Arabs hear alarm bells as ICC targets Sudan's Bashir

In Africa what is looked at in the west in terms of long overdue justice for human rights violators is seen as a form of western imperialism and an attempt to control African countries. The same feeling underlies the reluctance to sanction Mugabe. When the U.S. violates human rights or Israel ignores UN resolutions nothing happens at all. Countries such as China have good relationships with Sudan. The U.S. would be happy for regime change and a regime which favored western oil interests.

Arabs hear alarm bells as ICC targets Sudan's Bashir
Wed 23 Jul 2008, 10:26 GMT

By Cynthia Johnston
CAIRO, July 23 (Reuters) - When the International Criminal Court prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Sudan's president, the move set off alarm bells in Arab capitals that fear it may showcase a new form of Western meddling in Arab affairs.
Arab leaders, many of whom run governments accused of rampant human rights abuses, worry the court could next turn its focus to other Arab states if it succeeds in prosecuting Omar Hassan al-Bashir for Darfur war crimes.
Anticipating the ICC move, Sudan swiftly called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers, whose ranks include strong North African friends of Khartoum and who swung to action with a plan that appeared aimed to avoid prosecution of Bashir.
"A large part of the developing world is very, very suspicious of the ICC," Sudan expert John Ashworth said. "If you look at the Arab League itself, I guess there would be members of the Arab League who would fear being indicted as well."
Many Arabs believe that Muslim states are being targetted disproportionately by the West for any perceived misteps, citing the U.S.-led wars on Iraq and Afghanistan as well as pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Meanwhile, Arabs say the international community has failed for half a century to secure statehood for Palestinians or speak up about Israeli human rights violations.
That makes them all the more resentful of Western calls for action on Darfur, where the ICC prosecutor has accused Bashir of orchestrating genocide that has killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through slow death, and forced 2.5 million from their homes.
ARAB PLAN
Arabs' cultural and political affinity with Sudan's largely Arab north also means some may feel more natural empathy with the Bashir government than with mostly non-Arab Darfur rebels.
"All the Arabs now feel, and I think they have a right, that they are already targetted... For those average people, Omar al-Bashir represents Arab legitimacy, Arab dignity even," Cairo-based political analyst Diaa Rashwan said.
Both the Arab League and the African Union want the U.N. Security Council to put on hold the ICC move to indict Bashir, and the Arab League said on Tuesday that it had secured a pledge from Sudan to try those it suspects of crimes in Darfur at home.
The deal will allow the United Nations, African Union and Arab League to follow the proceedings, although it would be up to Sudan to decide who to try. The League did not say if two Sudanese indicted by the ICC last year would face charges.
The agreement, after a visit by Arab League chief Amr Moussa to Khartoum, showed the League may be well-placed to pressure Sudan. But the move may still not satisfy Western critics.
"From the Sudan government's point of view, what they clearly want to do is to get the Arab League to put pressure on the African Union to try and back up the president," said Patrick Smith, editor of UK-based Africa Confidential.
"Part of its strategy is to have at any one time four or five different initiatives to deal with what's going on in Darfur. So in that way the core issues are obfuscated," he said.
INSTABILITY FEARS
Some Arab states have practical concerns as well. Cairo, for example, fears a handful of potentially unpredictable new states emerging to its south that could threaten stability or covet Egypt's share of Nile waters, analysts say. Those fears are among factors that lead it to lend more support to Khartoum than to separatist rebels.
But there is by no means a true Arab consensus for full backing of Khartoum, and the League's criticism of the ICC has so far been relatively mild.
Analysts say some states may want to avoid strong criticism of the ICC or unconditional backing for Khartoum because it could embarrass them before the international community.
Yet if diplomatic efforts by Arab and African states are unable to delay an arrest warrant for Bashir, analysts said they doubt very much that the Sudanese leader would face any dangers in the countries of his Arab friends.
"I don't think at all that President Bashir will have any kind of problems in any Arab country," Rashwan said. "I think they will decide to receive President Bashir." (Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Oil Underlies Darfur Tragedy

This is an old article but it serves to remind us that Darfur is not just a humanitarian tragedy. The roots of the crisis are not only in Christian, Muslim conflict and tribal conflicts but also in struggles to control oil involving numerous interests including China and the US that are outside Sudan itself. The article is from Zaman Daily.
Published on Monday, July 5, 2004 by Zaman Daily

Oil Underlies Darfur Tragedy
By Cumali Onal

The fighting in Sudan's Darfur region, which is being reported in the world press as 'ethnic cleansing' and a 'humanitarian crisis', reportedly stems from attempts to gain control over the oil resources in the region, claim Arab sources.

These Arab sources find it interesting that such skirmishes occurred when a peace agreement that would have brought an end to 21 years of north-south conflict was about to be signed. The sources point out that oil fields have recently been discovered in Darfur.

So far at least 10,000 people have lost their lives as a result of the fighting between Arab residents and locals in Darfur, while over a million have fled their homes.

The Sudanese government claims that there is a serious humanitarian crisis in the region. However, the Khartoum administration adds that some countries and groups, primarily Western humanitarian aid foundations and media institutions, are playing up the incidents in an attempt to make Sudan appear unstable and in need of foreign intervention.

The Sudanese government announced yesterday that the African Union would meet in Ethiopia at the end of the month to find a peaceful resolution to the Darfur crisis. Sudan agreed to send more military forces to the region after the visits of US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Khartoum also declared that it would attempt to disarm the Janjaweed since they are believed to be behind the attacks.

In Sudan, Africa's largest country with more than 2.5 million square meters of land, more than 30 armed groups fight against the central administration.

Khartoum reached an agreement with one of these groups, Sudanese People Liberation Army (SPLA), to end the 21-year long conflict that has caused the deaths of over 2 million people. Issues such as how the authority will be shared and the region's autonomy are being discussed in the peace negotiations taking place in Kenya.

Nearly all of the groups fighting against the Sudanese government are supported by neighboring countries; however, there are reports that some of the groups are supported by Israel, European countries, and the US.

It is claimed that the American administration has given at least 20 million dollars worth of aid to the SPLA and other armed groups allied with this organization. Arab sources point to the involvement of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in the Darfur incidents as the primary piece of evidence that the struggle is based on oil. SLA has close relations with SPLA, led by John Garang, and it is demanding oil form the government. Arab sources indicate that an oil agreement between the Sudanese government and SPLA could make the armed militias stronger.

According to the agreement, the SPLA has a stake in a large portion of the oil income from the south. It is claimed that significant amount of that money is probably dispersed to the other armed groups. Experts state that a 3 billion dollar project sponsored by Western countries to open the oil in the region to the world markets through the Mombassa Port of Kenya would speed Sudan's disintegration.

Another group involved in the Darfur clashes, the Justice and Equality Movement, is known for its closeness to Hasan Turabi, who is the ideologist of the regime in Sudan.

According to the agreement reached between the SPLA and the government last year, the southern part of the country will be ruled by an autonomous structure and a referendum will be held for independence. These tribes, most of them believing in local religions, will most likely clash with each other if the region were to become independent. However, since some of these tribes are Christians, Western countries -primarily the US- might intervene in the region in order to provide stability.

It is stated that all of the neighboring countries except Egypt have direct relations with the armed groups in Sudan.

Chad, which has close relations with the armed groups in Darfur, favors Sudan's territorial integrity. This is an abrupt shift from the Chad's previous policy.

It is known that Ethiopia is one of the most active countries in the 21-year long north-south war. Reportedly, it had role in conveying the aid from Israel and the US to SPLA. It also reportedly provided logistical support to these groups.

Eritrea is suspected of having supported the Beja separatist movements in the northeastern part of Sudan.

Uganda, which claims that Khartoum supports the God's Resistance Army that fights against the Ugandan administration, is reportedly among the countries that help the opposition groups in Sudan.

Darfur Constitutes Backbone of Sudanese Army

There are more than 80 ethnic/religious groups among the 7 million inhabitants of Darfur. Some groups have kin relationships with neighboring country, Chad.

Chad President Idris Deby is a member of the Zaghawa tribe in Darfur. It is stated that three presidents, who held power in Chad, directed their fights from Darfur.

People in Darfur, many of whom are Muslim, also constitute 50 percent of Sudanese army. However, these people are generally prevented from promoting to higher ranks.
Article found at :
http://www.energybulletin.net/newswire.php?id=925

Original article :
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20040706&hn=10130

Arab Media Question U.S. motives in Darfur

This is from ncmonline. Oil is virtually never mentioned with respect to events in the Sudan. There is total concentration on the humanitarian disaster but nothing that ever links this to Sudan's oil resources. Well hardly ever, I have seen one article that mentions that China continues to support the Sudan govt. because it is interested in Sudanese oil.

Arab Media Question U.S. Motives in Darfur
Eye on Arab Media
New America Media, News Report, Jalal Ghazi, Posted: Feb 18, 2008
Editor’s Note: Steven Spielberg’s decision to step down as artistic adviser for this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing – citing China’s trade with Sudan despite a humanitarian crisis in Darfur – is the latest spotlight on the “crisis” in Darfur. While Americans portray Darfur as the greatest genocide of modern times, Arab media say that, as with Iraq, the United States is only interested in its oil.As Americans criticize China for putting profit ahead of human rights abuses in Sudan, Arab media say that the United States is in no position to judge. Arab officials and journalists say the Bush administration’s focus on the “crisis in Darfur” has more to do with reclaiming Sudanese oil fields than carrying out a humanitarian mission.Sudanese President Omar Al Bashier, who spoke with London-based Arab News Broadcast in December 2007, believes the dispute between the United States and Sudan did not start in 2003, when rebel groups rose up against the Sudanese government. Al Bashier argues that the countries were already feuding over oil two decades before the United States became concerned about the supposed one million refugees. The American oil company Chevron made the first oil discovery in Sudan in 1979. Over the next few years, along with Shell, Chevron spent millions of dollars in extensive seismic testing and drilled some 52 wells. In 1983, Chevron came to an agreement with the Sudanese government and the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) to jointly build an oil pipeline, linking Sudanese oil fields to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Chevron suspended its activities in Sudan after one of their facilities was attacked and three workers were killed during a civil war in the area.However, journalist and political analysts Kahled al-Aa’esr says that American oil companies did not necessarily want to leave Sudan. The United States considered the Sudanese oil fields to be a part of their own oil reserves, and wanted access to these fields at a time of their choosing. Al-Aa’esr argues that this is what initially soured the relationship between the United States and Sudan. “The American oil companies didn’t fully develop Sudan’s oil infrastructure at that time, but they wanted to come back in 40 or 50 years,” al-Aa’esr says, when there was greater demand for oil and they could increase their profit margin.

Bush may press for Darfur no fly zone

Shades of Iraq! The no fly zones were always questionable and the actual enforcement was never authorised by the UN it was simply done by agreement with allies, the UK and for a while France.


Bush considering Darfur no-fly zone




(JTA)nThe United States will consider establishing a no-fly zone over Darfur if Sudan does not comply with the terms of cease-fire agreements, President Bush said in Holocaust commemoration remarks.

Bush, who toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Darfur exhibit Wednesday before his address, said he was giving diplomats a “short time” to persuade Sudan’s government to allow in more peacekeepers and end attacks on civilians by government-allied militias.

If that does not happen, the president said, he would expand sanctions against Sudan to include 29 companies and “by blocking any of its dollar transactions within the U.S. financial system.” The latter measure has severely limited economic activity in recent years for North Korea, Iran and the Palestinian Authority.

Bush said he also would push the U.N. Security Council to “prohibit Sudan’s government from conducting any offensive military flights over Darfur.” U.S. and allied forces have enforced such no-fly zones in the past.

The Holocaust museum has taken the lead in activism on behalf of Darfur, where government-allied militias have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and displaced millions.