10.00.00:00

00:01

V/O

00:15

Parade of men wielding knives, in robes and turbans

Crowd shots, parade of tanks

From desert fighters to modern state. The voice of Sudan (?) care about one thing: Allah's people need a modern fighting force.

SIMULT

Man shouting over parade (subbed)

We have to raise the flag of Allah, this flag must fly high. And to keep the flag of Allah flying high we need force. And this is the force, these thousands of men and thousands of tanks.

00.27

More crowds

The third anniversary celebrations were the largest yet- a parade of military might that President al-Bashir needs to keep his fledgling Islamic state afloat. Its support for Iraq during the Gulf War and neighbours hostile to the growing Islamic power on their doorstep has left Sudan with few friends.

00.43

Yasser Arafat sat down in stands

PLO chairman Yasser Arafat was one of the few who did turn up.

00.50

More shots of the parade

The army's key role has been to unite hundreds of often rebellious tribes behind the Khartoum government, and it's in the non-Muslim's south that its venom has been most keenly felt.

01.09

Combat footage of the army in the field

Since toppling the elected government in '89, General Bashir has stepped up the campaign against the rebel SPLA forces in the south. Now, after many setbacks, victory seems a real prospect. Last month, the army re-took the SPLA headquarters in the town of Torit. It was the rebel forces last stronghold in the south.

01.29

Soldiers chanting and singing in files

The soldiers had reason to celebrate.

01.35

President Omar Al-Bashir speaking (subbed)

Thanks to Allah we have achieved victory in this battle and we hope it will convince the SPLA there's no reason to continue the war and they will not be able to achieve their goal. The perfect solution for this problem is through negotiation.

02.00

Women singing out of the window of a bus, men dancing in the streets

News of the army's victory in Torit quickly spilled over onto the streets of Khartoum, where it seemed not just a victory over the SPLA, but a victory over the West, too.

02.18

Men singing atop a bus

In the north, everyone believes the West supports the SPLA. The people believe the power of Islam has delivered this victory to them.

02.32

Overhead shot of Koranic school/mosque, and interiors

The clamour for Islam is echoed inside overcrowded Koranic schools, such as this one where children from the age of five learn the Koran by heart. It takes them four years, but it has to be learnt, because in the Sudan, it's the key to life ahead.

02.50

Shots of the daily life of a boy in Koranic school

Discipline is harsh. A typical day for boys like 14 year old Die Falama-Hout starts at four in the morning and lasts till late at night. The religious masters feed them twice a day, in the morning and at dusk. Each head boy has to wait in turn to collect the food for his dormitory, a helping of sorghum, Sudan's porridge-like staple. But although they're given the food now, they must wait several hours before they're allowed to eat it. It's a tough regime, but the school has more pupils than ever before.

03.27

Religious master Sheikh Eltahir el Badr speaks (subbed)

What we see now in this revival is only meeting the natural wishes of the Sudanese, and enhancing their link to Allah. Sudan will carry the torch of Islam to all countries, including your own.

03.56

Boys walking in school at night, Sudanese assembly

Shots of members of the Ikhwan

General Bashir's military government is only a convenient façade for the Islamic leaders who wield real power in this country. Little is known about them, other than that they belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, or the Ikhwan as they're known here. It's believed there are nine Ikhwan members. Although they make all the important decisions, they have no official positions, and hide behind other jobs. People like the British ambassador, Peter Streams, never know if they're talking to a real power broker or another official.

04.28

Peter Streams sits facing a Sudanese man in a white robe and turban

Streams: What hat were you wearing for Dakar, then? Which hat? Which of your responsibilities took you to Dakar?

Sudanese man: I mean, there are so many things.

04.35

Dr. Abdel Kadif Tijani of Khartoum University speaks

They have... rivals. Very strong political rivals. I think that was one of the reasons why the Ikhwan used to stay above ground, and to leave their programs be implemented and unfold themselves gradually. The programs are more important than the personalities.

05.02

Dr. Turabi giving speech to crowd of people

Dr. Turabi's bodyguard, armed with machine gun

But the real brains behind the regime is this man, Dr. Hassan Turabi, revered by his supporters but feared by his Arab neighbours. The charismatic Islamic leader is not short of enemies. He was recently attacked in Canada.

05.20

Crowd roars, Dr. Turabi continues to speak (subbed)

This attack was not aimed at me personally, and not because I was Sudanese. It was directed at me because I'm a symbol of the Islamic revival.

05.37

Cut back to Dr. Tijani

Turabi's followers say he's the man to lead the Islamic world.

04.06

Tijani speaks again

It needs a kind of moral courage. More than the wide and deep thinking. I think Dr. Turabi combines the two. He's got a very courageous character, morally he's very courageous, and he is ready to stand up and to challenge the traditional religious institutions inside the Islamic world.

06.04

Sudanese men wrestling in a dusty field

Infighting has long divided the Arab world. Sudan's call for more unity among Muslims has sparked fears of a popular Islamic revolution, and frightened its Arab neighbours who see their rule threatened. Turabi sees Sudan as a model for other Muslims.

06.30

Dr. Turabi speaks

The Islamic movement here has progressed much farther than in many other countries. And now it is the best example perhaps for Islamic movement. And all Islamic movements now look to Sudan as an example and are changing their traditional style, perhaps, and are adopting this comprehensive attitude to Islam and to social, political, and economic change.

06.58

Members of the Sudanese military at Koba, a prison, and shots of the prisoners

But not everyone shares Turabi's vision. Opposition is suppressed. Political parties are banned and newspapers are censored. 28 of an estimated 200 political prisoners were held in jails like Koba, a former British prison in Khartoum. On the day we visited, the military rulers had just announced an amnesty for political prisoners. 25 men were told they were free to go.

07.25

Series of former Sudanese prisoners speaking

Man 1: We tried to change the position in the Sudan.

Man 2: They accused me of using my office for communications, for the opposition, and they took me to military court, but they said that they have the right to do that.

Stucke (O/S): Politically, do you still oppose the system?

Man 1: No... no.

08.06

Shots of men behind bars

Death row, Sudan style. But these are regular jails for people who have been through the courts.

(man in uniform speaks to prisoners in Arabic)

Man in uniform (laughing): They killed four, not three! He said, four, not three.

Many others aren't even this fortunate, held in so-called ‘ghost houses', run by the security forces. There, the allegation is, most inmates are tortured. The claims are made by Amnesty International, who says they are a gross violation of human rights, but the government denies the allegations.

08.45

Dr. Abdalla Idris, Sudan Minister of Justice, speaks

You find a lot of things about torture and so on. Those who came here and went to see, they were convinced that there was not much of an abuse. I cannot say positively, not in a single case, there was abuse, naturally. No, there may be one case or two.

09.06`

Air shots of Sudanese fields, boys doing work in the fields

The government prefers to talk about its economic achievements. This year, Sudan's had a bumper harvest, thanks in part to the weather and major economic reforms attacking the country's massive debt.

09.22

Small Sudanese village

But the reality is that the war in the south continues to drain an already bankrupt state. Nearly two million have been driven north by the fighting and hunger. A fifth of Sudan's population need food aid this year. The government reluctantly accepts the thousands dumped here in Dar Assalam camp on its doorstep. Western aid workers can do little to help; their food's allowed in, but they're not. The government doesn't want them, either.

09.50

President Al-Bashir speaks (subbed)

We hope we can get rid of these organisations as soon as possible by removing the reasons for their presence here. Because the reason for the presence of the aid programme is the war going on in southern Sudan.

10.05

Members of the army in ceremonial presentation

But in war nothing's certain. The luck of Sudan's holy warriors might run out. In the meantime, more cadets swell the ranks of its army as it tries to extend its Islamic revolution elsewhere. In its ambition to see a pan-Islamic state, Sudan's accused of fostering ties with Islamic extremists all over the Muslim world. Swearing loyalty on the Koran could soon be a pledge to greater Islamic ambitions.

10.47

Dr. Turabi speaks

I have no doubt that the Islamic movement now is a strong movement of revival right across this world, everywhere. And I'm sure that those who are in power would like to stop this movement, have no future whatever, even if they ask for assistance from Europe or elsewhere, even if they resort to force. It's a matter of time.

11.00

Sudanese boy singing

Sudan's cry to the Islamic world might yet be realised.

11.12

END