[wvns] Sudanese Ambassador Speaks to US

Sudanese Ambassador to U.S.:
Beware 'Hidden Agenda' Behind Sanctions
by Marcia Merry Baker and Doug DeGroot
June 15, 2007
Executive Intelligence Review

The Ambassador to the United States from Sudan, John
Ukec Lueth Ukec, is speaking out in press briefings
and interviews, against the new sanctions imposed on
his nation on May 29 by President Bush. Ukec described
the harm of the unilateral U.S. economic sanctions at
a National Press Club event May 30, and the duplicity
involved in the United States attacking a nation
already on the road to peaceful solutions. Then on
June 2, he participated in an hour-long, live LaRouche
Show radio discussion (larouchepub.com), giving
in-depth background. Ukec focussed on the impact and
"hidden agenda" involved in the geopolitical
contrivance of the Darfur "single issue," being
whipped up since 2003 as a bludgeon against Sudan, and
against the principle of sovereignty of nations
throughout Africa. What's required instead, he said,
are resources for economic development. Appearing with
him on The LaRouche Show were Lawrence Freeman (EIR
Africa Bureau), Paul Mourino (LaRouche Youth Movement,
Washington, D.C. Bureau), and host Marcia Merry Baker
(EIR Economics Director).

The new sanctions announced by Bush involve financial
actions against 31 companies doing business in Sudan
(see box), and against three Sudanese individuals—two
Cabinet officials and one of the anti-government
rebels. Bush gave as his reason, acting against the
"genocide" in Sudan. The President further called for
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to draw up a
resolution for United Nations sanctions against Sudan,
including military action.

Within hours, Britain and France expressed support for
Bush's actions. France's new Sarkozy government
further called for military intervention in Chad, in
the name of opening "humanitarian corridors" from Chad
into Darfur, to be imposed by either unilateral French
forces, or European Union troops. Government officials
in Chad rejected the "offer." Opposition to the U.S.
sanctions has been forthcoming from Russia, China, and
South Africa.

The following points and quotations are taken from the
June 2 discussion with Ambassador Ukec on The LaRouche
Show. Sudan, home to 39.4 million people, has the
largest area of any nation in Africa, with 8% of the
continental land area.
Sanctions Are 'A Death Sentence'

Ambassador Ukec described how the sanctions affect the
most basic aspects of life in Sudan, especially given
the numbers of displaced persons, seeking to return to
their homes.

"Those sanctions affect everything in my country. It
actually destroys the peace which was built by the
rest of the world, including us. It destroys the
peace, because peace needs constructive development,
and when you curtail the economic system of a
country—let me give you one example. There is a large
number of people displaced, due to the fighting in
Darfur; there is a large number of southern Sudanese
who have been in all the surrounding countries. Nine
countries surround Sudan, these are our neighbors, and
there were refugees in those countries for 10, 20
years. They are flocking back to Sudan. Where do they
get food?

"Our most important food—staple food—-is sorghum,
grown in the eastern Sudan, in a place called Gedaref,
and in the northern part of southern Sudan, in a place
called Rank...." Agricultural programs—including ones
contributed to by the United States, have been buying
the grain and "shipping it to Darfur, and to the South
for newcomers, who have been displaced for 10, 15
years. They don't have housing; they don't have food.

"And all of a sudden ... these sanctions. Because our
refugees are coming back from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, also
Central African Republic—all these people are coming
back! They have no food, but these agricultural
programs that produce grain, produce wheat, produce
sugar—these are the ones targetted by [sanctions
against] the 31 companies. So where do these people
eat?

"They say that they are putting the sanctions on the
government," but it is the masses of the poor who will
suffer. Look at sugar. The hundred or so government
officials drink "high class coffee." But suger in tea
is "very important to the average Sudanese. If you go
to Sudan today, and go to the hospital, surrounding
the hospital you get so many women, with kettles: They
make tea. And then the workers, they come down from
where they work, get a cup of tea, plus a small piece
of bread—and they live on that! When the sugar is not
there, the women—which is an informal economy, as we
know that—they will lose their jobs. The people who
are hungry will not get a cheap means of surviving.

"Those who are in the [refugee] camps will not get the
bread, because these companies are targetted by the
sanctions. Those who are far away cannot be reached,
because the spare parts for the trains or the vehicles
we have, cannot be provided.

"This is a devastation.... What I said is: They are
crippling my government. They are crippling and
killing my people. It is a death sentence to my
people, at a time when we really need help so that we
build democracy.

"If we don't get that situation, we will go back to
hatred, fighting, and all the rest, and we will be at
square one again, looking for guns, going back to
other countries—I said this, we might go back to
Egypt, and you know that Egypt has a large population
of refugees who left [Sudan]. They want to come back
now. When they hear there are sanctions on Sudan, no
jobs! The company will not be encouraged to go to
Sudan!

"I see the significance of this thing. It looks like a
'token' to the American administration [sanctioning a
few companies], but it is not! This is a death
sentence to the growing, democratic Sudan. This is
what they have done to my country, and it is very,
very shocking to me."
Sanctions Go Against the Peace Accords

Over the past three years, two critical peace accords
have been reached in Sudan. As Lawrence Freeman
summarized, there was the "Comprehensive Peace
Agreement, which was signed in February 2005, and this
ended 20 years of civil war in Sudan, between the
North and the South. This was a very important peace
agreement, which could give the country the potential
for development of the South economically, especially
in terms of vital infrastructure categories." By
mid-2006, a 7,000-person African Union peacekeeping
force was in Darfur. Late in 2006, Sudan agreed to
expand the AU force by 3,000, On May 3, 2007, Sudan
and Chad (which borders on Darfur) signed a
reconciliation agreement, pledging to cooperate with
the UN and the AU to stabilize Sudan's Darfur region
and the neighboring areas of Chad. At the time the
sanctions were imposed, negotiations for what is
called Phase Three of the peacekeeping forces—a
substantial UN force under the command of the AU—was
being negotiated.

Now, the May 29 U.S. sanctions and threats of outside
military intervention against Sudan have been
announced, in the name of saving Darfur. Ambassador
Ukec drew out the implications: "The message it sends
to those who are rebels there, is to say, 'You know
what? This government is going to fall soon.' And the
warlords emerge in Darfur. And that is why—you know,
on May 6, 2006, we signed the Darfur Peace Agreement,
and America was central in drafting the Darfur Peace
Agreement. Their representatives from the State
Department, the think-tanks, all those guys that deal
with Condoleezza Rice and all those: They were there!
And the draft, if there was something wrong, they
would have pointed out, 'This is injustice.' But it
was purely something that brought people together. The
largest group, the Minnawi group of the rebels, what
they call SLA, Sudan Liberation Army, they signed onto
it! And the number-four man in our power system now in
Sudan, is from Darfur!

"I don't see why this Darfur has become a big deal,
forgetting the people of Southern Sudan in the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which is the basis of
sharing power, sharing wealth, and making security
arrangements. These are the best protocols ever
produced by any country which has been at war. Why are
these things being ignored? Why should we not stick to
what the Americans said? Why is America unilaterally
targetting Sudan? The UN has not suggested that we be
sanctioned; the African Union, which is working with
us, has never been contacted; they have never even
condemned us, by saying 'this is a genocide.' It's
just making my government and my people think twice:
'Maybe America has something on its mind. Something
dubious, something which may be terrible to our
people.' This is what it shows. Otherwise, it is
unwanted, it is unwarranted, to do this, and put us
under sanctions, when we need to be provided for and
rewarded."

Personally Shocked

Ukec has expressed personal shock at the United States
action, given the particulars of his own background.
In response to a question from Paul Mourino, Ukec
recounted his life story. He was born in Southern
Sudan, where his Christian missionary parents lived.
He was well-educated there as a youngster. A year
after Sudan's independence from Britain in 1956, Ukec
went into the bush, as an insurgent, at age 15,
against the Sudan government. Subsequently trained in
the military, and also in economics at Iowa State
University, he ended up spending some years in the
United States, fighting for Sudanese interests,
including testifying to Congress. He then welcomed the
2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement as an historic
opportunity for all concerned. He was posted in
October 2006 as Ambassador from Sudan to Washington,
D.C. He explained on the June 2 LaRouche Show:

"I came here to bring the American people, and the
Sudanese people together, so that they have a good
relationship. We hope that we will gain from the
American people, their experience, increase our
productivity, because this is the world whereby there
is a lot of capital-intensive, in addition to
labor-intensive products that can help my country.

"This [the May 29 sanctions decision] is shocking. I
never expected that the American administration would
do this, especially President Bush. He knows better,
because he signed the Sudan Peace Act, he signed the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, he was involved in it.
And, he also—as I told you the other day in my press
conference: The American money, taxpayers' money, has
been used in Sudan. Was that just a window-dressing? I
thought the American government and the American
people were serious about our situation. But, how can
you do one thing, see if it looks good—and then, come
up with a big slam, which destroys the entire work
which has been done over the last four or five years?"
'Hidden Agenda' Against Sudan, Africa

Lawrence Freeman addressed the underlying question to
Ambassador Ukec. "What I've discussed with Mr.
LaRouche, is: One of the things that we think is
behind the Darfur policy, is in fact to topple or
dismember the Sudanese government, and that this would
violate the water agreement that Sudan made in 1959
with Egypt, and then this would be used to squeeze
Egypt, which depends on that water. What do you think
is behind these attacks on Sudan? This is something I
think people would want to know."

Ambassador Ukec replied, "I believe the leadership of
Sudan has become very ambivalent, and they have always
said that 'there is a hidden agenda.' You know, all
the things you have just said here, Larry, fit in,
into what the leadership of Sudan says: that there is
a hidden agenda. There is some powerful organization
somewhere, that has picked on certain countries in
Africa, especially those countries where the
leadership has been strong, has been against any
encroachment on their sovereignty. They are the
targets of that hidden agenda. I do not want to go
into details about it. I think they can be summed up
by an intelligent think-tank of this country, and His
Excellency LaRouche always goes into details about
things like that, because he watches from afar and
above the rest of the world. As a result, he might be
more objective than those guys who are involved in
devious arrangements, like Blair, and the President of
the United States George Bush."

Ukec elaborated, in response to an e-mail from a
listener in Texas, about oil being targetted by those
who are attacking Sudan. "I also think that there are
a lot of things in Sudan that may be targetted, by
people who are very much interested in oil. As I told
you before in my history, I worked hard to evict
Talisman Oil Co., the Canadian company, out of
Southern Sudan. I believe also, there are large
reserves of oil in most parts of the South, and also,
Darfur.

"So, there is a hidden agenda, and this is why my
leadership thinks that it is our oil which is being
targetted. They are going to split us, to make us
weak, and then they may pick their stooges, like they
have done in Iraq, got their stooges, pulled them into
war under the pretext that there were weapons of mass
destruction, which we never got. They even showed us
certain things, 'these are mobile weapons of mass
destruction,' fake things which never happened. They
are faking those things now in Darfur!"
What Is Happening in Darfur

Ukec stressed the need for peace, food,
infrastructure, and economic development in Darfur and
throughout Sudan. What is particularly urgently needed
is water. He implored the public, and especially the
youth, not to be taken in by the "faking" of the
Darfur lobby, which is attacking Sudan and Africa. "Go
and look at the report by the AMIS [Africa Union
Mission in Sudan] and also the UN reports on Darfur,
and see how many deaths per month. You will not get 50
per month! You will never get 50 per month. And you
will always hear that the rebels have hijacked the
vehicles of humanitarian workers, and they don't
condemn them! The rebels also are being subsidized by
some countries, and those countries have the French
interests. They have oil in that country, and they
want to extend their ring to Darfur and probably the
entirety of Sudan. These are the things which are
going on.

"You young people, you lay American people who do not
read any more than what you are fed by the media, do
not know this. I'm here to open your eyes, so that you
see the other side of the story. You know, this is
what I want you to know, especially those you talk
about, Paul, those youth who are being drifted away.
Don't agree with the divestment! Divestment is a way
to weaken us, so that individually, business people do
not get into Sudan, only they who want to go there are
those who are going to go: This is curtailing your
freedom. The [free] enterprise they talk of, they
don't want it....

"Divestment: There's no apartheid in Darfur. These
Darfuris are our brothers and sisters. They are the
majority of the Sudanese Army. Seventy percent of the
Sudanese Army are Darfuris! So, if the army is killing
those, they are killing their own family! Just
visualize these things, you don't know them. Come to
us. We'll give you more....

"[Young people] have to be careful about the
consumption of media they get. I know resources are
limited, and not everybody will go to Darfur to see
for themselves, or go to Khartoum or Juba to see for
themselves what is going on there. I believe most of
the people in the United States are being misled.
Because, as I say, I was a fighter against the
government that existed before. And nothing could have
brought me back from the United States to go back to
Sudan, if I had not believed in the peace which had
been agreed to. The situation in Darfur is not a
genocide. A genocide is when you get innocent people,
not armed, and kill them! This is not what is
happening in Darfur.

"What is happening in Darfur, is Darfuris are fighting
among themselves. The herders, who are mobile, with
their cattle, horses, camels, sheep, and all types of
animals; and the farmers, who only live on their land,
and cultivate grain, sorghum, millet, and those
things. Now we have a large animal population, because
they get medications, veterinary services from all
over the world, and animals do not die as they used to
die, to condition the situation. And you know, if you
read history in the United States, you would have seen
how the cowboys clashed with the farmers! Read your
history, and you'll find the same thing....

"This is what has happened also in my country. It came
too late, and you cannot believe it, because you are
so advanced, but this is what is happening in Sudan,
now. And, I warn you, do not think that the people
outside Sudan are more caring about our people than we
are ourselves. That's not true: These are our brothers
and our sisters. Even myself, my cousins are in Nyala,
which is in Southern Darfur. Southern Darfur is very
close to my home, that is, Aweil. We have the largest
population in Darfur. The people from my state, called
Northern Bahr El Ghazal State, 570,000, are in Darfur!
Because, during the war, they left the South, running
to the North....

"There are people dying, because of clashes that
occur—I cannot deny that. But it is not at the
magnitude as it is shown here! You know, we used to
fight as clan against another clan! It used to happen.
It's not a new thing.

"So, we know that we should stop that, and we are
working to stop that. The administration of the United
States should help us in that process, rather than
escalating, or taking sides. As I say, the sanctions
are on the Sudan government, the institutions of
development in the Sudan, but you young people need to
know that the rebels have it good. When the rebels
have it good, the rebels are going to be fighting and
fighting and fighting, and the peace which could have
been close, is going to be very far away..."
Elections Are at Stake

Ukec laid special stress on the process toward
elections. Mourino pointed out that the word
"democratization" is in vogue in Congress about Sudan,
even Russia, but it amounts to "a veiled term for
'regime change.' " Ukec replied, "It's a puzzle to me,
when people talk about democracy, and they curtail
countries which are going toward democracy.

"Democracy means people have to decide their own fate.
They have to vote. I don't think what America is doing
to Sudan, to Zimbabwe, and other places, is a sense of
allowing people to be democratic. It's just curtailing
our rights, subduing us from our national sovereignty.
They do not understand, and if not, I believe they are
actually undermining what they say. They say
something, but they do something else. They talk about
democracy, they kill democracy by what they do.

"I let you know this: Why would they stop a process
which has already been initiated? On Nov. 15, we will
have a census, the UN will do it. The United States
has volunteered to do it—I don't know whether they
will curtail it. Then, after that, we will have
constituencies. And at the end of 2008, when you have
your Presidential election, we will have our
elections, too! By January 2009, when you have a new
President for this country, we will also have a fresh,
democratically elected body, to rule my country.

"Why are they against it? Why are they putting
sanctions on a country which has been fighting for 50
years, and is now in the process of doing everything
that was asked of them! The Comprehensive Peace
Agreement, the United States was advising it, its
technical know-how has been applied to it. All those
things have been applied. I don't think they really
want democracy. They want a new imperialism."
'Left Wing' Attack From Gore Crowd

In addition to the blatantly right-wing attacks on
Sudan, a question was posed to Ambassador Ukec, sent
by LaRouche Youth Movement activist Ian Overton (from
Alaska and Washington, D.C.), about the "left-wing"
assault on Africa, coming from the anti-development
global warming crowd. Baker pointed out that "there is
the soft kind of attack, in the name of saving 'the
environment.' The Al Gore crowd recently held a United
Nations conference in Nairobi on this. It was said
that there shouldn't be industry or modern agriculture
in Africa. There shouldn't be high-tech development or
infrastructure. Look at the Sudd [a large, swampy area
in Southern Sudan]. If you have water management
infrastructure there, you will hurt the mosquitoes and
the liver flukes. Do you want to say something about
that?"

Ambassador Ukec: "Definitely. You know, I'm an
economist and I've studied this very much, and I know
what it means between the developed and developing
countries. You guys have everything, you have done
things, and now you want to keep us away from doing
them. You want to keep us in the darkness. You don't
want us to have roads, because the forests will be
destroyed ... when you have destroyed your forests and
now have roads! You don't want us to have bridges,
'Oh, they're going to cause problems!' You don't want
us to have refineries, because soon it will pollute
the Earth.

"You guys are powerful over us, now, because of all of
these developments you have done before, and the
forests you have cut down; we will know how to save
our wealth. But we need to develop fast, so that we
become equivalent, or close to equivalent.

"I don't really have a tough opinion about global
warming. If it is warm, why not—we in the Third World,
we should warm our part also, so that if we go to
Hell, we go together. If not, there is no problem! I
don't see anything—let me build my power plants, let
me get the nuclear plant to provide me with energy.
Let me dig my oil which is there; it cannot come out
if I say, 'Okay, it is going to pollute.' Why are they
telling us that? And they are driving vehicles every
day, every household has four, five—! You know, there
are places in Sudan, where you've got over 10,000
people, and there is not even a single vehicle! This
Earth belongs to us, too! The West and the developed
people claim that they have the right to pollute and
we should not even make even a little dent of
polluting, so that we can come up in the world. You
know? That is ridiculous."

Ukec also related the anti-development thrust to the
"hidden agenda." There is a lot of talk about
things—the environment, democratization, and so on.
But the intent for destruction is behind it. He
summarized:

"So, we'll discover soon, what is behind all these
conspiracies, and all these global warming things, and
all these funny things. And saying we are bringing
democracy to people, and then that democracy ends up
with 600,000 being killed. You know? All these things
are a terrible scenario."
Give Us a Chance To Pollute a Bit

In opposition, Ukec laid out a development perspective
for Africa, in response to Marcia Merry Baker's
question about his experience at Iowa State
University, situated in the breadbasket of the United
States. She pointed out that sorghum, the food and
feed staple, originated in Africa, probably in Sudan.
"What is your view, if you had the resources you're
saying should be sent—not sanctions—but resources ...
?"

He replied: "I come from that country. Iowa State, the
Cyclones [football team], where we have the first
veterinary hospital in the world; those who
established and invented the fax machine, the anthrax
vaccine from us, the first atomic bomb—all these! I am
a breed of a very, very wonderful university. If the
Americans give me this chance, I can develop Sudan in
15 years! I can catch up with all the technology I
have, and the knowledge of my friends and graduates of
Iowa State. You know, engineering is our way of life.
Engineering changes the life of people: Given that
fact, we will develop the South, the North, the East,
and the entire Sudan. And in doing so, we will provide
the rest of the world with the food!

"We have the breadbasket of the world! Animal
population—nobody mentions us. The peanut, that
Georgia has; the soybeans, the corn, and sorghum, they
will thrive in Sudan. And when people are threatening
us with global warming, and telling us to stop, they
are going to stop us, they are going to keep us in the
18th Century, while they go into the 21st Century:
Give us the chance to pollute a little bit! Give us a
percentage, you know?—a little a bit, so that we rise
up.... [laughs]

"And I know, I'm proud of being a graduate of Iowa
State, and also being a graduate from this country. I
want to tell the American people that you have a great
country. Don't let some people steal your country.
Don't let some people drive your country to be hated
by other countries. We are one human race and we have
to work together. And when you spot those guys who are
destroying this country: Stop them! You have the
power, using your vote. You have the power, speaking
out. You have your Congressmen and Congresswomen, and
Senate. These institutions are good for you. If you
elect good people, you will have good government that
will cater to sympathy, humanitarian help, rather than
always fighting, fighting, and treading on others. Our
countries are our countries. We are the children born
there; we know what to do with it. We may need help,
but not all the time. It doesn't mean that you should
rule us. You should not tell us what to do. You may
advise us, and when we say, 'no,' don't make us
enemies."

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