Article on the current Cabal in Sudan. Read up and download

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petitions and get your neighborhood involved.


Sudan's Unbowed, Unbroken Inner Circle
Tight Web of Savvy Leaders Withstands International Criticism

By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 3, 2005; Page A01

KHARTOUM, Sudan --

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/02/AR2005050201451.html

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This is Sudan's ruling elite: shadowy and insular, cliquish and fractious. It's an unusual arrangement for a continent more accustomed to the rule of patriarchal Big Men, such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, with a single personality dominating the national psyche.

Despite their tendency to feud, the ministers and security officials in Sudan's inner circle form a tight web of power that combines tribal, religious and military elements. Its formal name is the National Islamic Front, but it is known in Khartoum as the "security cabal."

The cohesion of this club has enabled the government to weather the chill of world condemnation for years -- first in the 1990s for harboring terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and waging a protracted war against African rebels in the south, and now for carrying out a second armed campaign in the western region of Darfur.


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/02/AR2005050201451.html



And to get to a site where you can download a copy of a petition on the Sudan & the Darfur genocide:

Sign Here:

http://capwiz.com/africaaction/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7495271

[uppityperson]

1. Kick for Sudan and the genocide petition

Africa, the forgotten continent. Or is it just that they don't have oil?

[knowbody0]

2. kick

[applegrove]

4. Canadians offered to send 100 generals & experts in to back up

the current African Union troops with expertise. The Sudan ambassador said 'don't come near us'.

[DrDebug]

3. Sudan has oil

Lots of it, but it is already owned by Shell.

Sudan: Mixing Oil and Blood
by Benjamin Bock
Amnesty International
Amnesty NOW magazine, Summer 2002

A first-hand account of life and politics inside Sudan. There, a starving population has endured decades of war, sparked by religious differences, but now fueled by oil.
(...)
Since the pipeline became operational in 1999, oil and money have flowed in earnest. In 2001, oil earned the fundamentalist Islamic government $800 million, which it uses to finance the endless "jihad" While the government spends about $1 million a day on the war, humanitarian agencies report that 3.1 million Sudanese citizens need emergency food aid.
(...)
Sudan's blood-soaked oil business is a multinational affair, with major involvement of oil companies from China, Malaysia, Sweden, Canada, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Qatar. Chevron did the initial oil exploration in the early 1980S, but U.S. sanctions currently bar U.S. oil companies from operating in Sudan.
(...)
Amnesty International has been particularly concerned about the role of Royal Dutch Shell in supplying aviation fuel to government combat aircraft, including helicopter gunships. A May statement by Amnesty charges that Sudan's air force, in violation of international law, has attacked civilian populations. Because the conflict areas in southern Sudan are isolated, no one knows the full extent of the current operations, but Amnesty cites reports that the air force is "currently carrying out indiscriminate or deliberate bombings and shellings of civilians living in the oil-rich Western Upper Nile." It called on "all oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, ... take immediate steps to ensure that the oil they produce does not end up fueling military aircraft" that target civilians. The situation is exacerbated by Khartoum's refusal to allow NGOs to bring humanitarian assistance to the estimated 1.7 million civilians living in the besieged oil-producing region.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Africa/Sudan_Oil_Blood.html

It has oil, but it's already being exploited by a western company

[Adelante]

6. There's much more unexplored

Democracy Now:

-snip-

AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Donald Payne, what do you plan to do now with this newly released information, and the whole issue of sanctions?

REP. DONALD PAYNE: Well, I will certainly raise the issue at our Congressional Black Caucus annual -- I mean, weekly meeting on Wednesday. I will be meeting with some of our colleagues who have been very supportive. Congressman Wolf, Congressman Tancredo, Congressman Cummings. And we will try to come up with some strategy, as Salih Booker said. We have come out strong. You know, it was three months after we declared genocide in the House and the Senate that the administration declared that genocide was going on. I listed 51, read them from the well of the House, 51 Sudanese persons, government officials, starting with the Vice President Taha, who allegedly is the one who orchestrated the release of the Janjaweed, supporting them financially, equipping them. And so he was the chief negotiator of the North-South Accord. He is alleged by Darfurans there and here as the one who is the mastermind. Now, how do you negotiate with him in good faith? What the U.S. government did a decade ago, the C.I.A. in their wisdom removed practically every single C.I.A. station in Africa, just eliminated 10, 12 years ago, as they were cutting back. Therefore, once again, mismanaging an agency have now to rely on government officials where if they had kept their kind of communications that they do allegedly -- I don't know how they actually operate, but they have operatives on the ground. By removing them from Africa, now they have to depend on the government of Sudan. Also, as it's been mentioned by Salih Booker, we put pressure Talisman, which was a Canadian company, to withdraw its activities in Sudan. The PetroChina and Malaysians went in in bigger force. We have got to put some pressure on China. However, I believe, as Salih said, that once you can get sanctions removed, then U.S. companies can go in. There are still a lot of untapped oil resources in Sudan. And that's a part of this agenda of trying to normalize relations with Sudan, so that U.S. oil companies can go in and start exploring oil.

-snip-


http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=9403

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

5. kick