Darfuris made pawns in Western power play for oil? -- Part I
Thursday, August 19, 2004 at 06:55AM
TheSpook
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]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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