Awatif Ahmed Isshag ist meine persönliche Journalistin des Jahres:
A Darfur tree is her newsstand
People walk miles to read the sharp reports that 24-year-old Awatif Ahmed Isshag pens and posts outside her home.
EL FASHER, SUDAN — For Awatif Ahmed Isshag, covering Darfur is the story of her life.
Nearly a decade ago, at 14, Isshag started publishing a handwritten community newsletter about local events, arts and religion. Once a month she’d paste decorated pages to a large piece of wood and hang it from a tree outside her family’s home for passersby to read.
But after western Sudan plunged into bloodshed and suffering in 2003, Isshag’s publication took on a decidedly sharper edge, tackling issues such as the plight of refugees, water shortages, government inaction in the face of militia attacks, and sexual violence against women.
Her grass-roots periodical has become the closest thing that El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, has to a hometown newspaper. More than 100 people a day stop to check out her latest installments, some walking several miles from nearby displacement camps, she said.
“I feel I have a message to deliver to the community,” said Isshag, now all of 24 years old.
The petite reporter is an increasingly common sight around town, her notebook and pen in hand as she interviews local people for her articles. Last week she roamed El Fasher asking people how they felt about the International Criminal Court’s recent accusations against two war-crimes suspects in Darfur.
Critics have attempted to intimidate her and force her to shut down. Instead, Isshag is expanding this month with a new printed edition, enabling her to circulate for the first time beyond the neighborhood tree.
“She represents the only indigenous piece of journalism in Darfur,” said Simon Haselock, a media consultant with Africa Union in Khartoum. “She’s got energy and drive. It’s exactly what they need.”
Ganzer Artikel hier, in der Los Angeles Times.