People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
21
June 01 , 2008
|
Vol. XXXII
No.
21 June 01 , 2008 |
Imperialist Machinations In Sudan
M K Pandhe
I HAD an occasion to visit Sudan in connection with the presidential council meeting of the WFTU. I got an opportunity to discuss with some knowledgeable persons in Sudan and other African countries to understand details about the situation in Sudan.
Sudan has fought the longest civil war between north and the south of the country in the recent period. Between 1955 and 1974 the fratricidal war led to huge loss of human lives. Though Sudan had a long history of conflict between north and south tribes, imperialist powers have been using these conflicts to their advantage. In the medieval period Arab slave raids were conducted in South Sudan to capture slaves when the tribes in north were used by Arabs. This developed animosity between north and south of Sudan. There were also disputes about territory and resources in the region.
In the year 1899 the British imperialists forcibly occupied Sudan and imposed colonial rule. Though it was called Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, in practice it was only the British rule that was in operation. The British imperialists separated north and south people on the plea that the southern region was not ready for modern world. The people in north were even not allowed to visit south. British invested in northern region and did some development keeping south backward which strengthened the conflict between north and south. The divide and rule policy adopted by British imperialists perpetuated the seeds of conflict by purposefully keeping south backward and north somewhat developed.
As Khartoum Monitor noted, �Another colonial experiment that slowed down development of Southern Sudan had been the �indirect rule� policy. In order to prevent educated urban class and religious leaders from influencing social and political life in Southern Sudan, the British authorities gave �Power� to the tribal leaders and ruled through them. While the �Divide and Rule� policy separated the north and south, the �indirect rule� divided south into hundreds of informal chiefdoms� (January 15, 2008).
Though Sudan became independent in 1956, the seeds of conflict sown by the British colonial polices came to the forefront. Two decades of civil war resulted in huge loss of life and property while stagnation in economy kept vast majority of the people below the poverty line.
After independence the somewhat developed north tried to dominate the national economy. While the undeveloped south resisted the policy of the north. The southern provinces kept backward by the British rule continue to be marginalised even after independence of Sudan which resulted in their rebellion against the northern areas. The famous historian Toynbee pointed out that British policies in Sudan were the primary cause of conflict between north and south.
The impact of civil war in Sudan has affected the neighboring states. For example, in the year 2006, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central African Republic, Congo and Uganda accommodated over half a million Sudanese refugees, including 2,40,000 from Darfur alone. Sudan, in turn, gave shelter to 116,000 Eritrians, 20,000 Chadians and small numbers from other border states. Even borders of the adjoining states are not clearly demarcated which has caused frequent armed clashes with the neighboring countries on border issues. Frequent agreements on exchange of refugees had to be arrived at between the neighbouring countries. Periodic clashes on grazing rights and water disputes have taken place in the recent past.
The long drawn fratricidal war ended in 1972 but again erupted in 1983 due to the policy pursued by the imperialists powers who supplied arms to both the sides. According to an estimate, more than 4 million people were displaced in the civil war in Sudan while more than two million people lost their life in the long drawn civil wars.
The imperialist interest in Sudan increased over the years due to oil discovery. The proved oil reserves of Sudan are estimated to be 1.6 billion barrels while the daily output is estimated to be three and a half lakh barrels. Over and above this, it has reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, uranium, silver and gold.
Due to internal strife the natural resources could not be developed for improving the standard of living of the people. Though area wise it is the largest country in African continent, it is populated only by 4 crore people. Life expectancy of the people of Sudan is only 49 years.
The Clinton administration imposed sanctions against Sudan which bars any financial dealing with Sudan or institutions owned by the government of Sudan. According to US regulations on Sudan sanctions, �all property and interests in property of the government of Sudan that are in the United States, that come within Untied States, or that are or come within the possession or control of US persons, including their overseas branches� are to be blocked.
A M Hassan Sayed, president of one of the Sudanese banks stated, �Sudanese banks are suffering from endless US regulations on dollar transaction, we are going through extreme difficulties. Every day the umbrella of US sanctions and pertaining regulations keep expanding� (Khartoum Monitor January 16, 2008). In May 2007 Bush ordered stiffened sanctions on Sudan which has hurt Sudanese economy severely.
The CIA report on Sudan states, �Sudan is a source country for men, women and children trafficked for the purpose of forced labour and sexual exploitation. Sudan may also be a transit and destination country for Ethiopian women trafficked for domestic servitude, boys are trafficked to the middle east, particularly Qatar and the Untied Arab Emirates, for use as camel jockies, small number of girls are reportedly trafficked within Sudan for domestic servitude as well as commercial sexual exploitation in small brothels in internally displaced persons camps�. (CIA - The World Factbook � Sudan).
The Sudanese Communist Party has frozen its participation in the six member committee with National Congress Party (NCP), the major ruling party in Sudan following the murder of Comrade Muatasim Hamid on January 12, 2008 at Gezira University. He was stabbed by NCP students and died on the spot. The Communist Party characterised the murder as �political assassination� and accused security forces for using two security organ cars in the violent attack. It also charged the NCP of trying to eliminate the influence of the Communist Party in the University.
The NCP which came to power by a military coup in 1989 is a majority partner in the government with Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement as a junior partner.
However relations between the two parties have strained due to controversial death of SPLM president and vice-president of Sudan Dr John Garang De Mabior in a helicoptor crash. Some leaders of SPLM have demanded reinvestigation in the cause of accident have only made the matter more serious.
Darfur is the Western region of Sudan is equivalent to the size of France and larger than Egypt but its population is only about 50 lakhs. All inhabitants are Muslims. Most of the Darfurians are either livestock breeders or subsistent farmers. Conflicts between farmers and livestock breeders and periodic intertribal conflicts over water and grass resources were occurring throughout the history of the region. In 1916, the British imperialist annexed Darfur from Sultanate of Darfur which became a part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. British rulers always kept people of Darfur away from other parts of Sudan which contributed to the perpetuation of conflict in different regions of Sudan.
Since some tribes in Darfur have ethnic roots in neighbouring countries of Chad and Libya, at times these countries were also involved in conflicts. Imperialist powers took advantage of the situation and supplied modern arms to intensify the conflicts among different tribes. Imperialist powers developed special vested interest in Darfur because it has fourth largest reserves of copper and third largest reserves of uranium in the world.
Several talks were held with the intervention of countries of African Union and United Nations and some agreements were arrived at but the peace was a temporary phenomenon. Imperialist powers ensured that stable peace does not prevail in the region.
In the year 2003, while negotiations were going on hostilities erupted between the government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement. SPLM forces occupied Darfur government headquarters and armed confrontation took place between government and rebel forces. Once again with the intervention of African Union and United Nations negotiations commenced in 2004 at Abuja, capital city of Nigeria, which ultimately resulted in agreement on 15 December 2004.
The agreement provided 1) Affirming the unity of Sudan 2) Adopting Federation as a system of government 3) Encouraging reconciliation and reactivating local mechanism of resolving the conflict 4) Taking action against those involved in violation of human rights 5) Providing humanitarian aid to refugees and internally displaced and enhancing repatriation 6) Forming an interim government in Darfur with the participation of the rebel movements at all levels including the national government and 7) Forming a National Fund for compensation.
It was agreed that any movement that did not sign the agreement would be considered as a terrorist group and action would be taken against it for violating ceasefire. However USA and European Union countries received the rebels who did not sign the agreement and gave them financial support and arms to attack civilian forces and police.
Over and above this the UK government, friendly to Bush administration, moved a resolution in Security Council proposing deployment of 26,000 UN soldiers and 6000 policemen along with technical support. It further envisaged that the UN would be in charge of security and the judiciary systems in Darfur.
There were 22 rebel movements in Darfur. However, due to imperialist designs there was no unity among them which continued to cause civil strife in the region. The UN failed to give promised financial support to African Union forces and USA and UK continue to deploy UN forces mainly from Europe, despite agreement that UN forces would be from countries without interests in the conflict in Darfur.
As a result of discovery of more oil in Darfur, US interest in the region increased and it continued to pressurise Sudan government to give concessions to US oil cartels. However, due to fraternal aid from China, oil industry could be developed in Sudan and today income from oil constituted 60 per cent of Sudan budget. The continued support of the Chinese government to Sudan has annoyed US oil cartels and the US government has increased its machinations against the people of Sudan.
Without achieving ceasefire among all warring groups in Sudan and Darfur, there cannot be peace in the entire Sudan. Foreign help to rebels is a big stumbling block in achieving ceasefire in this war-torn state. The need for Sudanese people to realise the game of US and UK imperialists is of paramount importance today.
It is also necessary to hold the impending 2009 elections in a democratic and peaceful manner so that the rule of the army is replaced by the political parties who enjoy support of the people.
