Sudan maintains defiance amid Western destabilization campaigns
Attacks by Darfur rebels spark crisis with Chad
By
Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Published May 27, 2008 9:20 PM
A political and military accord signed between the Sudanese government of Omar
al-Beshir and Chadian President Idriss Deby in January was dissolved in the
aftermath of an attack by a Darfur rebel group on May 10. The so-called Justice
and Equality Movement (JEM) carried out an assault in Omdurman resulting in the
deaths of approximately 200 people.
Although this attack against one of the major cities in Sudan has focused
attention on whether the neighboring Western-backed and oil-rich Chadian regime
of Idriss Deby was behind the act of aggression, the transnational oil
companies with their major players based in the United States have formidable
reasons for wanting to see the government in Sudan overthrown.
For over a decade now, U.S.-based transnational firms have not been allowed to
exploit the rapidly emerging oil industry in Sudan; they have been barred from
extracting oil there. Some 80 percent of the oil concessions in the country are
granted to partnerships between the Sudanese government and the People’s
Republic of China. Other concessions are held by local interests in partnership
with Arab and Middle Eastern nations.
This economic decision on the part of Sudan results from a foreign policy
orientation that is independent of U.S. military efforts in Africa and the
Middle East. In 1990-91, the Sudanese government refused to support the
Pentagon’s war against Iraq over the issue of former President Saddam
Hussein’s intervention in Kuwait, nor has it supported the current
occupation of Iraq that began in 2003.
Chad under pressure from Western influence
Consequently, when looking at the hostile U.S. State Department posture toward
Sudan, the oil factor must be taken into consideration.
Chad is also a large producer of oil. However, the government of Idriss Deby
has close ties both politically and economically to Chad’s former
colonial ruler, France, which has tilted toward the U.S. under President
Nicolas Sarkozy. The French military, which has a permanent presence in Chad,
recently stepped in to shore up the Deby government. Otherwise, an attempt to
unseat him by the United Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) would have
been victorious.
In response, the Deby government released a group of French nationals who had
posed as a charitable organization calling itself Zoe’s Ark and allowed
them to return to France. They had been tried and convicted of attempting to
kidnap dozens of Chadian children in order to sell them to people in
Europe.
The French and other Europeans in Zoe’s Ark were questioned after their
arrest. They stated that their motivation was to transport children from the
Darfur region of Sudan, which is currently undergoing civil conflict, to
adoption agencies in France so they could permanently be placed in homes in
Europe. Yet, according to news reports emanating from Chad, most of the
children were not from Darfur and had been taken in violation of the laws of
Chad governing adoption.
The uncovering of this plot to kidnap African children in Chad sparked outrage
inside the country and led thousands of people to protest the actions of
Zoe’s Ark. Nonetheless, the government in Chad was beholden to France
because of its precarious political position and the relative strength of the
UFDD opposition forces.
Behind the political campaign against Sudan
The Sudanese region of Darfur is located in the west of the country bordering
Chad. The government of Omar al-Bashir has accused Chadian President Deby of
supporting the rebel movements in Darfur. The Darfur rebels have gained the
sympathy and support of various right-wing political interests in the U.S. and
Europe. Some of these groups have sponsored documentary films, photographic
displays, rallies and even legislation which encourage the intervention of the
U.S. and other imperialist countries in the internal affairs of Sudan.
Just last year a new documentary film entitled “The Devil on
Horseback” premiered throughout the U.S. It was based on photographs
taken by a U.S. Marine captain who had visited Sudan as a military consultant
to the African Union, which has had an observer mission in the country for
several years.
This film portrays the civil conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan as a
systematic campaign by the el-Bashir government to carry out genocide against
the inhabitants of this region. It does not mention the historical legacy of
British colonialism, which systematically divided Sudan so that the country
could be subjugated for over half a century. The origins of both the civil wars
in the south of the country and in Darfur in the west are rooted in the policy
of divide-and-rule imposed by Britain when it defeated the early resistance
movements during the late 19th century.
The documentary highlights the suffering of the people in Darfur in an effort
to provoke a public outcry in the U.S. and a demand for immediate military
intervention to weaken the authority of the central government in Sudan and
establish a permanent Western presence in the Darfur region of Sudan bordering
Chad.
Another manifestation of the so-called “Save Darfur Movement” is
the drafting and promotion of legislation on a local and state level that seeks
to divest pension funds from corporations that engage in commerce with Sudan.
Since there is limited trade between the U.S. and Sudan, such legislation is
clearly promoted for its propaganda value. It advances the notion that the
government should be changed based upon allegations of genocide against the
people of Darfur.
In addition, these right-wing elements falsely characterize the civil conflict
in Darfur as a racial one, between what they describe as Arabs in the north and
Blacks in the Darfur region. This attempt to racialize the conflict is
deliberately aimed at discouraging African Americans and anti-racist
constituencies in the U.S. from organizing any effort to defend the Sudanese
people from Western military intervention.
Most historians of Sudan say there are no fundamental racial divisions between
the peoples of this vast central African country. The majority of people in
both the northern region, where the capital is located, and Darfur in the west
are Muslims. For centuries the various ethnic groups have intermarried and
shared cultural and religious traits.
Michigan lawmakers seek divestment
In the state of Michigan, legislation was introduced during 2007 that would
mandate the immediate withdrawal of public pension funds from businesses that
conduct trade with both Sudan and Iran, as well as impose sanctions against any
company with Sudanese investors or stakeholders.
The twin bills, entitled “Public Retirement Systems: Divestiture of
Investments Related to Sudan and Iran” (House Bills 4903 and 4854), were
sponsored by Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, a Democrat, and Marty Knollenberg, a
Republican. Smith’s bill is against Sudan and Knollenberg’s against
Iran.
A legislative analysis issued by the Michigan House Fiscal Agency describes the
bills as “amending the Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act
(MCL 38.1133c and 1133d) to require a retirement system to engage in a number
of activities related to assets invested in companies with certain kinds of
business relationships with Sudan and Iran. The bill ultimately could, under
certain condition, require a retirement system to sell, redeem, divest, or
withdraw all publicly traded securities of a company actively involved with the
Sudan or Iran over a 15-month period.”
This same document points out that the bill “would apply to retirement
systems under the Michigan Legislative Retirement Act, the State Police
Retirement Act, the Judges Retirement Act, the State Employees Retirement Act,
and the Public School Employees Retirement Act.” These public pension
systems hold billions of dollars in employee contributions, which are heavily
invested in private corporations.
Although these bills have not yet been passed by the state Senate, and
therefore are not law, they still represent a hostile act against the peoples
of Sudan and Iran. They seek to create an atmosphere where people in the U.S.
could be influenced and convinced to support a military interventionist policy
toward both Sudan and Iran, two oil-producing nations targeted by the Bush
administration for regime change.
The Sudanese people must be able to decide their own future.
It is important that anti-imperialist forces in the U.S. and internationally
understand what is at stake in Sudan. The Bush administration, as well as other
previous U.S. leaders, has coveted the oil, other minerals and agricultural
wealth of this African country. This imperative drives the propaganda and other
acts of military aggression against not only Sudan but many other geopolitical
regions throughout Africa and the so-called developing world.
The people of Sudan must be allowed to resolve their own internal struggles
aimed at forging unity and national development. It should not be up to the
U.S. or the former colonial power of Britain to set the moral tone for what is
acceptable in Sudan.
Sudan has a tremendous history of maintaining independence through both
political and military efforts. The people heroically fought the British during
the 19th century before eventually falling under the yoke of colonialism for
many decades.
Today the Sudanese people are resisting imperialist efforts to topple their
government, seize and exploit the natural resources of the country, and place
Western military forces in the Darfur region—which would serve as a
buffer zone between French imperialist influence in Chad and an encroaching
U.S. and British destabilization campaign in the rest of the country. People
who oppose imperialism in all its shapes and forms must support the Sudanese in
their struggle against political domination and economic exploitation.
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