first i read this:
"Sudan: The forgotten genocide"
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=578622004Key points
• Sudanese government accused of aiding in ethnic cleansing of Africans
• More than 1 million people driven from homes in Western Sudan
• International community fails to head pleas from Kofi Annan
The slaughter in Darfur is entirely racist, as the blacks of Darfur are Sunni Muslims, the same branch of Islam as Sudan’s Arabs.
The prize at the Kenya talks is a peace of sorts between north and south and access to Sudan’s newly discovered rich oil reserves.
The US president, George Bush, wants a Sudan accord before November’s election to offer to the Christian Right, a powerful Bush constituency that lobbies for the southern Sudan, where many US missionaries work. In these circumstances, the people of Darfur might be expendable to Sudan and to the outside world.
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then i read this:
"US eases arms embargo against Sudan; Libya to be next"
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en65191&F_catID=&f_type=sourceSecretary of State Colin Powell removed Sudan from a blacklist of countries deemed not to be cooperating fully with US anti-terrorism efforts and, at the same time, hinted strongly that Libya — which has vastly improved ties with the United States since renouncing weapons of mass destruction programs — could be next.
"It doesn’t change the kind of strong pressure we’re bringing on Sudan ... to change their behaviour in Darfur, it doesn’t change that whatsoever," he told reporters. Powell’s determinations, which were published in the Federal Register, were only symbolic as both Sudan and Libya remain on the State Department’s list of "state sponsors of terrorism," inclusion on which also bans arms sales as well as mandating other, broader sanctions, Boucher said.
A settlement remains unsigned despite repeated pronouncements over past weeks that an agreement is imminent. Powell removed Sudan from the list without comment while renewing the non-cooperative status of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Libya, all of which are also on the "state sponsors" list along with Sudan.
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so someone explain whats going on here. i haven't watched much tv news over the past few weeks but i've heard NOTHING about whats going on in sudan. is there something behind powell's removal of sudan from the blacklist even as their government is accused of a genocide? does this have something to do with oil? with bush wanting something to offer to the hard christian right? something else altogether?