Darfuris made pawns in Western power play for oil? -- Part I

The West's hypocritically callous response to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur starkly illustrates that for Washington and the EU, Darfuris are mere pawns in the power play to get Western access to the oil profits flowing out of southern Sudan. Since coming to office in 2001, the Bush administration's highest priority in Sudan has been to secure a peace agreement with the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). The resulting "stability" in Sudan would allow Washington to lift its existing sanctions -- imposed in 1997--and thus allow US oil corporations to invest in Sudan. Washington and the EU all but ignored the atrocities that have taken place in Darfur since February 2003--until, in June and July, Khartoum's brutal treatment of the Darfuris threatened to derail the north-south peace deal. It was only then that Washington and the EU begin to apply pressure on Khartoum to end the attacks on Darfuri villagers by the government-backed Arab tribal militia or Janjaweed. [more]