Kofi Anan VS Bashir. It looks like it’s going to continue this way. The recent unauthorized helicopter lift the UN gave to one of the rebels opposed to the Abuja peace agreement angered the Khartoum government. No duh, I’ll be pissed too. First of all, the UN should abide by its agreement with the Sudanese government and second of all they shouldn’t be aiding rebels opposed to peace. How dumb? It doesn’t surprise me though. Kofi Anan made a recent statement saying the Sudanese government’s opposition to UN troops in Darfur is strange since there are already troops present in the southern and eastern parts. Strange my foot! Mr. Kofi, either you’re pretending you don’t know or you really are dumb. The troops in the southern and eastern parts aren’t there under the pretext of chapter 7. They’re not authorized to engage in combat. The ones you want to send to Darfur will be under the pretext of chapter 7 and that’s one stupid move considering all the current and growing opposition to them. Even the American troops in Iraq are having trouble controling terrorists and the insurgency and you think your great almighty UN troops will have it easy in Darfur? The answer is NO! You talk about intervention because of humanitarian purposes. I guess when your troops get sent they will make things more “humanitarian” than they are right now. How sweet and caring? I do realize many of you out there are supporting intervention and I sincerely thank you all for that. Do you know why? It’s because I know your intentions are sincere. I know you mean well and I know you want to help but I ask you all to step back for a while and stop reading so called “facts” about Darfur. If I were reading those same “facts” my position would be like yours and that’s why I don’t blame you. I blame those making money publishing such “great knowledge” for all of us to consume. I blame those leveraging this issue to make a name for themselves. Even sweeter huh? Meanwhile my beloved Sudanese government says it is getting annoyed with all the western and international interference and meddling in the country’s affairs. Well so am I, but hey who can blame them considering you’re the ones who turned Darfur into the mess it is today. Would you really have given a damn about it if not for all the pressure you’re facing now? The answer is NO! UN, continue your humanitarian relief efforts as I greatly do appreciate them but please keep your damn “chapter 7″ troops out. Sudanese government, thank you for starting to finally disarm the Janjaweed and for stationing more than 10,000 SPLM forces on standby incase the AU troops want to leave. You better fix the situation and start getting serious. When are you going to realize that being evil butchers and money lovers won’t get you anywhere in the afterlife. Wait! Do you even believe in the afterlife? Lovel huh? And you call yourselves Muslims who represent Islam. I tell you people, Al Bashir and his gang are very “wonderfull” and moral representatives indeed. I need to go and smash something!
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
The UN is a strange bunch of disorganized and, in my eyes, very treacherous people. Drima, I don’t know if the UN will be that much of a real help in anything. Usually they make things worse….
Tse.
I am afraid I agree with Tse. The UN is so corrupt I have serious doubts about ANYTHING they do.
Humanitarian relief is good, though - and this is something they actually do, sometimes, after much bullshit and squandering. Better a little than nothing, though.
Question is, what can really be done?
Drima, d’you recon things will actually get better if economic and diplomatic pressure continues on the Sudanese government without military intervention?
Bashir better watch out. Otherwise, Kofi might press for issuing the dreaded….
Strongly Worded Condemnation™.
Bashir needs to be eliminated. That CIA assassination idea I tinkered with previously is looking better all the time. Or maybe they could just drop a 500 lb. bomb or two. I’m sure Bashir is a lot more visible than, say, Zarqawi. It probably wouldn’t bring much democracy to Sudan, but Bashir’s successor might be a little more pliable in negotations after watching the guy ahead of him get zapped.
Hi Drima, I’m loving hearing about your trip to the US, seemes like your having the time of your life:)
As for sending UN troops to the Darfur. My impression is that their main purpose would be to protect refugee camps. UN peace keeping forces have a very limited role, they are only alowed to open fire in self defence and are not alowed to “take sides” in a conflict. They are only supposed to protect sivilians agains any attacking groups, though as Srebrenica and Rwanda showed, even in this they’re not very efficient (that’s an understatement!) Also, the US doesn’t send toops to the peace keeping forces. I have the impression that sending UN troops is a way of quelling the a sense of guilt over the situation. I think there is an increasing demand in the west that “something must be done”, but I’m not sure how much effect UN troops will have at this point.
“I’m not sure how much effect UN troops will have at this point.”
K from oslo,
the effect will be a bad one. The key word is perceptions. Currently the majority of the Sudanese people perceive the UN’s intentions as evil. That’s all that matters. Their troops will be a target and the region will turn into a war zone.
Tommy,
Assassination might be a bad idea. That will create unstability and I don’t think the successor will be better in any way.
Drima - is there any significal sane movement in Sudan? Someone who actually cares about others, too?
I wonder, because if such a group exists, it can be strengthened, aided with PR and education… is there?
And dude, keep on writing about US
Defenitely Drima, ecspecially if al-Q are serious about attacking UN forces if they go to the Darfur, in which case the UN forces would only contribute to escalating the conflict rather then calming it down. There has been some talk here in Norway about giving finacial support to AU forces, do you think that would be better?
Call it a hunch, but I don’t think al-Qaeda has too much organized manpower in the region. The only serious al-Qaeda element in the neighborhood is in Somalia and they are busy at the moment trying to show the international community that “we aren’t as bad as you think we are, we just want to restore order.” Besides, the Somali mujahideen have their hands full at home, they are venturing out west.
Another hunch: the extremists in the Arab world don’t give too much of a shit about “Crusader” action in Africa (outside of Egypt and the Maghreb). Given a choice between going to Iraq and going to the Sudan to fight the infidels, most Arab nutjobs are headed to Iraq. Baghdad means more to these people than Khartoum. It is the same kind of unconcern you have with the Arab world being so concerned with the plight of the Palestinians while almost completely ignoring the Darfurians — only with a sick jihadi twist.
Still, I don’t trust the UN to set things straight. UN peacekeepers are paper tigers who will fold under almost any persistant pressure, even if it is just the local janjaweed clown on riding around on horseback waiting to have a few helicopter gunships mop them up.
In fact, Darfur would be awful terrain to attempt to wage jihad against a credible military. We are talking about a largely rural part of Sudan, not about the sort of urban guerrilla warfare were insurgents can hide easily and blend in with the surrounding population like we have in Iraq. At its worst, it would look a lot more like Afghanistan than Iraq, but would be even a more dangerous arena for the jihadi whackjobs than Afghanistan since the terrain isn’t extremely mountainous.
A credible military would have little difficulty neutralizing any dumbasses stupid enough to attempt jihad in Darfur, I believe.
But the UN isn’t credible….
I meant to say “they are not venturing west” not “they are venturing west” in the first paragraph of my last post.
Tommy, the UN forces would not be there to to neutralize anyone, that’s not there mandate, they are only alowed to fire back if, and only if they are under attack. their sole purpose is to serve as a “buffer” between warring parties.
You aren’t going to do much good as a “buffer” if you can only fire back in self-defense. Especially if confronted by some serious jihadi nuts.
We all remember those peacekeepers the Serbs tied up and used as human shields during the conflict in the former Yugo.
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