Genocidal Horror In Sudan

TENS OF thousands of people have been killed and millions forced from their
homes in Darfur, Sudan. Hundreds of thousands are in refugee camps and
makeshift settlements in Chad.

Alison Hill

The Khartoum government has launched a pogrom against the people in the
western part of this vast country. Despite the government’s denials, they
organised and armed the ‘Janjaweed’ gangs against the peasant farmers,
exploiting tensions over land between them and the nomadic cattle herdsmen.
They clearly backed up Janjaweed attacks with helicopter gunships and bombing
raids.

Khartoum has just concluded a peace settlement in another civil war in
Southern Sudan (which claimed two million lives in the last 20 years). Pushed
by the western powers, the government agreed to divide some of the spoils of
government and the potential oil wealth between the warring factions in the
south. The US was anxious to establish a point of support in Sudan in its
fight against "international terror".

As the leader of one signatory to the peace agreement said: "The agreement
was reached not necessarily because the parties wanted to but because both
parties were forced to."

So the government had no wish to fight another group of ‘rebels’ in the
west. Reluctant to use the army directly they created the Janjaweed. In
response to these genocidal massacres, the UN Security Council gave the
Khartoum government 30 days to act against the Janjaweed or face sanctions.

But any arms embargo could be opposed by Russia, which is selling fighter
jets to Khartoum. French and Chinese oil firms’ interests in Sudan could also
prevent an effective oil embargo being imposed.

Western governments only act when their economic or strategic interests are
threatened. The neo-colonial regimes can provide no solution either. The
African Union are preparing to deploy troops into Darfur, but 300 troops
backing up the handful of ceasefire monitors is a pitifully small force in
such a big area.

The workers and peasants in Sudan need to form their own democratically
run, multi-ethnic defence forces to protect themselves against government
troops and irregular militias. And the only place they can look to for real
solidarity is from the international working class. A democratic socialist
federation of Africa is the only way out for the masses of the continent.