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QuoteOriginally posted by: HamiltonDid someone mention Genocide here recently?Any update on the 2,000,000 dead and rising in Sudan over their 33 year old civil war?QuoteSudan strikes in East claim many civilian casualties Rebel groups said the Sudanese Air Force has launched what they termed heavy air strikes on civilian targets in the Barka Valley. They said the air bombings began on June 23 and resulted in a large number of civilian casualties near the border with Eritrea.The air strikes came in response to a rebel drive south of Port Sudan. The rebel groups have reported significant advances in the Red Sea state.For its part, Khartoum has denied bombing the Red Sea state, Middle East Newsline reported. At the same time, Sudan has accused Eritrea of helping the rebels."The government is committed to protecting property and lives of citizens in the event that rebels threaten security and stability," Information Minister Abdul Basit Sebdarat said.The fighters were said to belong to the so-called Eastern Front, a coalition of rebel groups formed in February 2005. The groups, at least one of which fought in Darfour, said the Khartoum government has ignored eastern Sudan.Rebels said their offensive began near Tokar on June 19. They said fighters from the Eastern Front's two leading groups, Beja Congress and Free Lions, routed government forces and took prisoners.The reported air strikes took place during the visit to the United States by Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail. On June 23, Ismail met U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and a State Department statement said the two men discussed the rebellion in the east."We are concerned about it," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said on June 24. "We are working to do what we can to stop it. But I don't have that 100 percent visibility on that particular report."

displaced refugees start returning

UN Assembly blocks debate on Darfur

china continues to enable the genocide:Dobbs tuesday:QuoteJust ahead here tonight, red storm rising. China buying oil from some of the world's most dangerous regimes, helping to facilitate China's explosive growth. We'll have a special report.Tonight, China is feeling its aggressive military growth by buying up the world's energy resources. Some of its suppliers for the oil, the world's most dangerous regimes. Kitty Pilgrim has the report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): China has invested some $8 billion in Sudan, owns 40 percent of Sudan's oil consortium, and imports more than 60 percent of Sudan's oil. And in return, supplies the repressive Sudanese dictator with weapons. NILE GARDINER, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: China, in many ways, has helped to prop up this brutal dictatorship. It is supplying a lot of weaponry to the Sudanese government, who are, of course, supporting the Janjaweed militias and who are continuing to conduct a campaign of genocide against many civilians in the Darfur region. PILGRIM: Human rights groups charge that Chinese weapons are used by militias to massacre the civilian population of the country and chase them off oil-producing areas. Two million displaced, tens of thousands dead. Roger Robinson is the vice chairman of the congressional U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission and says China is aggressively going after oil production. China's National Petroleum Corporation workers are on the ground in Sudan. ROGER ROBINSON, U.S. CHINA ECON. SEC. REV. COMM.: So long as you have China with upwards to 10,000 workers on the ground building a 900 mile pipeline, this is providing vital life support to the Khartoum regime. PILGRIM: Despite the desperate poverty of Sudan, its president this week bragged oil production will double to reach one million barrels a day by the end of 2006. That will do little to alleviate dire poverty but only add to strengthen the country's corrupt rulers. REP. CHRIS SMITH (R), COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: In an octopus-like way, China is spreading its tentacles and forging friendships where they ask no questions about human rights, but they then take these very valuable minerals, oil, and the like, and in exchange provide weapons and cash. (END VIDEOTAPE)PILGRIM: Now, Sudan is also on the U.S. State Department list as a state supporter of terrorism. Yet China provides Sudan with diplomatic protection. And critics say China refuses to support any U.N. action against Sudan and the United Nations, all in the interest of keeping its oil imports flowing -- Lou. DOBBS: And it's remarkable. Those who are concerned about the genocide taking place in the Sudan, the United Nations and its limited action that has put forth so far, no one is focusing, aside from ourselves and a few others, on the role of China in supporting these regimes and the conflict that results in this event. PILGRIM: Many of the people we spoke with today said this conflict would be over by now except it's being funded. DOBBS: Perhaps John Snow could be -- turn to the Sudan to work things out with his recent successes and currency manipulation with Beijing.Thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim.

more on sudan's enablerdobbs thursday:QuoteAnd then, how China's aggressive push to grab oil supplies around the world could lead to military confrontation. And just ahead, red storm, how communist China's power play with the world's oil resources is now raising military tension. We'll have that special report. DOBBS: New fears tonight that communist China's aggressive grab for world oil assets will one day lead to military confrontation with the United States. China appears willing to make friends with any regime no matter how oppressive so long as it's guaranteed a steady supply of oil for its booming economy and its massive military buildup. Kitty Pilgrim reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The days of the Chinese bicycle are fading. And the skyline reflects a booming economy. China consumes 6.5 million barrels of oil a day. But by the year 2025, that demand will more than double to more than 14 million barrels, and two-thirds of that oil will need to come from outside of China. That competes with U.S. needs. SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: This is a problem that we can either let go as it is now, and it may end up before -- at a point where we can't stop it, where we are not only in competition, but on the verge of hostilities. PILGRIM: As Senator Lieberman points out, China is entering military base agreements with countries along its oil supply routes from the Middle East, and is building a substantial navy to defend those routes. China's aggressive nationalistic energy policy befriends reprehensible regimes like Iran and Sudan. President Hu Jintao cozying up with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and signing agreements to help develop oilfields in Venezuela. The Russian prime minister and Chinese Prime Minister Wen professing strategic partnership and signing an agreement to speed up a joint oil pipeline. Kazakhstan's President Nazarbayev and President Hu Jintao signed a deal to construct a major crude oil pipeline between the countries. China investing $8 billion in Sudan and helping to build the pipeline there, paying Sudan with weapons. ROGER ROBINSON, U.S. CHINA SEC. REV. COMM.: This is something that has seized the attention of many on Capitol Hill. I think the administration is concerned but finds it somewhat less compelling than perhaps their congressional counterparts. PILGRIM: Also, China gets more than 13 percent of its oil from Iran and signed a $100 million deal to import natural gas. (END VIDEOTAPE) PILGRIM: U.S. lawmakers point out that friction with China has been centered on human rights, trade and currency exchange, but the competition over energy may become the dangerous, most dangerous level yet of strategic competition between the number one and the number two largest consumers of oil -- Lou. DOBBS: And it is extraordinary when all of us look at the Sudan and the genocide that is taking place there, and the number of people focused on that terrible, terrible problem in that country, that no one is seemingly -- certainly you are and other journalists on this broadcast -- but not looking at the implications of China, its economic power, and the fact that it is effectively supporting genocidal civil war that is continuing now for years. And the United Nations powerless to act, and without note of China's role. PILGRIM: Yes. And many lawmakers are calling attention to it now, but it is certainly not getting the attention that it deserves given the scope of the problem. DOBBS: We will make certain that that does not happen on this hour. Thank you very much, Kitty Pilgrim.

QuoteChina now top arms supplier to Sudan, site of major oil investments China has become a leading weapons supplier in Sudan as part of Beijing's efforts to maintain oil interests in Africa.The Washington-based Jamestown Foundation said in a report that China has become the fifth largest arms supplier to the African continent. The report, entitled "Beijing's Arms and Oil Interests in Africa," asserted that China has sold fighter-jets and helicopters to Khartoum.The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. owns 40 percent in Sudan's largest oil venture. The Sino-Sudanese oil field project covers 82,000 square kilometers in the southern non-Muslim region of the country and was expected to produce 15 million tons of crude oil annually, Middle East Newsline reported."China has pursued a policy that is entirely based on narrow economic interests and has been keen to supply the Sudanese government with fighter aircraft and an assortment of weaponry," the report, authored by Ian Taylor, said. "Apart from the profits accrued from these arms sales, the policy helps consolidate and protect Chinese investment in Sudan's oil reserves."The report said Sudanese troops, armed with Chinese weapons, have used Chinese facilities as a base from which to attack and dislodge southern rebels from areas of oil exploration. Sudan used Chinese-origin helicopter gunships from airstrips controlled by Chinese oil firms.The Chinese weapons and platforms were used in attacks against civilians, the report said. Taylor said China has not linked arms exports to human rights."China rarely attaches any political strings to its assistance to Africa," the report said. "This has opened up space for China to deal quite profitably with some of the more heinous regimes on the continent. It is no coincidence, for example, that Sudan and Zimbabwe now play host to a very large Chinese economic presence." The study cited reports that Sudan obtained 34 new fighter-jets from China. Taylor said the Sudanese Air Force also procured $100 million worth of Shenyang fighter planes, including a dozen supersonic F-7 jets.

Bush extends sanctions against Sudan over Darfour

QuoteBailing out bankrupt regime has created energy lifelineA BEAMING Chinese oil worker stares down from a poster only a stone’s throw from Sudan’s main Kober prison near the centre of the run-down capital, Khartoum. “CNPC — Your close friend and faithful partner,” it says. The political prisoners packed into the notorious jail, until recently the scene of frequent executions, amputations and floggings of hundreds of opponents of Sudan’s Islamic military regime, could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. It is widely accepted that the arrival of the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) in the late 1990s gave the discredited Government of President Omar Bashir a new lease of life. Until then the failure of the National Islamic Front (NIF), which took power in a coup in 1989, to end a 20-year civil war with Christian rebels, and to tangibly improve living standards, had generated growing opposition. Internationally, the government — a motley collection of young army officers and Islamic diehards — was isolated. Labelled a pariah state by the West for its support of international terrorism, and an appalling human rights record, its days were numbered. Enter Beijing’s state-owned oil giant with an estimated £8 billion investment in Sudan’s fledgling oil industry. In return, China now receives the lion’s share of more than 350,000 barrels pumped daily down a Chinese-built pipeline to ships off Port Sudan. The Government earns approximately £1 billion a year from oil revenues, enough to re-equip its armed forces with Chinese tanks, fighter planes, helicopters and machineguns. It has turned those weapons on the inhabitants of the western province of Darfur who had dared to demand greater autonomy. China threatened to veto a resolution at the UN Security Council proposing an arms embargo on Sudan. It abstained, but since Sudan is China’s largest overseas oil project Beijing’s interests are clear. “Common sense about human rights and sovereignty is only one of the common values shared by China and Africa,” explained Hu Wenping, a Chinese foreign policy specialist at the Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

QuoteOutrage over the dictator poised to lead AfricaSudan's military dictator is likely to become chairman of the African Union and the continent's face to the world despite waging war in Darfur, it emerged yesterday.President Omar al-Bashir, who seized power in a coup and harboured Osama bin Laden for five years in the 1990s, will host a meeting of African leaders in Sudan next Monday.They are due in Khartoum for a summit of the African Union, an alliance of all 53 countries in the continent. They are likely to outrage human rights groups by electing Mr Bashir as their chairman and Africa's most prominent statesman for the next 12 months.The union's chairmanship is due to rotate to east Africa, deemed to include Sudan, and as the summit's official host Mr Bashir is expected to be elected even though his Arab-dominated regime is conducting a brutal campaign against rebels in Sudan's western region of Darfur, where almost two million people have been forced into squalid refugee camps.Black African tribes have been marked for attack and a United Nations investigation has found Mr Bashir's forces guilty of atrocities."Government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence," the UN said."These acts were conducted on a widespread and systematic basis and may amount to crimes against humanity." Some 300,000 people, about five per cent of the population, are believed to have died in Darfur since the onset of war three years ago.Fifty African human rights groups urged the union not to favour Mr Bashir with its chairmanship. "Such an action will deeply undermine and erode the credibility of the AU," they said in an open letter to African leaders.The union has mediated in peace talks between Sudan's regime and Darfur's rebels. Its 6,000-strong military force in Darfur has documented numerous attacks on civilians.Critics fear that if Mr Bashir takes the union's helm the mission will be compromised and Africa's attempt to solve a grave crisis will end.But Mr Bashir has ended decades of secessionist war in southern Sudan with a historic peace agreement signed last year. Free elections are intended to follow in 2009 and Sudan has a new government of national unity. African leaders may argue that Mr Bashir deserves a reward for these achievements.

Man who harboured bin Laden is lodestar for terrorists

Entire Darfur village of 55,000 flees after raids by Janjaweed gunmen

QuoteOriginally posted by: ppauperEntire Darfur village of 55,000 flees after raids by Janjaweed gunmen55,000? That's a bloody big village!

QuoteOriginally posted by: migalleyQuoteOriginally posted by: ppauperEntire Darfur village of 55,000 flees after raids by Janjaweed gunmen55,000? That's a bloody big village!and remember, it takes a village to raise a child !Agreed, that's a town not a village

Kofi passes the buck:Annan: It's up to U.S. to stop the carnage in Darfour