Invasion of Abyei
On May 20 Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) invaded Abyei, a disputed region situated on the border between South and North Sudan. The Khartoum regime reportedly <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=4wivi6cab&et=1105672029237&s=4371&e=001bjs4A1 0WxgSx6Q5rxaD5Y1oNdrhYvwqB3PmCfqC6kAkts0QxScX9nsz6SWvwvihJTk9OLRQOsLxETcHScs qLldkw9RPORQv-auHTtQ3NeSIhnIRg8TLLbLdp8xK4gBUzV7h4SAYALKTsix3BO6r6kd6CU6MrrT zE0-TSwlfgl_otpfn9ZAOTix3JZlrPrX_RkvTz5gMTEWk3RIoX29_Qq4hpdWSsgPBTRIjqufkPhR D7-7ZHSnTgfg==> razed villages and used tanks and helicopters to indiscriminately shell and bomb civilian population, causing at least 20,000 <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=4wivi6cab&et=1105672029237&s=4371&e=001bjs4A1 0WxgS56Xyiy7lna7jvHnv7BvRXPo26XPcOoS4buhNyr7imIbI_r28TnrRU2ycxX_ENkHtl1Sr8kR rKVhkP1y5SrdqRSBD741MjiKsKgEXYgFWhLlZKys0aq44G1IPWE06YGHXj0SAqfVWih8NPPp4rHj dDENzNuo0CcZw50vupguvbDaU-ylSjBd9E> to flee. Armed government-supported militiamen were reported to burn and loot on a massive scale. The attack brought the largest African nation to the brink of all-out war and may severely harm the chances for peaceful separation of the South, planned for July 9. Abyei's oil reserves and fertile grazing lands are claimed by both the African South, where the residents are mostly Christians and the followers of traditional beliefs, and the Arab, largely Muslim, North. The region belonged to the South until 1905 when the British transferred the administration <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=4wivi6cab&et=1105672029237&s=4371&e=001bjs4A1 0WxgR-Tb2esgxZQG-2b04D0fHwAm2EnpwIpuOe2rLue59MpFbW6p1Lenqy8OHBGAmlnwOu4K6lEk Hi3iKJpDvGiASYQTZJ7xA9TSTV-GJny8D0xVO4x7tkBo4AsBbnGfi0riFEXrEOsyp1Po8KJHRlC8 El3yfUUj9MhpSgJiomhY5jTs9oBsXb1XFR> of Abyei from Bahr el-Ghazal province (South) to Kordofan (North). The majority of Abyei's population is African despite the Government's large scale settling <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=4wivi6cab&et=1105672029237&s=4371&e=001bjs4A1 0WxgShfTb317GDeDS9b887sR7aplD2rnjPcxBHRhvb2VQsFcCh72syryS1TuSWfJ8vrVT1uE0YPX gwhq60bKb8YF1V6H8WeHpU9N4yrT5DLaM0Du9wZl_P4a5XKap6USMaNit6Ne9S5lN5kTt1hHtun_ uL7pNmbvoTcfgPijfuM5gw2n-1YeVjjusyR4cmhj-jpq0=> of Messariya Arabs. The 2005 America-brokered Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which halted the decades-long North/South war and provided for January referendum on South's independence, also included the Abyei protocol <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=4wivi6cab&et=1105672029237&s=4371&e=001bjs4A1 0WxgRfS4eyyTTTCDBAkT_rBCPU2eNfzAhfd8LVziEhOYrSsb1-BetSCzQd0ufnjaiekh9qrFeI9A qMq1cYY26S7IPd4lqj82DBOsUvgPtN_HKg8Uu5_O_6AMQAicGbD5q7g6SYACOyagJnyCoow1Xy1k m4vrb4EFv0_5bqAIw3aoYOnDu4Ev767zmJ> , which promised the citizens of Abyei an opportunity to choose between staying in the North and returning to the South. After preventing the referendum various Sudanese government officials, including President Hassan al Bashir, asserted northern ownership of the area. The timing of the attack - a day after President Barack Obama exalted the Arab revolutions and promised "concrete actions" to support human rights, democracy and the right for self-determination in the Arab world - suggests that al Bashir is testing whether America's commitment to supporting opposition to Arab oppression would also extend to Sudan. Experts <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=4wivi6cab&et=1105672029237&s=4371&e=001bjs4A1 0WxgQZL7PyihJcNWx1w5L8OgUc6_8DjplGcyAn6BMGScJS50VXMZURvOiUMRYyv8PAmpf_t4SB3J PoqF9lG7Sr67YbpxWjHcQYjSAEAsKZqKCQaKjC4GF7uPmvMQ1o77LKQZraKr6dV96aA8wY1xUs-W w2EHhFlx1auGpw_TbfT_xu9Q==> believe that the US "incentive-oriented" policy toward Sudan created a situation where the regime "felt certain that it would face no international consequences for its attack." The White House condemned <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=4wivi6cab&et=1105672029237&s=4371&e=001bjs4A1 0WxgQo52OitIR7I_-TBVgh4NG2ph9N8bIJt2SS-CPKR1rhxQmaI1j4aw5iYBsbo9IGtM9MNFktym OD6rtIFKQLgEEdu986Y4u6IRKAzfZ-6rqQj8Dq2eiVIahy-4ojkKjEr0ULrZqgY5gU515Iep351A 4-b07Yn-AqxLlnplWkdP3pv_Bunf8HBOXgoz_U5fe_XLQ=> the assault, but will it truly support the Arab world's African victims? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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