Moved here: 06/22/10
by J John Swanko
Washington (People Port) Sudan is a country in North Africa bordering the Red Sea. The North of Sudan was the Nation of Nubia. It was first colonized by Egypt. It converted to Coptic in the sixth century, Islam in the fifteenth. Its industries include petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, armaments, automobile/light truck assembly. It also has Darfur and Southern Sudan. Northern Sudan speaks Arabic and are Arabs. Most of the rest are not Muslim, non-Arab.
The country of Sudan has been at war for almost as long as it has been a nation. The North enjoys a growing industrial base. Darfur and the South live in war. Life is very cheap here. Children are stolen and sold as house maids or worse. Life is not much better in the South where women are sold off. Every area of Sudan has human trafficking. Ethnic cleansing is the effect of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel militia wars. Sudan has also hosted refugees from neighboring countries. Some of those countries sponsored rebels that also fought wars. There are wars over grazing rights. Wars fought over water. Egypt tries to keep the peace in the Hala'ib Triangle. Still war shows there from time to time.
When power sharing was brokered between the North and the South, hopes rose. The President of South Sudan thought he could control the militias. At one point, the South could have become a Nation earning income by taking care of all the areas refugees. When the North recently ordered the NGOs out, some thought a perfect solution lay to the South. The world saw it different.
The President of Sudan was not indicted for genocide. The International Court did indict him. No there were not loads of peacekeepers in Darfur or anywhere else. The peacekeepers were changing out. There are not enough in any area. The South and the North are busy building their military capacity in advance of the Sudan vote on splitting the North Sudan and South Sudan. One of the ships carrying armaments to both the North and the South was taken by pirates. Northern sanctions have little chance of working. Two of Sudan's biggest trading partners are India and China.
Right now the President of South Sudan, is the Vice President of Sudan. If Sudan splits, the President of Sudan will become the President of North Sudan. Chasing Darfur residents out, suggests, that too will be part of North Sudan (could not find an overlayable map of Nubia).
Rather than follow the Ghana model of Nation Uniting or the Bangladeshi Model of providing useful work to its citizens. Bangladesh, a poor Muslim nation, prides itself on education. Pirates rob ships passing, or going anywhere near, Bangladesh. Yet, that nation created an industry providing labor to other countries. It earns almost $5 billion a year. The military has problems in Bangladesh. When pay was late and the difference between officers and enlisted widened, people died. No one would think of sending in peacekeepers. Sudan is a unique nation of constant war. When the President of Sudan was indicted, he ordered the NGOs out of the country. War trials are suppose to build Societal Restoration. That has been the goal since Nuremberg.
In Cambodia, a few Khmer Rouge are about to go on trial. The Court would like adding a few more. Cambodia does not see it that way. When members of the Khmer Rouge found out how bad these guys were, They split and started a resistance. With the help of Vietnam, they kicked them out. The Khmer Rouge became gorillas. This process kept repeating until 1990 when the world stopped funding the wars. As most would expect, there are good and bad Khmer Rouge.
Cambodia wants the Court to limit the bad to those that stayed, killing. The trials are for the affected nation. With time, and that trial, a true nation emerges, Society is rebuilt.
That very important Court looks bad right now. Some civilized lawyer wanted to look good, presto -the NGOs are out and more people will die. Not the civilized lawyer's fault -it is Sudan that refuses to play by the rules... The ICC crusaders now appear to be a political arm of the UN. The ICC has a tool called, JCE Joint Criminal Enterprise or as it is also known Just Convict Everyone. With it, the Pope could be indicted. They all wanted the President of Sudan to be indicted for genocide. Did not happen. Sudan's tin-pot tyrant knows he only needs a reasonable argument to look good at home. Time is now his friend. The world suddenly noticed the pirates.
Notes:
No crime committed before 2002 could be investigated. Cambodia passed a law to bring justice.
This article was spurred by Sudan's action against those that murdered a reporter.Those in the conflict area, civilians, and armies, need protection this Court could offer.
In researching this article, it seems the unintended consequence to those most in need of protection: The parties act as though they are simply sagebrush. That sagebrush is blowing about a desert. The idea that refugees should be resettled in their homeland may not be what is best for refugees in or from Sudan.
What is important to all humans is a useful, filled life.
President Obama as President has stated he is troubled by Darfur. The United States did not sign or ratify the ICC treaty. Yet, one could expect the United States State Department to be looking at Sudan very closely.
The United States has real options. Our State Department is a creative group that would not want anyone hurt. This maybe the time that North and South Sudan, quickly resolve this situation. All refugees need protection, these in particular, need protection and a new useful life.
Darfur may become independent.
There has been a call for Sudan nationalism.
Many non-Northerners call themselves African.
Sudan, up to the 1800s earned their vast incomes from slavery.
Sudan constantly is said to have resources motivating the wars.
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Since moving this article here, I deleted the ad and included a link.
Comments: PeoplePort@gmail.com Copyrighted, 2009, J John Swanko, All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License
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