SUDAN COUNTRY OVERVIEW President: Lt. Gen. Umar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (since 1989) Independence: January 1, 1956 (from Egypt and the UK) Population: 39.1 million Location/Size: Northern Africa bordering the Red Sea between Egypt (on the north); Eritrea and Ethiopia (on the east); Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (on the south); and Libya, Chad and the Central African Republic (on the west) / 2,505,810 square kilometers (967,000 square miles), slightly larger than the combined size of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington Major Cities: Khartoum (capital), Juba, Kassala, Medani, Nyala, El-Obeid, Omdurman, Port Sudan Languages: Arabic (official), Dinka, Bedawi, Nuer, Fur, Hausa, Zande, English, and various other Nilo-Saharan, and Afro-Asiatic languages Major Ethnic Groups: Arab, Beja, Kinka, Fur, Nuba, Nubian, Nuer, Zande (Azande) Religion: Muslim (Sunni, in north) 70%, traditional beliefs 25%, Christian 5% (mostly in Patrick Scott Recent pronouncements by George W. Bush and Tony Blair concerning the situation in the Sudanese province of Darfur have little to do with any humanitarian concerns for the plight of Africans living in the province.
With Sudan, as with Iraq, both Bush and Blair would have us believe otherwise. When asked about the crisis in Sudan at his monthly press conference in July Tony Blair said he believed that "we have a moral responsibility to deal with this and to deal with it by any means that we can."
Translated from Blairspeak into plain English this means that Blair is considering the option of British participation in a military invasion of the region.
At about the same time on July 22 the US Congress also passed unanimously a resolution calling on George W. Bush to consider "multilateral or unilateral action against Sudan should the United Nations Security Council fail to act".
That there is armed conflict in Darfur, that people have died, that there is ethnic cleansing and that there are refugees is beyond dispute.
Also beyond dispute is the fact that the Arab Janjaweed and quell any movement towards independence or autonomy for the province.
For all their statements of condemnation of the atrocities in Darfur, there has been precious little offered in terms of humanitarian aid offered by western governments.
In March the UN issued an appeal for US$350 million to fund humanitarian aid for refugees in Darfur. So far less than half that amount has been received.
Similarly the UN World Food Program has only received US$123 million of the US$195 million it requires for relief operations in Darfur.
The US has pledged $220 million in humanitarian aid to Darfur. This amount is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the billions the US has spent to fund the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the even more billions given in financial aid to Israel.
To give an idea of how much money the US ruling class is prepared to raise in defence of its own interests George W. Bush recently signed a bill authorising an annual defence budget of $417 billion.
Not surprisingly, there is also the question of Sudanese oil, and this is the primary question. Sudan's oil reserves remain largely untapped.
In 1998 the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in Germany reported that according to a Chevron representative it was likely that there were more oil reserves in Sudan than in Saudi Arabia and Iran combined.
However because of existing US sanctions against Sudan, US oil companies were unable to obtain oil concessions from the Sudanese government.
Oil WOLC granted to oil companies based in Europe and elsewhere, including the China National Petroleum Company.
Even less surprising is the fact that there are oil reserves in southern Darfur - and that the concessions on these reserves are held by China National Petroleum.
Currently the US is probably far too bogged down in the military quagmire of Iraq to even consider the possibility a unilateral Iraqi style' invasion of Sudan in the immediate future.
What may be more likely is a 'Kosovan style' solution, where the US (and Britain?) would assemble a wider military coalition that could administer Darfur as an imperialist controlled enclave in the region.
With this in mind both the British and Australian governments have stated that they would be prepared to send troops to Darfur.
In Britain and elsewhere the anti war movement has an obligation to oppose any and all forms of military intervention against Sudan.
Whatever the ostensibly humanitarian reasons may be used to justify such an intervention. As in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq, such an intervention will only take place in order to further imperialist interests.
At the same time it is also necessary to campaign for unconditional humanitarian aid to all refugees in the region, aid that so far has been doled out very sparingly.