President Obama may be having a hissy fit over Israel's borders, but a major foreign policy crisis is brewing over a Muslim Arab nation's aggression to forcibly settle a border dispute that was to be decided peacefully by referendum.
Last January 9, the mainly black African, Christian and animist southern Sudan voted successfully to separate from the North and is scheduled to become a fully accredited state this July. The vote was 98 percent in favor of secession and according to the 2005 George Bush-brokered Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the oil-producing Abyei region was supposed to hold its own referendum last January to let its majority African Ngoc Dinka population vote on whether to join the North or the South.
That referendum never was allowed to take place, because the Arab Muslim north knew that the African Dinka would vote to join the south. Instead, the North broke the CPA and invaded the territory, launching a well-planned invasion of the disputed Abyei border region. Tanks, troops and government warplanes were used to capture Abyei, the main town in the region, and civilian villages were bombed from the air as thousands of residents fled their homes and UN observers accused the Sudanese troops of deliberately burning and looting .
The Government of South Sudan (GOSS) called the North’s seizure of the town of Abyei “illegal” and said it will defend itself. The country is again on the brink of civil war, which is probably exactly what the Arab Muslim North wants,since they are far better armed than the South thanks to oil deals with China and a mutual defense pact with Iran.
The White House immediately issued a statement condemning the Khartoum government over its use of force and called the North’s invasion “blatant violations of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement” that “threaten to undermine the mutual commitment of the CPA parties to avoid a return to war.”
“The United States calls upon the SAF to immediately cease all offensive operations in Abyei and withdraw its forces from Abyei,” the statement read. “Failure to do so could set back the process of normalizing relations between the Sudan and the United States and inhibit the international community’s ability to move forward on issues to Sudan’s future.” But thus far, nothing more.
The North Sudanese regime is headed by President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, who is under indictment by the International Criminal Court(ICC) for genocide in Darfur.At this point, Al-Bashir obviously intends to hold on to Abyei and the oil, not only to keep the oil profits in Arab hands but to weaken the South so that it becomes a failed state that can be coerced back under Northern rule later.
Al-Bashir has already cancelled meetings with a visiting United Nations Security Council delegation and informed the UN that their observers will have to leave Sudan on July 9, when the South’s independence takes effect.Without any UN witnesses, Al-Bashir can continue to ethnically cleanse black Africans and repopulate the region with Arabs.
So far, aside from the statement above, The Obama Administration has not done anything about this situation.And the UN obviously won't because the Muslim bloc there will protect Al-Bashir.
President Obama enjoys a high degree of support among black Americans. It will be interesting to see how they continue to justify that support if this president appears to value black lives in the Sudan less than Arab Muslim lives in Libya.
Especially in a country where blacks captured in jihad are still bought and sold as slaves.
Excellent post! Thanks.
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