SUDAN, SOUTH SUDAN CLASHES ESCALATE
Background >> US-Israeli War In Sudan Masked By George Clooney
The West Wants to Take the Rest of Sudan’s Oil
Less than a year ago, Sudan was split in two after decades of U.S. support for the secessionist South. Newly independent and deeply impoverished South Sudan has now seized much of what remains of the North’s oil fields. The South refuses to return to its borders, despite widespread international denunciation – a boldness that is inconceivable without the connivance of the United States.
South Sudan refuses to return to its borders, and its generals are talking about marching all the way to Khartoum.”
The campaign to chop away more territory from the African nation of Sudan is in full swing. South Sudan, which comprised one-third of the country until becoming independent, last year, seized the oil town of Heglig on the northern Sudan side of the border and is refusing international calls to withdraw. The region around Heglig contains half of Sudan’s remaining oil fields. Most of the country’s oil went to South Sudan when the country was partitioned. But the Heglig fields indisputably belong to northern Sudan, having been awarded to the Khartoum government by a Permanent Court, in 2009. Nevertheless, South Sudan refuses to return to its borders, and its generals are talking about marching all the way to Khartoum.
The European Union describes the South Sudanese seizure of northern territory as “completely unacceptable,” and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his “grave concerns” directly to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. But President Kiir, who wears a signature cowboy hat given to him by President Bush in 2006, shouted back at the UN chief, “I am not under your command.”
So, who does have influence on South Sudan? That would be, overwhelmingly, the United States, which supported South Sudan’s secessionist movement for more than a generation and steamrolled African and international opinion into accepted the dismemberment of what had been the continent’s largest country. It was an especially bitter pill to swallow for that African Union, whose predecessor, the Organization of African States, in 1964 declared that national boundaries left by colonialists should be left alone. The founding statesmen of Africa feared that tampering with borders would expose the continent to foreign intrigues, as Europeans and Americans stirred up secessionist movements for their own gain.
Green Berets now operate in South Sudan and neighboring Uganda, Congo, and the Central African Republic.”
That time has fully arrived. No sooner had South Sudan declared itself independent, than President Obama devised an excuse to move U.S. Special Forces into the country – one of the poorest on Earth, if you don’t count the oil. Green Berets now operate in South Sudan and neighboring Uganda, Congo, and the Central African Republic. American money keeps the Sudanese army equipped and paid. And President Kiir met with Obama only two weeks ago. The official press release on their talks said Obama had expressed concern about the tensions between North and South, and “emphasized the importance of…reaching an agreement on oil.”
Well, it looks like Obama and the cowboy-hatted President Kiir reached their own agreement: to seize the North’s oil fields. South Sudan is a U.S. client state that owes its independence to the U.S. and Europeans and Israel, which was deeply involved in the Sudanese civil war. It is inconceivable that South Sudan would defy the United Nations and the European Union to invade North Sudan and seize half of its oil reserves without the connivance of the United States. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, who has been calling for the head of Sudanese President al-Bashir since George Bush was in office, will pretend that she is “concerned” with the fighting between the two Sudans, and so will Obama. But U.S. client states like South Sudan don’t invade their neighbors without Washington’s blessing.
Representative of South Sudan on the situation in Sudan – Security Council Media Stakeout
South Sudan becomes IMF’s 188th member country
Oil-rich South Sudan, the world’s newest nation and one of the least developed countries, has joined the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.
The country’s formal inclusion in the IMF and the World Bank Group took place yesterday after South Sudan Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Kosti Manibe Ngai signed the Articles of Agreement and Conventions here.
“Even before we became members, the World Bank has already been collaborating closely with us… So today we are very pleased that the formalities have finally been completed, and we look forward to a long-term partnership with the World Bank Group as we work together on the much-needed development of South Sudan,” Ngai said.
South Sudan became the world’s newest country on July 9, 2011, after decades of conflict.
It has some of the lowest education, health, and other human development results in the world, and more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.
The country, however, has rich agricultural and forestry potential, and significant oil reserves.
In addition to becoming a member of International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), South Sudan joined the International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Development Association (IDA), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
Sudan Leader Threatens To Topple South Sudan Government
Sudan’s president threatened Wednesday to topple his rival government to the south, harsh words that could escalate the conflict between the two nations as they intensify clashes over their shared border.
As the international community pushed for a peaceful solution to the dispute, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir vowed to “liberate” the people of South Sudan, saying it was his country’s duty to them.
South Sudan broke away from Sudan in July after decades of civil war, creating the world’s newest country. But the two never agreed on how to share the oil wealth found in the region between the countries, and the border was never fully demarcated.
Fighting has intensified in the last several weeks amid fears the two sides could return to an all-out war. On Tuesday, soldiers from Sudan and South Sudan clashed at a river dividing their two countries, leaving 22 dead as fighting spread to a new area of the tense border.
The river battle comes amid wider violence along the shared border around the oil town of Heglig, which South Sudan troops took control of last week. Sudanese aircraft have been bombing South Sudan’s Unity State as a part of that fighting.
Accuses South Sudan of ‘external’ agenda
Speaking to young members of his ruling party in Khartoum late Wednesday, the Sudanese president accused the ruling South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and its army of implementing an “external” agenda that don’t serve its own people.
Al-Bashir accused Juba of trying to topple his government and vowed to retaliate.
“This situation makes it imperative upon Sudan to confront the challenge of the State of South Sudan to topple the government in Khartoum by working to liberate the Southern nationals” from the southern ruling party, he said.
Al-Bashir is known for his tough rhetoric. His troops were surprised by the capture of the oil-rich town and have vowed to reclaim it, but his government also is using diplomatic channels to try to resolve the issue.
Mustafa Osman Ismail, a top adviser to al-Bashir, warned South Sudan that it must immediately withdraw from Heglig or face counterattacks. Ismail spoke in Ethiopia’s capital, where he met with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and African Union officials.
He said the trip was intended to “ask those with influence” to persuade South Sudan to withdraw from Heglig. Ismail said al-Bashir called several heads of state and sent his foreign minister to South Africa to work on the issue.
Warns army is ‘getting ready’
“Time is running short, and our army is also getting ready,” said Ismail.
He said Khartoum is under pressure from Sudan’s public to liberate “the invaded territory” after South Sudan TV broadcast images of what he said are medical staff captured in Heglig.
Al-Bashir said it is the responsibility of his government to rid the southerners from the ruling party in the south, The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, because it was his government that helped them seize power.
“It was we who have contributed to empowering the SPLM in the South and therefore we are responsible before our people in the South to correct the mistake we have committed,” he said.
African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki urged the UN Security Council on Tuesday to take action to stop the fighting between Sudan and South Sudan, warning that both sides are locked in a “logic of war” with hardliners increasingly in control.
UN Security Council to discuss crisis
Security Council members promised to urgently discuss the crisis, including the possibility of sanctions, said U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, the current Security Council president. She briefed reporters about the former South African president’s closed discussion with the council via videoconference.
Rice said Mbeki told the council that Khartoum believes South Sudan is seeking regime change in its northern neighbour “and that if that is the case, then the objective of Khartoum would also be regime change” in the South.
“Frankly, one would hope that that is rhetoric and not the objective or the purported objective of either side,” Rice said.
A Sudan foreign ministry official denounced Rice’s comments Wednesday.
“This means treating the culprit and victim equally,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Dahab said. He said the “aggression” by Southern Sudanese troops on the Heglig area was a “flagrant violation” of the UN charter.
“It is the duty of the Security Council to find an end to the situation in Heglig,” Dahab said.
