Sudan FM warns US not to create Iraq-style crisis over Darfu

[DreamTone7]

Next thing Ismail will be saying is that it is the United States fault that all the killing and driving people from their homes is occuring. Problem is that half the world will probably believe it.

[HKRockChick]

MORE SANCTIONS? MORE PEOPLE DYING OF STARVATION AND DISEASE????



story.news.yahoo.com/news...103335&e=2



KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail warned Washington not to spark an Iraq (news - web sites)-style crisis over the civil war in Darfur, insisting that US sanctions threats only aggravated the situation.



Ismail warned "those voices which have drawn the world to the Iraq war not to take it to a new war which it will be difficult to disengage from."



In the interview with the independent Al-Rai Al-Aam daily, the minister said US calls for the UN Security Council to consider sanctions only weakened his government's efforts to resolve the crisis and complicated its relationship with the world body.



They also risked "weakening the credibility of agreements recently concluded with the UN Secretary General (Kofi Annan (news - web sites)) and US Secretary of State (Colin Powell (news - web sites))" in which Khartoum undertook to disarm the state-sponsored Arab militias held responsible for much of the suffering in Darfur.



"There is a conspiracy targeting the Sudan, its identity and structure and we have to be cautious and ready for every possibility," said Ismail, adding that Khartoum opposed the imposition of sanctions against any Sudanese.



Washington has already drawn up a draft Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions against named militia leaders and has threatened to widen the scope of the text to cover government officials if Khartoum does not move quickly to rein in abuses.



"We need immediate improvement in the situation, and if we don't see that, then the United States and the international community will have to consider further measures," Powell warned Thursday.



The Sudanese foreign minister was speaking on his return from an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, at which the regional body approved the deployment of 300 armed troops in Darfur by the end of the month to protect its observers and civilians in the region.



The Al-Sahafa daily meanwhile reported that Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir would leave for Gineina in West Darfur State, for talks with his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby on the deployment of a joint military force to patrol the common border.



More than 10,000 people have died and well over a million been driven from their homes since ethnic minority rebels took up arms in Darfur early last year, in what the United Nations (news - web sites) has described as the world's worst current humanitarian crisis.



More than 100,000 of the displaced have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad sparking fears that the conflict might spill over Sudan's borders. Sporadic clashes have been reported between Darfur militiamen and Chadian troops.

[RonOnGuitar]

Well, DT, many folks just aren't up to speed knowledge-wise re: Darfur. In the most basic of terms the Sudan is backing their local Arab terrorists (Janjawid) in the rape, torture and mass murder of Sudan's black people.



My guess is that Debbie would not intentionally support ethnic genocide. It would seem she's just learned of the situation from my mention of it here and the "hate America" reaction just refected Debbie's knee-jerk response. After she learns more, I have no doubt she will support an end to the massacres.



African Union warns Sudan over continuing crisis in Darfur

Irin News

By IRIN News.org

Friday, July 09, 2004



ADDIS ABABA: An armed protection force being sent by the African Union (AU) to the western Sudanese region of Darfur "would not sit by idly" while atrocities persisted, the chairman of the AU Commission warned on Thursday.



Alpha Oumar Konare also called for an end to the bombardment of villages in the strife-torn region, saying an estimated 30,000 people had been killed. The AU, he said, would send 300 troops to allow refugees to return home and to protect AU observers monitoring the shaky ceasefire signed on 8 April between the government and rebels.



More than a million people have fled violence in Darfur, where Arab militias are accused of perpetrating a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arabs. "They [AU troops] do not have the mandate to prevent [attacks], but it doesn’t mean they are going to sit idle with their hands folded," Konare said.



"If this kind of situation arises, we will take note and see what has to be done," he told journalists at the end of the three-day AU summit. Konare added that the Sudanese government had promised to cooperate with the force, which would be deployed soon. He did not give a date for the deployment.



"We have asked for an immediate stop to the bombing," Konare said. He added that the Sudanese government had been asked to create the "necessary conditions" for renewed peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 15 July.



The AU force is expected to consist of 120 soldiers from Nigeria and 120 from Rwanda. Tanzania and Botswana may also send additional peacekeepers.



Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo told reporters that key mini-summits that had been held on the fringes of the AU summit illustrated the Union's commitment to resolving the continent's conflicts.



"The issues demonstrate our determination to be proactive," said Obasanjo, who is the new chairman of the AU. "It will not be a protection force were it not to prevent [violence] and protect lives and property."



During a visit to the region last week, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell won a commitment from Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir to contain the militias and allow human rights monitors into Darfur. But relief workers say the violence has continued.



Earlier, the 38 AU heads of state agreed that the seat of a new pan-African parliament would be in South Africa. The summit also backed the three-year US $1.7-billion vision, mission and strategy of the AU, spelt out by Konare, to build a new Africa. But they said a summit would be convened later this year to discuss AU financing.

[questionnaire]

"Well, DT, many folks just aren't up to speed knowledge-wise re: Darfur."



Ron, you're just not up to speed, period.



If anyone wants to move beyond the low-grade nonsense being posted by our blinkered North American friends they must ask one simple question: how is it that so many cultures and regions that have survived for hundreds or even thousands of years have suddenly found themselves in deep economic trouble over the past 20 years?



Answering this is a little complex, and you will learn nothing of any value from Ron's posts or his ill-informed 'discussions.' The answer is tangled up in the processes of globalization, development, international moneylending, cash-cropping and unfair international trade. May I suggest that you can read excellent and clearly-written acounts here: The No-Nonsense Guide to Globalization



and here:



The No-Nonsense Guide to International Development



The 'No-nonsense Guides' are excellent little books written by acclaimed experts and based on painstaking international research by Universities across the globe, all condensed into digestible chapters. The picture is too complex to express on a message-board, so if you want to know about it, ignore Ron's carefully-selected news articles and his claims to knowledge that he does not have and go and find out for yourselves from reputable sources.

[RonOnGuitar]

Steve, you came close in suggesting that the massacre in Sudan is happening due to outside vested interests that have zero interest in seeing the mass murder of black Sudanese stopped:



Human Rights Watch - Sudan Oil Concessions map



And, below, you can ingore the prompt to install the font to take a look at one particular regime's interest.

Flash map of Beijing's interests



Looking over the first linked to map of Sudanese concessions at Human Rights Watch, we see a few companies from the " usual suspect" countries that would be expected to support such things - Beijing China, the Sudan of course, and Qatar. In addition to that, there's the concessions to companies from Canada, Austria, and Sweden, besides TotalFinaElf from France.

[questionnaire]

Yes, very 'close', Ron.



Not that you have any authority to judge.



If you read some reputable literature on the subject of globalisation you would know that China has now entered the game of global capitalism that has been dominated by America. Any system that harnesses unbridled competition as its primary motive force will eventually produce hostility, suspicion, exploitation, inequality, war, death and environmental degradation.