www.newsandletters.org
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2005Our Life and Times by Kevin A. BarryAgreement in SudanAn agreement ending 21 years of war on the predominantly non-Muslim South in Sudan was signed in Kenya on Jan. 9. Most southerners follow Christianity or indigenous religions. During the war, the North, led by a succession of Islamist military dictators, attacked the South. It murdered, raped, and enslaved civilians. It also armed southern "Arab" tribes to attack their neighbors. The war also had a racist dimension, in that most northerners consider themselves "Arab," most southerners "African." Some two million people lost their lives, many to disease, and four million had to flee their homes—in short, genocide. But the southerners refused to give up and have now won a limited victory. According to the agreement, brokered by the U.S., John Garang, the leader of the largest southern resistance movement, has become a vice president of Sudan. Shari'a law will no longer be imposed on non-Muslims. Oil revenues will be divided equally between North and South. In 2011, a referendum on southern independence will be scheduled. Thousands of refugees have already begun to return. The big problem is that, in the past, the Sudanese military rulers have broken many previous agreements by claiming that they have stopped hostilities, while working instead through paramilitary proxies. That is exactly what they are doing today with the Janjaweed militia in another region, Darfur. In this racist war, a million non-Arab but Muslim Blacks have been driven from their homes, with tens of thousands killed or raped. There are indications that since the peace agreement with the South was signed, the regime has launched a greater military buildup in Darfur. Here the genocide continues, shrouded in silence. |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |
