I’ll start with a question. Is there really an agenda behind Darfur or is it only an illusion? I personally believe that to some extent an agenda does exist. It’s obvious that the rebels are receiving support from an unknown party and I’m a strong believer in the notion that nothing in life comes for free especially when it comes to politics. The unknown party supporting the Darfur rebels are providing support for a reason and as such to some extent an agenda does truly exist.
Currently the majority of people in the Sudanese street believe that the Zionists have a hand in the Darfur crisis. Their beliefs are founded on the fact that in the past the US and Israel did provide support to the southern SPLM in their war against the north. This fact shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The Sudanese government considers Israel as an enemy. Therefore it’s only natural for Israel to do what is in its power to destabalize an enemy… the enemy in this case being Omar al-Bashir and his gang.
By 1969 the rebels had developed foreign contacts to obtain weapons and supplies. Israel, for example, trained Anya Nya recruits and shipped weapons via Ethiopia and Uganda to the rebels.
Also in the near past Sudan harboured terrorist elements including Bin Laden himself who spent some time in the country. As such it was in America’s interest to destabalize the Sudanese government at that time.
In 1996 the US government decided to send nearly $20 million of military equipment through the ‘front-line’ states of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda to help the Sudanese opposition overthrow the Khartoum regime. US officials denied that the military aid for the SPLA and the Sudanese Allied Forces (SAF), described as ‘non-lethal’ — including radios, uniforms, boots and tents — was targeted at Sudan.
It would make sense if Israel is supporting the rebels as the situation hasn’t changed until now. However the notion that America might be involved in Darfur being based on the fact it did support the SPLM in the past becomes weaker. The situation now is different. The Sudanese government has learnt its lesson and it isn’t involved in harbouring terrorists any more. On the other hand if we look at it from a different perspective, the possibility of America being involved increases.
In the American media Darfur has repeatedly been called the 21st century’s first genocide and the crisis has received much attention. There are tons of garbage and propaganda about the issue too. What about Congo and Rwanda? Why haven’t their tragedies received as much attention as Darfur is getting now. Why are they forgotten while Darfur is on the spotlight? I believe it has to do with the fact that Darfur is rich in uranium and the Western fears it might end up in the wrong hands. I also believe that the oil in Darfur might be a factor since the American competition with the Chinese and French is increasing. Currently China is given the largest share of Sudanese oil.
That being said, it would be easy to simply blame the “evil Zionist” Jews and “imperialist” USA for the problems in Darfur. That’s a very wrong attitude in my opinion. If anyone should be blamed then it’s primarily Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his gang for being corrupted dictators and caring nothing for the Sudanese people. Following them on the “blame list” would then immediately be the unknown party supporting the rebels in Darfur… the unknown party probably being Israel, Corporate America and/or African countries neighbouring Sudan. I include African countries because in the past, African countries have aided SPLM too and therefore might be doing the same with Darfur’s rebels. I would like to delve into this deeper but I must admit that I lack the required knowledge about African politics to conduct an analysis.
I wish I could provide conclusive evidence on who is behind Darfur’s agenda but I can’t. I can only go about it on the bases of probabilities. My bets for now would probably fall on Israel and/or America. Why? Well for the reasons that I have stated above and many others. An example of those other reasons would be the fact that America provided chemical weapons to Iraq to go to war with Iran (and now Iraq is occupied. Ah, The irony of politics!) . Also keep in mind that SPLM still maintains ties with Israel and that Darfur rebels also have ties with some SPLM elements.
Anyways before I end this post, let me repeat again that I hate the attitude of blaming it all on the “evil Joooooz and America”. It’s so easy to point the finger at them and forget all the criminal things our own governments are doing to us. I certainly don’t like foreign meddling in Sudan’s affairs. I also believe that we as Sudanese people shouldn’t focus too much on it and let it distract us from the real problem… the real problem being our attitude and that of our own criminal government. As we saw recently, Omar al-Bashir played the Israel card by including Darfur with the war in Lebanon and Palestine and saying it’s part of the Zionist war against Muslims. He won the support of many simply by being vocal and strongly condemning the Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Soon some people will probably see him as a great hero and forget all the nasty things he did. Sigh!
Aimster, you’re so right. “My friend’s enemy is my enemy; but the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
To get a very good idea of the information floating around in the Sudanese street and amongst some Sudanese intellectuals, check out this post. I so very highly recommend reading it and the links it contains.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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“An example of those other reasons would be the fact that America provided chemical weapons to Iraq to go to war with Iran (and now Iraq is occupied. Ah, The irony of politics!) .”
The irony is that America didn’t sell weapons to Iraq. That was France, China, and Russia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_Sales_to_Iraq
Heyya Drima! This is my last comment on any blog in the near (and possibly distant) future…
About Israel’s involvment… I seriously doubt it. Israel has too many troubles to get involved in a bloody mess in Sudan, for starters. And where would the millions of dollars needed for such a support come from? There are endless yearly battles in the Knesset about funds allocations, whenever the yearly distribution needs to be approved. And every year, they manage to end it with a big fat red number, probably double-underscored with lots of exclamation marks.
And Sudan is not something Israelis have any interest in, as a general rule - most could probably tell you that it’s somewhere in Africa and that there’s some sort of an internal problem there, but not much beyond that. And that’s for people who take special interest in checking international news.
With this said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Israel is selling arms and ammo to the rebels. From the POV of the government, this would probably be a good move, if slightly risky - both get some more money to decrease that red end-of-fiscal-year number, and occupy the psychotic Sudanese government.
To be perfectly frank, the first time I heard ANYTHING about Sudan was a couple of years ago, and even that was because a friend of mine had a Sudanese boyfriend.
*shrugs*
But yes, it is highly likely that USA and probably some members of the EU are acting to overthrow the Sudanese government… but I doubt that they are investing too much in it. Everybody has bigger problems, and as we all know, humanitarian goals are always last on the agenda… sad as this may be.
Peace, dude. Was a pleasure having your acquintance
Andrew, the irony is that the link you gave me still has information on America’s arms sales to Iraq.
“The United States did not supply any arms to Iraq until 1982, when Iran’s growing military success alarmed American policymakers. It then did so every year until 1988.”
Raccoon, it was a pleasure discussing things with you and having you and as an aquintance too. Thank you for opening up my mind and making me realize you Israelis are actually humans just like us with more similarities than differences… If you don’t mind, I would still like to stay in contact so please hit me with an email or maybe you can just give me your address. Mine is on the side bar:
sudanesethinker@yahoo.com
Take care bro and stay safe!
Peace to you too =)
Drima,
Your analysis on who is behind the Darfur crisis is very good, but you haven’t really examined the major role China is playing in all of that.
It might be worthwhile to read more financial news sources (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.) to understand how completely beholden the Sudanese government is to China, and why they prefer a partner like China that doesn’t give one hoot about human rights, compared to other possible partners.
You mean the eeeevil Zionists told Bashir to unleash the Janjawid against Darfur, a he is acting as their puppet?
And you mean to suggest that the Janjawid really didn’t want to kill, maim, expel and rape on a genocidal scale, but that the eeeevil Joooos found ways to force them? What, otherwise they would tell their mamas that they watched porn videos with friends went they said they were going to pious Koran recitations?
Michael
Michael, your comment is based on NOTHING except your emotional reaction on what I have to say!!
How I see things is as follows… Ultimately the blame falls on Omar al-Bashir and his gang. The rebels are to be blamed too since they were involved in some of the atrocities committed. The unknown party whoever they maybe is responsible for providing support to the irresponsible Darfur rebels. I support Darfur’s rebels rebelion in principle but not in application. As such, as long as the unknown party continues to support the rebels, they indirectly participate in the violence. Don’t be naive and get so over sensitive about it. It’s just the nature of politics. It’s reality. It’s all about survival of the fittest and remaining top dog. Okay?!
“Andrew, the irony is that the link you gave me still has information on America’s arms sales to Iraq.”
Look at the numbers, not the analysis.
Also, if you investigate further, you will find that the materials the US did sell to Iraq were so-called dual-use materials (i.e. helicopters bought for civilian purposes but then re-assigned to the military, guns for police forces etc.).
Iraq’s arms sources were the Soviet Union, China, and France (and Egypt), not the US.
Andrew (Leauki)
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