Western interests in Sudan maintain pressure for Darfur breakaway
by M. S. Ahmed
(Sunday, March 4, 2007)
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"The selective measures being taken by the UN and international
community, ostensibly to curb the war in Sudan, will not only worsen the
situation but will help the violence to trigger a regional and further
humanitarian catastrophe."
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For some time Sudan has been under great pressure from the UN and the
international community (led by the US) to grant independence, not merely
self-rule, to its constituent regions, such as Darfur. The pressure has already
forced Khartoum to grant Southern Sudan self-rule and the right to choose
between full independence and membership of an federal Sudanese state, and has
induced the rebel groups in Darfur to abandon the peace agreements they signed
with Khartoum. Their bloody and destructive rebellion has now spilled over into
neighbouring countries like Chad, which have their own festering inter-communal
strife that can easily become uncontrollable. The pressure is also preventing
regional leaders from cooperating to contain the conflicts, driving them to
accuse each other of fomenting them instead.
How successful the pressure is proving to be in the case of southern Sudan
was demonstrated recently when senior ministers from the south and Khartoum
admitted in public that it is closer to secession than federation. The two
ministers, who were attending a conference organised by a local newspaper on
January 21 22 for the discussion of the issue, agreed that the two sides are
far from working together to prepare the basis for a popular decision to unite
when the referendum on unity or independence is held. The two agreed to hold
the referendum two years ago but are by now convinced that the southerners will
vote for secession. How keen the south is to secede is also already indicated
by the transitional governments decision to act like an independent one and
appoint ambassadors, issue passports, and grant visas to foreign travellers.
According to Khartoum, many of these travellers are Israelis.
The US, which must be pleased with this result, is not likely to ease its
pressure to disintegrate Sudan. Secession by the south will be particularly
pleasing to the US government, not only because the government there will be
controlled by Christians but because Sudans main oil resources are also in the
south. Khartoum, which at present has full control of those resources, sells
its oil to China, which has come under strong pressure to end its trade and
diplomatic relations with Sudan.
Beijing has invested about £8 billion in Sudanese oil through the China
National Petroleum Company (CNPC). According to the CNPCs annual report, Sudan
accounts for about half of all its overseas assets. The connection with China
has turned the Sudanese oil industry into a significant one. Last year, for
instance, China poured £3.2 billion into Sudans coffers. In 1998 oil-revenues
were zero. China now depends on Sudan for about seven percent of all its oil
imports; not surprisingly, Chinas stake in Sudanese oil has made it president
Bashirs only friend among the leading powers and a strong defender of it in
the UN security council.
Shortly after the outbreak of fighting in Darfur in 2004, the UN passed
resolution 1564, which threatened Sudan with oil sanctions unless it curbed the
Janjaweed militia opposed to those fighting the government. But Beijing
immediately announced that it would veto any attempt to impose an oil embargo
and the threat ceased to have any impact.
However, those anti-Khartoum powers and NGOs, including human-rights
organisations, continued their pressure outside the security council. They
argued that the income from the oil is enabling president Bashir to conduct
his war in Darfur, and calling on China to use its influence on the
president. According to Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch, to take only
one example, China has tremendous leverage over Sudan which it hasnt used.
One of the sad aspects of the international communitys reaction to the
fighting in Sudan is that it has concentrated on the conduct of the Sudanese
government and ignored the role of the rebel militias fighting it, and in some
cases fighting each other. Blocking the flow of oil-wealth to Khartoum will not
necessarily lead to an end to the fighting in Darfur. It will certainly make
the already poverty-stricken people of the entire country even poorer and,
consequently, lead to violence almost everywhere. The lack of pressure on or
control of the rebel militias will make this violence even more destructive.
The Darfur militias have already taken their violence into neighbouring Chad,
adding to the misery of a people already in the grip of factional fighting. But
yet again the so-called international community is blaming Khartoum alone for
the mayhem in eastern Chad.
Chad already has a vast number of refugees who have very few resources at
their disposal, and the numerous refugees fleeing Darfur are making their
situation even worse. The fighting in Eastern Chad has also been made more
violent by the arrival of rebel militias from Sudan who take sides and rob
local refugee-camps of their food. Typically, the international community and
the UN and, indeed, the Western media single out Khartoum for all the blame
for the violence. The very countries and their allies which bomb huge areas
of Iraq and Afghanistan loudly accuse the Sudanese army of bombing refugees
from Darfur inside Chad.
The selective measures being taken by the UN and international community,
ostensibly to curb the war in Sudan, will not only worsen the situation but
will help the violence to trigger a regional and further humanitarian
catastrophe. Clearly the disintegration of Sudan will not disturb Washington,
and it is likely that the spread of the mayhem into neighbouring countries,
whose populations are mostly Muslim, will not unsettle the US government, its
Christian backers and neo-con members either.
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/41350
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