Jimmy Carter wore a button-down shirt in Khartoum. It was a sultry morning and the sun shone on the Nile as the noisy city came to life. Carter was in the Sudanese capital to oversee the 2010 elections that were certain to extend the rule of autocrat Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who was facing international charges of crimes against humanity.
Carter was undeterred. He believed that the first multi-party elections in decades – no matter how flawed – would bring the war-torn country closer to democracy. With bright blue eyes and pressed trousers, the former president, a wanderer accustomed to the planet's cruel and harsh fates, offered coffee and pastries in his hotel room. He was optimistic, but knew exactly what could happen when leaders with outsized ambitions controlled holy men and armies.
I was in town covering the story for The Times, along with a representative from the Carter Center called and invited me to breakfast.
Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, was president when I was a teenager. I knew him well from TV—that hairline, the Southern accent, and the disarming determination facing a post-Watergate world of gas pipelines, inflation, etc Hostage taking in Iran and the feeling that America was on the rocks. His presidency had been heavily vilified. But his second job as a humanitarian worker, house builder, Guinea worm exterminator and Nobel Peace Prize winner was a portrait of perseverance and grace.
Carter, who attended the 1976 Democratic National Convention with his wife Rosalynn, was heavily reviled for his presidency amid several crises but continued to shine as a humanitarian.
(Associated Press)
A staff member greeted me as I entered the hotel room. She disappeared quietly. Carter came in and sat on a small couch. Coffee was poured. A Dane slipped a piece of fruit onto a plate. Fishing boats bustled in the currents below, and tea ladies dressed in colorful feathers stoked fires under blackened cauldrons in the corners.
Carter spoke about Sudan – its opportunities and threats and the fact that the country's south, with its vast oil reserves, would hold an independence referendum on secession from the north in the coming months. Would Bashir give up the South to be ruled by a former enemy in a cowboy hat who ruled over an area with less than 100 miles of paved roads and a population that was 80% illiterate?
Carter knew the personalities and pitfalls, the egos and secrets, the cards and books. He had traveled through Sudan; Years earlier he had negotiated a ceasefire his civil war. He always went to the source, to places of refugees, poverty, illness and despair. To see and bear witness, much like the Bible school teacher he had back in Plains, Georgia. He didn't know what would happen. But he had hope.
The sun rose higher in the mid-morning sky. The room became quiet.
“They are based in Cairo,” he said.
“Yes.”
He leaned closer.
“Tell me something,” he said. “What happens?”
I felt like I was being interviewed by a man who had read countless dossiers and was familiar with the rise and fall of power. It was intimidating and refreshing at the same time.
The unrest and anger in the Arab world was approaching a breaking point that would erupt months later. Tunisia would spark nationwide protests. An uprising in Egypt would overthrow President Hosni Mubarak. The tremors would spread from Syria and Yemen as well as from Libya to Bahrain. When we met, we had little idea what would happen, but the Middle East that Carter had traveled for so long was about to be shaken again.
Above all, he wanted to talk about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the possibility, however remote, of progress toward reconciliation on this front. In 1978, Carter held talks at Camp David with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat that would lead to a historic peace treaty. Carter believed at the time – apparently wrongly given the problems ahead – that the pact would lead to greater regional stability. And he hoped it would one day lead to a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
Carter celebrates with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (right) in 1979 after they signed a peace treaty that Carter helped their nations achieve.
(Associated Press)
Carter was later criticized for his opinion on the issue. Many Jews and others were angered by his 2006 book. “Palestine peace, not apartheid” what they saw as an image of Israel as an aggressor and excessive sympathy towards the Palestinians. Carter defended the book as well as his meetings with Hamas, which critics say boosted the reputation of the militant group, which the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization. Carter later told an audience in Cairo that apartheid is “the exact description of what is currently happening in Palestine.”
But his vision remained focused, his commitment to peace unwavering. Three years later in his book “We can have peace in the Holy Land” Carter wrote: “Anyone committed to peacemaking in the Middle East will inevitably make mistakes and suffer frustrations.” Everyone must overcome the presence of hatred and bigotry, as well as the memories of terrible tragedies. Everyone has to deal with painful decisions and failures in negotiations. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the time is ripe for peace in the region.”
It was questionable back then and today it seems no less simpler.
Carter had already been in hospice care before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people. Israel responded with a sustained bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities there.
The Carter Center released one Statement late last year saying: “The violence must stop now. There is no military solution to this crisis, only a political one that recognizes the common humanity of Israelis and Palestinians, respects the human rights of all and paves a path for peaceful coexistence of both societies.”
It would have been nice to hear Carter's own voice, his southern determination, and the wisdom of a traveler.
What impressed me most in that hotel room in Khartoum was his empathy and his insatiable need for knowledge. He was tireless in tracking down threads and unfolding scenarios, following the big maneuvers and going where necessary – for example, to Sudan, where he had landed years earlier to try to stop the fighting between Bashir's troops and to end the rebels who later rose to power in a new country. Bashir was overthrown in 2019 and Sudan is once again in turmoil.
It's difficult to fix the hard corners of the world. Finding righteousness amidst the stain of transgression. Carter's gift was his ability to wonder; Know the bitter truths and imagine something better.