member of the editorial committee of Middle East Report . He has published extensively on the political economy of Islamic fundamentalism and civil war in Sudan and is currently in Khartoum. He said today: "Garang's untimely death has consequences not only for the Darfur negotiations, but it has the potential to change the balance of political power with important consequences for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed by the SPLM and the Khartoum government. Garang's death is also important because he was the most pro-unity statesmen in the South. His successor, Salva Kiir, has indicated his support for unity, but it is well-known that he is far less committed to that option than Garang was. Of equal importance is the unprecedented violence in the streets of Greater Khartoum."

ISAM AL-KHAFAJI
Isam al-Khafaji, a contributing editor of Middle East Report and professor at the University of Amsterdam, participated in State Department workshops on the "Future of Iraq" in 2002. In his current capacity as an advisor to the Iraqi constitution writing process, he supports a bicameral legislative system. He said today: "This is a constitution of the victors, not of the Iraqi people."

ZAINAB SALBI
Zainab Salbi is the founder and CEO of Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty into self-sufficient and active citizens. She said today: "The liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein should not mean the restriction of rights for women. Unfortunately, this might be the case if the new Iraqi constitution allows broad interpretations of Islam to govern women's lives. At stake are issues that affect women most directly, such as the right to custody of children, the right to inheritance and the right to divorce on the same grounds as men. The time after conflict provides women with a window of opportunity to redress past inequities and expand women's rights. This window will quickly close for women ­and for all of Iraq ­unless constitution drafters agree on strengthening and protecting women's rights."

NATHAN BROWN
Nathan Brown is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is currently on leave from his position as professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. He is an expert on issues of constitutionalism, the rule of law and democracy in the Arab world. He said today: “The United States has now made the August 15 deadline for approving an Iraqi constitution an end in itself. By doing so, it has undermined most of what the constitutional process was supposed to achieve.”

SALWA ISMAIL
Salwa Ismail is a senior lecturer in Middle East politics at the University of Exeter where she works on Islamist movements and Islamic political thought. Her recent publications include Rethinking Islamist Politics: Culture, the State and Islamism (I.B. Tauris, 2003) and "Being Muslim: Islam, Islamism and Identity Politics" in Government and Opposition , 2004. Commenting on the increasing public interest in why some young Muslim men turn to terrorism, she said today: "In order to understand what drives young men to join radical groups it is crucial to approach militant Islamists as political actors who are shaped by the social and political settings in which they are active."

Background :

+ Dan Connell, "Peace in Sudan: Prospect or Pipe Dream?" Middle East Report 228, Fall 2003. http://www.merip.org/mer/mer228/228_connell.html

+ Interview with Isam al-Khafaji, "Iraq is Not a Lost Battle," Middle East Report 228, Fall 2003. http://www.merip.org/mer/mer228/228_khafaji.html

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