UN and US warn of huge toll in Sudan (1,000,000 could die)

[Karmadillo]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040603/ts_afp/un_sudan_darfur_meeting_040603144458

GENEVA (AFP) - A humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions is now inevitable in western Sudan's Darfur region and up to one million people could die if aid cannot be delivered there swiftly, international officials warned.

"We estimate right now if we get relief in, we'll lose a third of a million people, and if we don't the death rates could be dramatically higher, approaching a million people," said US Agency for International Development (USAID) chief Andrew Natsios after a high-level UN aid meeting.

"That's just a prediction, we don't know for sure, we pray it's not true," he added.

More than one million African civilians have been forced to flee their homes because of an onslaught by government-backed Arab militia and Sudanese troops in the largely desert region over the past year, and atrocities are continuing, the United Nations (news - web sites) said.

more...

[demnan]

1. Is there oil in Sudan?

n/t

[denverbill]

6. Yes.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/su.html

[seemslikeadream]

9. INTRODUCTION: WINNING OIL - LOSING PEOPLE

Oil seems to have been the final spark for uprisings and the formation of armed opposition groups in Sudan such as the Anyanya II, and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 1984. One of the SPLA's first armed activities were targeted at the workers of the oil company Chevron, which planned to construct an oil pipeline running from the oil fields of the South to the refineries located in the northern harbour of Port Sudan.

Oil is also a symbol of the Sudanese problem: Sudan's recent history of decolonization, failed nation-building and its continuing political affairs are reflected in the story of oil. Economic factors, such as oil exploration and extraction, show not only that considerations of the global economy dominate political decision-making but also clearly indicate the underlying sources of the conflict in Sudan.

Amnesty International is publishing this report in an effort to make clear the link between the massive human rights violations by the security forces of the Government of Sudan and various government allied militias, and the oil operations by foreign companies. The pattern of human rights violations includes atrocities and the forcible internal displacement of large populations of local people. These violations by government security forces and armed opposition groups are directed at the population living in oil fields and surrounding areas, and is an effort to control, protect or destroy the oil production capacity.

Foreign companies are involved in this lucrative oil production, and they expect the Sudanese government to provide a secure environment, which includes the use of security forces to protect oil company staff and assets. Thus, Amnesty International believes many foreign companies tolerate violations by turning a blind eye to the human rights violations committed by the government security forces or government-allied troops in the name of protecting the security of the oil-producing areas. Some companies allegedly have employed private military and security companies, or have utilized security forces that have conscripted child soldiers.

This document is intended to establish a dialogue with foreign oil companies, raising our concerns about the responsibility that these companies should have in promoting a better human rights environment in the area where they are active in extracting oil.

2. BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has been at war with itself for much of the last half a century. A civil war broke out the year before independence in 1956 and, apart from a period of peace between 1972 and 1983, continues to the present day.

more
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engAFR540012000

[KissMyAsscroft]

2. Don't the Sudanese deserve freedom?

Where are our troops? Shouldn't we be invading and overthrowing their leader to install freedom and democracy? Where is Bush on this one?

Oh yeah, that's right....no oil.

[underpants]

5. I dunno sounds like a "brutal tyrant" to me

Isn't that the benchmark?

[Redhead488]

7. Good bit of oil actually

see post 6. Google Sudan and oil. Read and learn.

[Daisey Mae]

3. No oil here......

NEXT ?

[denverbill]

12. Actually, there is oil there. But this case is different.

In Iraq, Saddam controlled the oil, and US firms had no access to it. In Sudan, US firms already have access to the oil so why rock the boat?

Shrub didn't give a fuck about the Iraqi people, any more than he cares about someone in the Sudan. He doesn't care whether Saddam is murdering his own people or Sudan is murdering their own people. He doesn't give a damn about rape rooms or poison gas attacks.

If US firms controlled Iraq's oil contracts, Saddam would have still been in power.

[mmm]

17. Great summation.

Now it all makes sense.
Sad, isn't it?

[Just Me]

21. Helps to fill in the _________as to why "they" hate us, huh. 8~( n/t

[geek tragedy]

22. Actually, there are no US companies extracting oil from the Sudan

The Chinese, Malaysians, Canadians, British, and Italians are all active there. But US companies don't play ball there.

[geek tragedy]

23. Did you read the Amnesty Report?

No U.S. firms are involved.

[Daisey Mae]

4. No oil here......

NEXT ?

[SoCalDem]

8. Just the facts.. Top ten reasons why * doesn't give a damn

1. neocons don't care about "the brown continent"..except for diamonds, oil and other resources..

2. "these" brown people do not necessarily have the ability to rule themselves..(according to *, "some" brown people can, but not these)

3. africa would be easier to deal with, if the people would just disappear.. (don't hold your breath while waiting for the US to march to the rescue).. we might "nibble" at the edges, but it's just for show..

4. see # 1

5. rinse & repeat

6. offer may be void in certain areas

7. check your local listings

8. see #1

9. see #1

10. see #1

[Redhead488]

11. Neither America nor Europe

really care about "the brown continent." Remember Rwanda and Burundi?
How sad to let all those people die...

[Just Me]

10. The ethnic cleansing is monstrous.

Meanwhile, Busholini has sent our forces out on imperialistic neocon endeavors leaving us incapable of doing much about this horrifying human travesty.

[SoCalDem]

15. "wealthy" nations always see poor people as a liabillity

the fewer of them, the better.. I almost wish they would just be honest about it instead of all the pretense..

look at the way poor people in our own country are treated..why would we expect our leaders to care for people abroad, when they hate their own poor people.:(

[Cocoa]

13. Richard Holbrooke said genocide is happening

he said it on Charlie Rose, said that genocide is happening as we speak.

Rose wasn't interested, he wanted to talk about the terror war.

[gottaB]

16. not only that

Holbrooke had just finished explaining why the failure to intervene in Rwanda constituted a huge foreign policy blunder and the greatest mistake of the Clinton administration.

Go figure.

[kerrycrat2k4]

18. Hopefully this time

UN peacekeepers can intervene without the racist hate-filled repukes stymying them behind the scenes

[newyawker99]

19. Hi kerrycrat2k4!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Domitan]

14. It's a wetdream

for the Malthusian mofos.

[geek tragedy]

20. True, the Bushies don't care

but the rest of the world doesn't care either. The UN, Arab League, and European Union are all as AWOL on this as Bush was in the National Guard.

The bottom line is that if there's no oil, terrists, or other strategic interest at stake, the US doesn't care. If the Americans and the Israelis aren't perpetrating the crime, the rest of the world doesn't care.

Shame on the entire fooking planet for this.