In a move that signals the escalation of the imperialist offensive against Sudan, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir on July 14.
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The provocation is aimed at trapping the Sudanese government into an ever-tightening noose set by Washington and other western imperialists. The arrest warrant is part of a racist effort meant to paint Sudan’s president as a evil dictator—a textbook demonization campaign that accompanies the drum beats of imperialist war.
The Chinese government, itself a frequent target of Washington’s demonization campaigns, has rejected the latest U.S.-led moves against Sudan. The People’s Daily, the newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, stated, “Alleviating this problem demands all sides exercise prudence, consult on an equal basis and strive to cooperate, not rashly push for sanctions, indictments, verdicts and even issuing arrest warrants.”
The ICC is merely another tool of imperialist intervention in the internal politics of Sudan. Like the United Nations, the ICC serves the interests of the imperialist nations that dominate it. Established 10 years ago by the Treaty of Rome, it has opened four investigations into war crimes—all of them in Africa.
“The ICC since its inception has been used as a tool by powerful states against smaller countries to achieve political goals,” commented Dr. Hasan Haj Ali, a political science professor at the University of Khartoum. “The ICC is tied to the U.N. Security Council, which has members who are antagonistic toward Sudan.” (IslamOnline.net, July 15)
The Sudan, like the United States, is not a signatory to the treaty that established the ICC. The Sudanese government has requested that the United Nations suspend the warrant—which it has the power to do—but U.N. President Ban Ki-Moon has so far refused to intervene.
The hypocrisy of the imperialist body was not lost on the Sudanese people. “I think that the ICC is selective in its choice to prosecute cases,” said Hisham Osman. “It has done nothing regarding cases brought to it about crimes committed in Palestine or Iraq against Israel and the United States.” (IslamOnline.net, July 15)
The Sudanese people have consistently resisted efforts by the U.S. and Israeli governments to overthrow Sudan’s government and dismember the country. On July 13, in anticipation of the arrest warrant, tens of thousands of protestors gather in Khartoum, shouting “Down, down, U.S.A.!”
Cutting through the government, media hysteria
The crisis in the Sudan’s Darfur region has been repeatedly characterized in the imperialist countries as “genocide” carried out by the Sudanese government. This disinformation campaign is constructed at the behest of U.S. and British imperialism and carried out by well-funded Zionist organizations.
Through lies and deceit, the government and media have successfully won over many liberals and progressives in the United States who are genuinely concerned with the well- being of the Sudanese people. The corporate media and others frame the conflict as one between Arab and African Sudanese, but this myth is merely false rhetoric the obscures the real situation.
There are several enduring internal conflicts in Sudan—in Darfur, a struggle exists between landed farmers and nomadic herders forced to compete for land. There is real hunger and suffering in that country—much of it the result of the plunder of African land by the former colonial powers and continued imperialist aggression. There is a rebel group fighting against the central government. However, the charge of a coordinated genocidal attack against the people of the Darfur region led by the Sudanese government is a fabrication.
The U.S. and British ruling classes do not care at all about the fate of the Sudanese people. They are taking advantage of the suffering of the Sudanese people to shape an image of genocide to carry out their ultimate goal—the carving up and recolonization of the Sudan and other parts of Eastern Africa. Sudan—the largest country in Africa and an oil-producing nation—is a particularly valuable prize for the bankers and corporate owners in the United States and Britain.
A true solution to the crisis cannot come from the imperialist nations who seek only to exploit the Sudanese land and people; it must come from the people of the region who have a right to determine their future without the interference of the former colonizing powers. These western powers, which inflicted so much suffering on Sudan, now masquerade as the champions of “minority rights” in the quest to re-dominate Africa’s largest country and its vast natural resources.
