Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

By Brian Smith, www.wsws.org

An extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council takes place on November 18-19 in Nairobi, at the request of the United States, which will focus on Darfur and the southern Sudan peace deal. It is only the fourth meeting in 50 years to take place outside of New York.

The meeting will review a resolution put forward by Britain, which condemns the Sudanese government as responsible for the humanitarian disaster in Darfur and threatens sanctions and military intervention if it fails to stop the crisis. The resolution calls for a 10,000-strong peacekeeping force, with additional wider powers beyond mere monitoring duties. The resolution also dangles the prospect of an international donor's conference for Sudan.

"The draft resolution is the carrot," said Britain's UN ambassador, Sir Emyr Jones Parry. "We are saying that if you [the Sudanese government] get your act together to get a stable state and live together, then this is what we can contribute: a major peacekeeping operation by the UN, humanitarian relief, law and order, help with infrastructure and establishing the rule of law and democratic structures."

The UK draft resolution amounts to a plan to re-establish colonial control, albeit indirect, over Sudan. It is the culmination of a protracted effort by the US to undermine the existing government. In this the US has had the support of the UK, the former colonial power. Meanwhile, other powers, particularly France and Germany, have demonstrated their reluctance to be shouldered aside.

The two key reasons for the desire of the West, and particularly the US, to control Sudan are oil and water. Water is strategically important, given that the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet in Sudan and constitute the lifeline of Egypt immediately north. Recent pressure from Anglo-American interests led Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to question the old Nile treaties with Egypt, which has extensive interests in Sudan.

At present, the oil sector is controlled largely by China (with 40 percent), but Pakistan, Malaysia, Russia and France also have holdings. From the mid-1970s, extensive oil exploration began in Sudan. The US is currently excluded from sharing in Sudan's oil wealth due to its own embargo, though Chevron previously spent $1.2 billion and discovered oil fields in southern Sudan. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in July 1998 that Chevron estimated "Sudan had more oil than Iran and Saudi Arabia together." It is currently pumping 345,000 barrels per day, and the US Energy Information Administration estimates that reserves just in the oilfields presently being exploited amount to between 660 million and 1.2 billion barrels.

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