July 30, 2002

Just when we thought Peace was at hand in Sudan...
Sudan battle follows peace deal

More than 1,000 people have been killed in attacks by government forces in western Upper Nile province, says a Sudanese rebel spokesman. Samson Kwaje told the BBC that the fighting started on Friday when government militia forces attacked Sudan People's Liberation Army positions around the town of Tam.

Sadly, Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir, an Islamist dedicated to violent jihad against his own non-Muslim people, has apparently learned the art of statecraft from Yasser Arafat: Make peace in public and plot murder when the cameras are gone.This Sudanese civil war is a religious war, of course, and untold thousands of animists and Christians in the south have been enslaved or murdered by their Muslim "brothers" in the north, with the government's blessing.While some believed that mutual interests in Sudanese oil production, whose benefits could only be felt in a STABLE political situation, were what brought Bashir's people to the table, some like myself were going with anything that worked to bring this killing and slavery to an end.Perhaps it's too soon to discount the peace deal as anything but window dressing, but if the Sudanese People's Liberation Army reports are to be believed, the government waged this attack in full contravention of that newly made pact.Too sad.