President
Bush Takes Aim at Sudan, Africa
by Lawrence K. Freeman
Executive Intelligence Review May 18, 2001, p. 45
If Africans have had illusions about what America's attitude towards Africa will be, under the administration of President George W. Bush, one only has to look carefully at his speech to the American Jewish Committee (AJC) on May 3, in Washington, D.C. The President's belligerent, threatening remarks against Sudan do not bode well for the entire African continent. After reaffirming full support to the government of Israel in ``Biblical'' terms, President Bush launched into a vicious attack on Sudan, in a manner reminiscent of his father's rhetorical venom toward Iraq, before he initiated the bombing of that nation over a decade ago.
Immediately after citing Teddy Roosevelt's 1903 denunciation of Russia's pogroms against the Jews, President Bush lied that ``such crimes are being committed today by the government of Sudan.'' He accused the Sudanese government of waging war against its own ``Christian and traditionalist'' populations. Referring to the Biblical Exodus of the Jewish people, he said, ``no society in all of history can be justly built on the back of slaves. Sudan is a disaster area for human rights. We must turn the eyes of the world upon the atrocities in the Sudan.'' With that, Bush announced the appointment of a special ``humanitarian coordinator'' for aid to Sudanese rebel groups, Agency for International Development (AID) Administrator Andrew Natios, and proclaimed, ``This is the first step. More will follow.''
These remarks, delivered in this context, represented a propaganda escalation, in preparation for a potential military intervention. This is no mere veiled threat, but culminates months of activity in the United States by Baroness Caroline Cox and her Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), to whip up support for the overthrow of the government of Sudan.
On April 30, only days prior to President Bush's provocative Sudan-bashing, Elliott Abrams, Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), released its second Annual Report, which virulently condemns Sudan. The USCIRF report specifically recommended against appointing a new ambassador for Sudan; but instead, urged the appointment of someone trusted by the President and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who would carry out--precisely the duties assigned to Andrew Natios. Other recommendations include: increased assistance to those forces trying to overthrow the government of Sudan in the South, and in the North, the National Democratic Alliance; the strengthening of economic sanctions; and pressuring oil companies not based in the United States which are developing Sudan's oil industry.
African-American personalities Joe Madison and Walter Fauntroy have returned from territories militarily controlled by John Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), reporting on a mass ``slave redemption'' organized by Cox's CSW. There are many unanswered questions regarding how thousands of alleged slaves are rounded up and sold in a matter of hours to witting, or unwitting African-Americans for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Where do these alleged slaves come from?--how do they all arrive at the same destination, at the same time of day in the desert?--who gets all the money?--where do they go after they are ``freed,'' and where is the proof of the involvement of the government of Sudan?
Sudan's small but growing oil industry has also come under heavy assault: Diane de Guzman, who worked for UNICEF and Operation Lifeline Sudan, gave a briefing at the Washington headquarters of U.S. Committee on Refugees in early May, alleging that the government of Sudan is wiping out dozens of villages and carrying out a ``scorched earth policy'' against its own people in order to build new ``oil roads.'' While Guzman passionately painted a picture of gross human rights abuses by the government in the construction of these new roads, she admitted that she, personally had {not a shred of concrete evidence} of the existence of these villages before the roads were built. The U.S. Refugee Committee is headed up by Roger Winter, who in 1997 publicly supported violently bringing down the Sudanese government, no matter what the terrible consequences would be for the population.
Of course the great irony is that, at precisely the point the U.S. government is beating the drums for war against Sudan, it was voted off the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and Sudan voted on. No doubt, this move reflects a growing awareness by the rest of the world, of the danger represented by this new American administration.