ME and Ophelia

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PRESENT GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN
Is fundamentally anti-peace, always pro-war and cannot ever be trusted

Here is an excerpt from a report entitled “Between Naivasha & Abéché: The Systematic Destruction of Darfur” by Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, University of Pennylvania. It is dated March 27, 2004:

"...The current war in Darfur exposed the core of Government of Sudan (GoS), in its stand, as fundamentally anti-peace and always pro-war, that could only succumb to “peace” when it’s under intensive pressure from the international community, REAL PRESSURE.

While it tries to show it's "sincerity" in negotiating in faith in Naivasha, it now creates another war of it's own making; which raise the question as whether it could be trusted, since it has a room for maneuvering.

This suggests that comprehensive peace that will honor these agreements, for the whole country is important, even for the secession of the South. Hence, looking at the current events in Darfur as merely humanitarian crisis will result in even greater tragedy, if efforts were not exerted toward the roots of the problem..."
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SUDAN'S OIL FLOW STARTED IN 1999
China, India and Malaysia are biggest players

Re oil in Sudan that started flowing some five years ago, here are some snippets that I've extracted from a recent BBC report:

Sudan's oil flow started in 1999 and recent years have seen European and American names pull out under pressure from human rights groups, who have made public the displacements and other more violent abuses perpetrated by government forces to clear people from oil-rich territory.

China's CNPC, India's ONGC and Malaysia's Petronas are now the biggest players, pumping billions into exploration and exploitation. That is not to say that big firms such as Shell, Exxon or Total may not be back.

One issue that dogs resources in poorer countries is barely tackled: that of transparency in revenues, to stop much-needed money leaking away into private pockets. The companies that are biggest in Sudan right now are state-owned - and the states in question have not, it seems, signed up to any transparency initiatives. Wealth sharing is fantastic," says Gilly Usborne of Save the Children. "But how open will either side be about what happens to the money?"

Of the four countries that are observers to the peace process, two - the UK and Norway - are strong supporters of initiatives encouraging natural resource companies to "publish what they pay" to governments in licences and commissions.

In far too many African countries, oil - or another natural resource - has been what prolongs a conflict.