[wvns] The US War in Darfur

The US's War In Darfur
by Keith Harmon Snow
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=447&Itemid=1

The Darfur region of Sudan possesses the third largest copper and the
fourth largest uranium deposits on the planet, in addition to
strategic location and significant oil resources of its own. Is the
US-based "Save Darfur" movement snowing the US public on the
fundamental nature of the conflict in Sudan? Are "Save Darfur" and
the prevention of genocide the covers of convenience for the next
round of US oil and resource wars on the African continent?

The Darfur region of western Sudan has been a hotbed of clandestine
activities, gunrunning and indiscriminate violence for decades.

"The humanitarian tragedy in Darfur revolves around natural resources…
Given current realities, no intervention in Darfur will proceed, and
if it did it would fail."

So opined the authors of the September 2006 OPED "Keeping Peacekeepers
out of Darfur" [GN1](DHG, 9/15/06). Now, over a year later, the
situation in Sudan is grimmer than ever, the Darfur conflict remains
widely mischaracterized, and many of the predictions of that OPED have
come true. Meanwhile, the "Save Darfur" advocates pressing military
intervention in Darfur as a "humanitarian" gesture have escalated
pressure in the face of mounting failures, including allegations that
millions of "Save Darfur" dollars fundraised on a sympathy for victims
platform have been misappropriated.

The Darfur region of western Sudan has been a hotbed of clandestine
activities, gunrunning and indiscriminate violence for decades. The
Cold War era saw countless insurgencies launched from the remote
deserts of Darfur. Throughout the 1990's factions allied with or
against Chad, Uganda, Ethiopia, Congo, Libya, Eritrea and the Central
African Republic operated from bases in Darfur, and it was a regular
landing strip for foreign military transport planes of mysterious
origin. In 1990, Chad's Idriss Deby launched a military blitzkrieg
from Darfur and overthrew President Hissan Habre; Deby then allied
with his own ethnic group against the Sudan government. Sudanese
rebels today have bases in Chad, and Chadian rebels have bases in
Darfur, with Khartoum's backing.[GN2] When the regime of Ange-Félix
Patassé collapsed in the Central African Republic in March 2003,
soldiers fled to Darfur with their military equipment. Khartoum
supported the West Nile Bank Front, a rebel army operating against
Uganda from Eastern Congo, commanded by Taban Amin, the son of the
infamous Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, who heads Uganda's dreaded
Internal Security Organization. Darfur is the epicenter of a
modern-day international geopolitical scramble for Africa's resources.
Darfur is reported to have the fourth largest copper and third largest
uranium deposits in the world.

Conflict in Darfur escalated in 2003 after in parallel with
negotiations "ending" the south Sudan war. The U.S.-backed insurgency
by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the guerilla force that
fought the northern Khartoum government for 20 years, shifted to
Darfur, even as the G.W. Bush government allied with Khartoum in the
U.S. led "war on terror." The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)—one of some
27 rebel factions mushrooming in Darfur—is allied with the SPLA and
supported from Uganda. Andrew Natsios, former USAID chief and now US
envoy to Sudan, said on October 6, 2007 that the atmosphere between
the governments of north and south Sudan "had become poisonous." This
is no surprise given the magnitude of the resource war in Sudan and
the involvement of international interests.

Darfur is reported to have the fourth largest copper and third largest
uranium deposits in the world. Darfur produces two-thirds of the
world's best quality gum Arabic—a major ingredient in Coke and Pepsi.
Contiguous petroleum reserves are driving warfare from the Red Sea,
through Darfur, to the Great Lakes of Central Africa. Private military
companies operate alongside petroleum contractors and "humanitarian"
agencies. Sudan is China's fourth biggest supplier of imported oil,
and U.S. companies controlling the pipelines in Chad and Uganda seek
to displace China through the US military alliance with "frontline"
states hostile to Sudan: Uganda, Chad and Ethiopia.

Israel reportedly provides military training to Darfur rebels from
bases in Eritrea, and has strengthened ties with the regime in Chad,
from which more weapons and troops penetrate Darfur. The refugee camps
have become increasingly militarized. There are reports that Israeli
military intelligence operates from within the camps, as does U.S
intelligence. Eritrea is about to explode into yet another war with
Ethiopia.

African Union (AU) forces in Darfur include Nigerian and Rwandan
troops responsible for atrocities in their own countries. While
committing 5000 troops for a UN force in Darfur, Ethiopia is
perpetrating genocidal atrocities in Somalia, and against Ethiopians
in the Ogaden, Oromo and Anuak regions. Uganda has 2000 U.S.-trained
troops in Somalia, also committing massive atrocities, and the
genocide against the Acholi people in northern Uganda proceeds out of
sight. Ethiopia is the largest recipient of U.S. "Aid" in Africa, with
Rwanda and Uganda close on its heals. France is deeply committed to
the Anglo-American strategy, which will benefit Total Oil Corp.
The "Save Darfur" campaign is deeply aligned with Jewish and Christian
faith-based organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel.

AU troops receive military-logistic support from NATO, and are widely
hated. Early in October 2007, SLA rebels attacked an AU base killing
ten troops. In a subsequent editorial sympathetic to rebel factions
("Darfur's Bitter Ironies," Guardian Online, 10/4/07) Smith College
English professor Eric Reeves espoused the tired rhetoric of
"Khartoum's genocidal counter-insurgency war in Darfur," a position
counterproductive to any peaceful settlement. To minimize the damage
this rebel attack has done to their credibility Reeves and other "Save
Darfur" advocates cast doubt about the rebels' identities and
mischaracterized the SLA attackers as "rogue commanders." However,
there is near unanimous agreement, internationally, that rebels are
"out of control," committing widespread rape and plundering with
impunity, just as the SPLA did in South Sudan for over a decade.

Debunking the claims of a "genocide against blacks" or an "Islamic
holy-war" against Christians, Darfur's Arab and black African ethnic
groups have intermarried for centuries, and nearly everyone is Muslim.
The "Save Darfur" campaign is deeply aligned with Jewish and Christian
faith-based organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe and
Israel. These groups have relentlessly campaigned for Western military
action, demonizing both Sudan and China, but they have never addressed
Western military involvement—backing factions on all sides. By
mobilizing constituencies sympathetic to the "genocide" label and the
cries of "never again" they do a grave disservice to the cause of
human rights.

There is growing dissent within the "Save Darfur" movement as more
supporters question its motivations and the Jewish/Israeli link. "Save
Darfur" leaders have been replaced after complaints surfaced about
expenditures of funds. Many rebel leaders reportedly receive tens of
thousands of dollars monthly, and rebels emboldened by the "Save
Darfur" movement commit crimes with impunity. There is a growing
demand to probe the accounts of "Save Darfur" to find out how the tens
of millions collected are being spent due to allegations of arms-deals
and bribery—rebel leaders provided with five-star hotel
accommodations, prostitutes and sex parties.
The West is desperate to deploy a "robust peacekeeping" mission in
Darfur, to press the Western agenda, but United Nations forces will
only deepen the chaos.

"Save Darfur" is today the rallying cry for a broad coalition of
special interests. Advocacy groups—from the local Massachusetts
Congregation B'Nai Israel chapter to the International Crises Group
and USAID—have fueled the conflict through a relentless, but
selective, public relations campaign that disingenuously serves a
narrow policy agenda. These interests offer no opportunity for
corrective analyses, but stubbornly press their agenda, and they are
widely criticized for inflaming tensions in Darfur. Rhetoric,
aggression and propaganda do not make a strong foreign policy, and the
African people suffering from this brutal international conflict
involving China, Saudi Arabia, France, Britain, Canada, the United
States and Israel cannot eat good intentions foolishly delivered under
the banners of "humanitarian aid" and a poorly cloaked militarism.

The West is desperate to deploy a "robust peacekeeping" mission in
Darfur, to press the Western agenda, but United Nations forces will
only deepen the chaos. The UN forces will cost billions of dollars and
will achieve nothing positive. Indeed, the results will be disastrous,
creating another Iraq and Afghanistan—only increasing the chaos and
devastation already apparent. The United States is hated for this kind
of aggression and posturing, and the U.S. economy will continue to suffer.

Keith Harmon Snow is an independent human rights investigator and war
correspondent who worked with Survivors Rights International
(2005-2006), Genocide Watch (2005-2006) and the United Nations (2006)
to document and expose genocide and crimes against humanity in Sudan
and Ethiopia. He has worked in 17 countries in Africa, and he recently
worked in Afghanistan.

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