EW: The Sudanese people and the government are both very fair to women in general. This is not the Taliban regime. They have some women in high-ranking posts in the government, so this has not been a problem. I think this has been an advantage in interviewing female victims, who represent 60 percent of the population. They also make up most of the population of the refugee camps, since the men are off fighting or dead. I really enjoy reporting about women and I feel it’s an area that has been under-covered for a long time.

TL: In the American media the Sudan has had to compete with the presidential election, the tsunami, and the war in Iraq. Do you find it difficult to get your stories in the paper?

EW: Not at all. My paper, and my editors Phil Bennett and David Hoffman, have encouraged me every time I messaged that I was about to pack my tent and go to Darfur. They have improved the stories by talking about them with me and giving them good space when I filed.

TL: Reporters, including you, often write that 70,000 people have been killed in the Sudan, a number taken from a months-old United Nations report that only records deaths from disease and hunger among those Sudanese who managed to make it into refugee camps. Some academics claim that the numbers killed are in the hundreds of thousands. How do you try to evaluate these numbers, and do they effectively convey the magnitude of what’s happening on the ground?

EW: Truth is the first causality of war. So this issue has been murky. The government says the numbers are much lower than 70,000, rebels say they are higher. The truth is, no one knows. [The Post’s] UN reporter just did a good story on this issue. Many times I try to say tens of thousands have died because that’s something all parties agree on.

TL: Finally, if I’m a reporter leaving for my first assignment in Sudan, what are three things I shouldn’t leave home without?

EW: Ha. Great question. Since there is no electricity or frequent outages, a head lamp, also lots of bug spray — since there are many late nights writing and lots of bugs glued to your head lamp — and of course your laptop, with solar panels or generator — is that four?

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