Thursday, April 21,1988AThe Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
Journalist talks of his imprisonment in Sudan
By Tracy Hamm
Reporter
Even though he* knew he would
face imprisonment, a former jour
nalist in the north African country
of Sudan insisted on relating the
starvation and political conflict in
the country.
Michael Kilungson talked
Wednesday night about his experi
ences reporting the famine and civil
war in Sudan during a program
sponsored by the Texas A&M chap
ter of Amnesty International.
Kilungson, who now has political
asylum in the United States, was tor
tured and imprisoned by the Suda
nese government because of stories
he smuggled to the British Broad
casting Corp. describing the condi
tions of the people.
“The people were walking skele
tons and many were dying from star
vation,” he said. “I had to tell the
truth about what was happening.”
Journalists are responsible to the
government in Sudan, so they are
expected to write only favorable sto
ries about the government, Kilung
son said.
“As long as you do what the gov
ernment says, you have no prob
lems,” he said. “If you are Sudanese
you are supposed to protect the gov
ernment, but I recorded history.”
The famine in Sudan is worse
than in Ethiopia because it has not
been publicized, he said. Vehicles’
passage is blocked because of the
civil war. The roads are mined and
planes trying to fly in food are Shot
down, he said.
“I have seen people dying almost
every hour,” he said. “People were
lying along the roads waiting for
food from the government which
was not coming.”
Kilungson explained that the civil
war is causing many people to suf
fer. The conflict in Sudan is between
people of African origin who want
Sudan to become an African country
and the Arabs who rule the country,
he said.
After Kilungson released stories
about the conditions in Sudan, he
was warned by the government
about his actions.
“I was told to keep quiet and if I
did it again I was in big trouble,” he
said. “But, I had to make my own
contribution and make sure the out
side world knew what was happe
ning.”
Students square off over question
of A&M divestment in South Africa
By Holly Becka
Reporter
A debate is never a calm thing,
and Wednesday’s discussion be
tween Texas A&M’s Students
Against Apartheid and Young Con
servatives ol Texas concerning the
question “Is divestment a desirable
course for A&M to pursue?” was an
example.
Two SAA representatives, David
Luckenbach and J.J. Martinez, took
the stand that A&M needs to with
draw its $3.3 million investments in
South Af rica to produce results.
“Anyone can say apartheid is bad
or evil, but unless you try to stop it,
you utter weak, hypocritical words,”
Martinez, a freshman business-fi
nance major, said. “Ask how to help,
and I’ll tell you ‘divest.’ We feed in
money that supports apartheid.”
Luckenbach said even the threat
of divestment causes a change,
which might make the white govern
ment push for human rights.
“We need to pull out of South Af
rica, and make them (the govern
ment) weak so they will push for re
form,” Luckenbach, a freshman
political science major, said.
On the flip side were Dick Lonqu-
ist and James Cecil, representatives
of vcrr.
“America needs to invest in South
Africa, provide economic aid and
loans,” Lonquist, a senior petroleum
engineering major, said. “Pulling
out takes away positive influence.
We can’t have models for a constitu
tional democracy leaving.”
Cecil agreed, and said U.S. cor
porations benefited black workers.
“U.S. corporations provide a
chance for blacks to make progress,
and the white government is forced
to recognize them as a political
force,” he said. “Under the ‘Sullivan
Principle,’ (a work program first im
plemented in 1977), blacks were
trained and educated, trade unions
were recognized, and there was an
improved quality of life because of
pensions, health care and housing.”
Luckenbach said only one percent
of the blacks in South Africa are in
fluenced by the Sullivan Principle,
and apartheid has not been weak
ened because of the principle.
“The Sullivan Principle hasn’t
produced a change,” he said. “There
is no concrete evidence apartheid
has been weakened. It’s more logical
to assume divestment would affect
more people, and more than sanc
tions (would).”
Martinez said the United States is
South Africa’s number one trade
partner and investor, and therefore,
change would occur by divesting.
Lonquist retorted, saying the Sul
livan Principles were a good exam
ple of Americans promoting the
democratic form of government.
“Democracy is easier to under
stand while you sit here with five
dollars in your pocket, rather than
none,” he said. “If we invest, we
show the blacks work and produc
tion. It’s a good example. If we di
vest, the South African government
and private investors buy the Ameri
can companies for four cents on a
dollar, and America loses out. The
South African whites get it.”
Luckenbach compared the South
African government to the German
Nazi Regime. He said even the
prime minister of South Africa said
Nazis and the Botha government
were “brothers under the sun.”
“No Western measures were
taken then,” Luckenbach said. “We
allowed what happened to happen.
We shouldn’t just stand back this
time.”
Lonquist said Luckenbach’s paral
lel was like comparing apples to
oranges.
The debate was moderated by po
litical science professor Dr. Norman
Luttbeg. He posed questions to the
representatives.
In answer to Luttbeg’s question.
“Are the universities that have di
vested ill-informed?” Luckenbach
said definitely not.
“There have been 85 universities
— one half of a billion dollars — that
(have) divested, including Harvard
and Yale,” he said. “I think they
have investigated it as well as, if not
better than, us, and made the right
decision. I think we should follow.”
Lxmquist said he doesn’t think the
universities are misinformed, but di
vestment depends on the goals of
the university’s funds.
Answering Luttbeg’s last question,
“Is divestment an ineffective case
but morally right, or effective but
morally wrong?” Cecil said it was
morally wrong and ineffective to
withdraw support, while Lucken
bach said it was effective and morally
correct.
“By investing, we support,” Luck
enbach said. “By divesting, we don’t.
Whether or not it’s effective, it is still
morally right. No matter what politi
cal affiliation, what’s right is right.”
After both groups entertained a
few audience questions, Lonquist
closed in reply to “Should A&M di
vest?” with a strong stand.
“Divestment doesn’t stop apart
heid,” he said. “We should invest to
make an influence.”
On March 14, 1986, Kilungson
was imprisoned because of his at
tempts to expose the famine among
the people.
He was beaten daily and almost
starved to death during his two-
month imprisonment. The govern
ment demanded that he reveal the
spies who had assisted him or to turn
over a device on which they claimed
he sent his broadcasts to the BBC, he
said.
“It is amazing that a person can go
two days without food,” Kilungson
said. “Eventually, I was brought
food, but I shared it with others who
were dying.”
Kilungson described how he was
forced to watch other people be tor
tured and killed. He and the other
prisoners had to carry away the dead
bodies after people were executed or
collapsed in the cell.
Since the BBC and several embas
sies knew of his imprisonment, the
government did not execute him,
Kilungson said. Representatives of
the BBC and Amnesty International
tried to visit Kilungson in April.
Kilungson was released on May
12, 1986 and instructed to write a
statement to the BBC that he was all
right and had been treated well by
the Sudanese government, he said.
After friends convinced him that
he must leave the country, Kilung
son escaped to Uganda where Am
nesty International and Red Cross
representatives were waiting, he
said. Kilungson described how he
used cigarettes and beer to gain the
trust of the border guards so that he
could cross into Uganda.
Kilungson moved on to Kenya
and worked for the BBC while he re
cuperated from the many medical
problems created by his treatment
during imprisonment, he said.
Kilungson then applied for politi
cal asylum in the United States.
“My name and my cause were well
known, so I had no problems getting
into the United States,” he said.
Kilungson now lives in Houston
and is sponsored by the YMCA In
ternational Services Resettlement
Program.
Man left with
collection of
9 Cadillacs
ODESSA (AP) — Some people
collect baseball cards, some old coins
and some antiques. The oil industry
boom-that-went-bust, you might say,
has made H.C. “Brownie” Brown a
collector of Cadillacs by default.
Brown, owner of Brown Well
Service & Supply Co., has been a
“Cadillac man” for a great many of
the more than 40 years he’s been in
Odessa operating his oilfield service
and supply business. During the
“good years,” Brown provided all of
his salesmen with Cadillacs to cover
their wide-ranging territories.
“We needed good, sturdy, de
pendable cars that we didn’t have to
worry about,” he said, noting they’ve
never had to do much work on any
of the cars.
Today, Brown has about nine Ca
dillacs, ranging from a 1959 model
to a 1978 model. A 1979 Ford LTD
sticks out like a sore thumb as it sits
next to a near-classic maroon 1959
Cadillac Eldorado Fleetwood with its
distinctive soaring rear fins.
The 1959 Fleetwood has 99,069
actual miles on it, and there’s a 1977
2-door Biarritz that shows more
than 119,000 miles on the odometer.
Another 1977 2-door Eldorado
shows more than 74,000 miles.
Correction
A cutline accompanying a pho
tograph on Page 1 of Wednes
day’s Battalion incorrectly identi
fied Democratic state Sen. Kent
Caperton as a Republican.
Caperton — who was honorary
ringmaster for Tarzan Zerbini’s
Circus — was shown in the photo
graph with an elephant rather
than a donkey. But representa
tives from Caperton’s office as
sured The Battalion on Wednes
day that the senator has not
changed parties.
In addition, the photograph
was taken on Tuesday, not
Wednesday, as the cutline stated.
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