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The Sudanese civil war has generated a vast amount of
propaganda and disinformation. The intervention in Sudan by
foreign powers, especially the United States, and by civil
groups with partisan religious and political motivations, has
exacerbated and prolonged a tragic conflict by the deliberate
and cynical manufacture of blatantly manufactured
distortions, lies and hoaxes.

A recent and archetypal example of this process was the
manipulation of the image of Sudan for personal and
propaganda purposes in the campaign surrounding a woman
calling herself Kola Boof. (1) The author of ''Long Train to
the Redeeming Sin: Stories of African Women'', Ms
Boof's "sudden" appearance on the Internet "several months
ago" was noted by ''The New York Times'' in December 2002. (2)
Ms Boof came to prominence when she claimed that she had been
made the subject of a Sudanese government fatwa issued by a
Sudanese diplomat in London, Mr Jamal Ibrahim, and Dr Hasan
Turabi, the former speaker of the Sudanese Parliament,
allegedly sentencing her to death for being opposed to the
Khartoum government and blaspheming Islam. Ms Boof claimed
that she had been sentenced to be beheaded. These claims were
carried by several media outlets. (3) She claimed that the
fatwa had been issued in September 2002 by the Sudanese
government, and that this had been conveyed to her by the
SPLA, who in turn claimed to have had it confirmed by a Mr
Tanzim Wasti, Mr Ibrahim's secretary and by Islamist activist
Sheikh Omar Bakri.

On the basis of these and other previous claims Ms Boof
quickly emerged as a darling of the anti-Sudan campaign, and
was embraced by activists such as Joe Madison and Maria Sliwa
of "FreeWorldNow". (4) The ''New York Times'' revealed how
impressionable members of African-American society came
forward to help her campaign because of having read her
claims as publicised on the Internet. Demonstrations were
held in her name. The Association for Women's Rights in
Development (AWD), for example, arranged simultaneous
demonstrations in New York city, Los Angeles and Washington-
DC on 7 November 2002 to "protest" the "Sept. 26th death
sentence from Sudan ordering that Black womanist writer Kola
Boof is to be beheaded". The AWID protest literature spoke
of "our beloved Queen Kola". (5)

Building on her anti-Khartoum theme, Ms Boof also stated in
interviews for example: "I am a political activist, a soldier
in Dr. John Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Army". (6)
It subsequently emerged that she had made a number of other
interesting claims. She claimed, for example, that she was
the daughter of an Egyptian archaeologist and a Somalian
princess, and that she had lived in Omdurman, Sudan, until
she was 10 or 11, in 1978. Ms Boof claimed that in 1978 "my
parents...were murdered for speaking up against slavery and
the brutish Islamic government of Sudan". (7) She claimed
that "murahleen" tribesmen had killed them in front of her.
She claims that her Egyptian grandmother then put her up for
adoption and that through UNICEF she travelled to London and
was taken in by an Ethiopian family who eventually gave her
up because, she said, they thought she might be a witch. She
says she was then adopted by a black family in Washington-DC
in 1980. (8)

Ms Boof also claimed that the Sudan People's Liberation Army
was in existence as early as 1977, and that as a little girl
she had attended SPLA meetings.

The Mundane Truth

Every one of these claims unravelled under examination. The
facts were far less interesting. Mr Jamal Ibrahim, the deputy
chief of mission at the Sudanese embassy in Britain, wrote an
article critical of Ms Boof and claims that she had
previously made, an article published in ''Al- Sharq Al-Awsat''
in September 2002. In this article he criticised
her "falsehood and dishonesty" in previous claims. Ms Boof
subsequently claimed that this article was in fact a fatwa,
inaccurately stating that fatwa is "a contract for
assassination". (9)

Unlike Ms Boof, ''The New York Times'' took the trouble to
confirm the claims made to her by the SPLA in London. The
newspaper spoke to Sheikh Omar Bakri, a senior judge of the
Islamic sharia court in London, and someone noted for his
forthright views. Ms Boof claimed that Bakri had been party
to the fatwa. He stated that "nobody issued a fatwa against
Kola Boof". (10) The Islamic judge went on to state: "I know
she was criticized by a Muslim official in London, but he
isn''t in a position to issue a fatwa." This was confirmed by
Mr Ibrahim himself, who said the claim was "bizarre and
baseless" and that: "My own view is that she wants to make
use of this to help her in selling her books. It is a bizarre
exercise in public relations." (11) Mr Ibrahim did criticise
Ms Boof in his article, and there would appear to be
considerable grounds for legitimate criticism, but as ''The
New York Times'' observed "criticism isn''t the same as a
fatwa". It would appear that the SPLA in London deliberately
misrepresented the issue.

Unraveling the Lies

Ms Boof's claims about her early life are similarly flawed.
She alleged that murahleen tribesmen killed her parents in
Omdurman. These horsemen are only found in southern Kordofan,
several hundred miles away from Omdurman. It is the
equivalent in American terms of being attacked in a
Washington-DC suburb by a band of Oklahoma cattlemen. She
also claimed that the SPLA were in existence in 1977. It is
also a simple matter of record that the SPLA was founded only
in late 1983. (12) Ms Boof's claim that her father was
murdered in 1978 for speaking "up against...the brutish
Islamic government of Sudan" similarly jars with reality. In
1978 Sudan was resolutely secular, governed by President
Jaafar Nimeiri, a close American ally whose government was
one of the largest recipients of international American
economic and military assistance. The present Islamic
government in Sudan only came to power in 1989.

Ms Boof made a number of other claims about herself. In
August 2002, she claimed to have been shot at outside Los
Angeles by Arab Muslim gunmen, and that she shot back. Boof
further claimed to be under FBI protection. The ''New York
Times'' reported that the FBI "had no knowledge of Ms. Boof".
(13)

Ms Boof was also said by ''The New York Times'' to have "told
flamboyant stories about her life in Egypt and Morocco,
where, she said she was a B-movie actress and a high level
prostitute, operating in luxury hotels..." It was during this
time in Morocco that Ms Boof also claimed to have had an
affair with Osama bin Laden in 1996. She elaborated on this
alleged affair in a January 2003 statement when she claimed
that it was a four month sexual relationship in Morocco. She
had met bin Laden in a Senegalese restaurant "which was the
only place in Marrakech where they knew how to cook lion's
meat" (one of her "favorite" dishes). She claimed that she
subsequently became "Osama's mistress" and that she
had "lounged about in silk and diamonds". (14) One of the
most watched men in the world, there is no record whatsoever
of bin Laden being in Morocco in 1996.

Boof has also made other jarring claims, speaking, for
example, about "rich Palestinians who have black women slaves
working in their kitchens, their tongues cut out of their
heads." (15)

Ms Boof's somewhat elaborate claims began to be actively
challenged by the end of 2002. The ''New York Times'' examined
her allegations in some depth. (16) In an interview with the
newspaper, Ms Boof admitted to being manipulative: "I can''t
deny that I''m a conniving person...I have to manipulate the
system, and I don''t mind if you publish that..." The
newspaper discredited the fatwa claim. Ms Boof was dropped by
her publisher at the end of 2002. And, despite having been
warmly embraced and extensively publicised by the anti-Sudan
lobby within the United States and elsewhere, Ms Boof's
claims soon became even too outrageous for all but the
diehard fringe. The SPLA has distanced itself from Ms Boof.
The ''New York Times'' reported that the SPLA "embraced her and
then backed away, as Ms. Boof's personal, if not literary
credentials have been called into question."

Deng Ajak, secretary-general of the anti-government Sudan
Commission for Human Rights, stated that he was initially
supportive of Ms Boof "but when she said in one of her own e-
mails to me that she had a brief encounter of dating Osama
bin Laden, I said to my colleagues that we need to pull the
plug on this one". He stated that "This could be one of the
most impressively spun and choreographed pieces of fiction
that one could imagine". Nevertheless, Ms Boof claimed
that "the Southern Blacks of my homeland" have accorded her
the title of "Queen Kola". (17)

The ''New York Times'' reported that Ms Silwa has
also "distanced" herself from Kola Boof's claims, quoting her
as stating: "I don''t think it behooves our human rights
interest to connect ourselves with someone who is
inconsistent and can''t prove her identity." (18) Joe Madison
continues to publicise Ms Boof.

Conclusion

Ms Boof and her claims provide a clear example of how
patently false and self-serving lies about Sudan have been
accepted at face value and publicised by the anti-Sudan
industry. She has sold more of her books as a result of these
claims. Ms Boof has deliberately sought publicity, both
personal and commercial on the basis of these assertions.

The pattern is a sad one. Outrageous claims are manufactured
and disseminated widely. Eventually allegations are exposed
as either exaggerated or utterly groundless, or collapse in
the face of their own absurdity and self-contradictions. All
but the most bigoted or partisan of their disseminators
retreat into a discrete silence - but never have the honesty
or integrity to admit their complicity in a hoax, or to
publicise the falsity of their previous articles. The miasma
of defamatory claims against Sudan is once again added to,
and only a short time elapses before yet another hoax or lie
is launched and credulously disseminated by a media that
never seems to learn the lessons of its previous blunders.

Notes:

1. There appears to be some doubt as to her original name. On
one of her websites, she says that her name is Naima Bint
Harith ("The Woman is Dangerous: Biography of Kola Boof", at
http://www.kolaboof.com/dangerous.htm). On another of her
websites, she gives her name as "Naima Alu Kolbookek "("Kola
Boof", at http://authors.aalbc.com/kola_boof.htm). In an
interview with ''The New York Times'' she states that her given
name is Naima Bahri (Julie Salmon, "Mystery Enshrouds Kola
Boof, Writer and Internet Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11
December 2002). In her 2003 book, ''Diary of a Lost Girl'', Ms
Boof says that she calls herself Kola Boof "in honour of
Clara Bow and Betty Boop - I''m a silent movie buff, you see"
(http://authors.aalbc.com/kola_boof.htm).

2. Julie Salmon, "Mystery Enshrouds Kola Boof, Writer and
Internet Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11 December 2002.

3. See, for example, "''Anti-Islam'' Books Spark Fatwa: Author
Speaks Out Despite Warning From Bin Laden", News Article by
World Daily Net, 9 November 2002. This article claimed that
Sudanese diplomat Jamal Ibrahim had issued a fatwa calling
for her to be beheaded. It also claimed that Ms Boof
was "under the protection of U.S. government agents". On 7
November 2002, CNSNews.com claimed in an article
entitled "Islam, Religion of Peace: Sudan's Threat to Behead
Author Sparks US Protests", that there was a "Sudanese
government death warrant calling for the beheading of best-
selling author Kola Boof", and that this had prompted anti-
Sudanese demonstrations in Washington, New York and Los
Angeles. An article in ''The Washington Times'' claimed that Ms
Boof was "sentenced to death for denouncing the oppression of
women under Islamic law and the enslavement of non-Muslim
black Africans in Sudan" ("Eminem's Raunchy Rap", ''The
Washington Times'', 15 November 2002). The ''Village Voice'' has
also echoed her claims stating, for example, that "Prominent
Sudanese writer Kola Boof has recently taken refuge in the US
after death threats in Sudan, "Taslima Nassrin Speaks
(Still)", ''The Village Voice'' (New York), 13-19 November
2002. The Russian newspaper, ''Pravda'' also repeated Ms Boof's
claims ("Kola Boof, Some Lady", ''Pravda'', Moscow, 26 July
2002).

4. Madison, for example, provided Ms Boof with considerable
coverage on his radio program, a program already noted for
its anti- Sudanese propaganda.

5. "Kola Boof Fights Back!", Press Release by The Association
for Women's Rights in Development, November 2002.

6. "Kola Boof Surrenders", Interview by Nathan Lewis, at
http://www.nathanlewis.com/artist_o..../body_kola_sur
renders-interview.htm

7. Ibid.

8. "''Anti-Islam'' Books Spark Fatwa: Author Speaks Out Despite
Warning From Bin Laden", News Article by World Daily Net, 9
November 2002.

9. The ''New York Times'' correctly pointed out that far from
being a murder contract, a fatwa "is a juristic opinion
issued by a Muslim scholar to address a specific problem,
that can be related to political, economic or social issues",
("Mystery Enshrouds Kola Boof, Writer and Internet
Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11 December 2002).

10. Julie Salmon, "Mystery Enshrouds Kola Boof, Writer and
Internet Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11 December 2002.

11. Ibid.

12. See, for example, the 1983 SPLM Manifesto, published
in ''Horn of Africa'', Volume VIII, Number 1, New Jersey, 1985

13. Julie Salmon, "Mystery Enshrouds Kola Boof, Writer and
Internet Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11 December 2002.

14. "Who's Afraid of Kola Boof?". Statement by Kola Boof, 3
January 2003, available at
http://poetwomen.50megs.com/custom2.html

15. Ibid.

16. Julie Salmon, "Mystery Enshrouds Kola Boof, Writer and
Internet Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11 December 2002.

17. "Statement by Kola Boof", ''North African Book Exchange'',
11 December 2002.

18. Julie Salmon, "Mystery Enshrouds Kola Boof, Writer and
Internet Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11 December 2002. Ms
Sliwa does, however, continue to publicise a number of
similarly discredited claims about Sudan, including
allegations of "slave redemption" still made by groups such
as Christian Solidarity International.

Source: The DrumCollective