The world’s leading imperialist powers have pressed for intervention in Sudan’s affairs for years. Although the imperialists claim constantly that this is for “humanitarian” reasons, the real aims are much more sinister. Leading the pack in the drive to subjugate Sudan is the U.S. government.
Sudan was a British colony before winning its independence in 1956. A pro-U.S. regime was overthrown in 1989. The
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When a small number of anti-government rebels refused to sign a peace agreement to end the Darfur conflict, the U.N. Security Council voted to send a massive “peacekeeping” force to Sudan. In early 2007, the U.S. Congress passed the “Darfur Peace and Accountability Act,” tightening the sanctions on Sudan.
President George Bush also blocked U.S. commercial bank transactions with Sudan and barred many Sudanese companies from having any financial dealings with the United States in 2007.
Due to imperialist pressure, Sudan reluctantly agreed to allow a joint U.N.-African Union force in the western Darfur region composed of 20,000 troops.
Despite this concession, the imperialists did not stop their assault on Sudan. On Dec. 18, the U.S. Congress passed a Sudan divestment bill, which will allow state and local governments and investors to cut business ties with the Sudanese government. The House of Representatives voted 411-0 in favor of the bill.
The bill targets four economic sectors the provide revenue to the Sudanese government—oil, power production, mining and military equipment. Some U.S. states and universities have divested already from Sudan. U.S. corporations will be banned from receiving federal contracts unless they can prove they have not worked with Sudan’s military and energy sectors.
Posing as a bill aimed at ending a humanitarian crisis, it is in reality imperialist intervention in Sudan’s internal affairs.
Unfortunately, a number of activists have been fooled by the government-media campaign of lies. What is called “genocide” in the capitalist press is in fact a civil war fueled by imperialist powers.
The divestment bill is meant to punish Sudan further for resisting imperialism’s objectives. The ultimate goal is to overthrow the government of Bashir and replace it with a regime friendly to the interests of the Western capitalists. The so-called Save Darfur Coalition, which has gained prominence in the bourgeois media as the vanguard of a “humanitarian” movement, is in fact made up of right-wing U.S. Christian evangelicals and Zionists, such as the Christian National Association of Evangelicals and the American Jewish World Service.
The imperialist powers also are attempting to use the U.N. Security Council to force more concessions on Sudan’s government.
On Jan. 1, the joint U.N.-A.U. force is set to take over the “peacekeeping” mission in Sudan. Bashir has resisted any further infringements on Sudan’s sovereignty.
As a result, the Washington is pushing a 30-day deadline to force Bashir to accept the deployment of U.N.-A.U. soldiers. Failure to submit to the force would mean that Bashir and other government officials will face “targeted sanctions.” The new round of “targeted sanctions” is aimed at economically isolating Bashir and his allies with the hope of making them more susceptible to being overthrown by pro-imperialist forces.
The U.S. campaign against Sudan is hypocritical and racist. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan pales in comparison to the brutal realities of the U.S. war on Iraq. The same capitalist press that throws around numbers of “200,000 dead” and “2 million displaced” in Sudan ignores the fact that U.S. policies in Iraq have killed over 2 million Iraqis since 1990. Four million Iraqis are refugees due to the 2003 invasion alone.
U.S. policy in Sudan is just one part of a greater global desire to crush all opposition to imperialism. U.S. hands off Sudan!
