Sudan is a country that doesn't often make the news. I am guessing mostly because we don't really receive any oil from them and they are not a country that holds strategic importance for our military. In July, after years of dispute and war, genocide in the Darfur region and north/south disputes over the town of Abyei, the North and South are officially supposed to split into two countries. It is anyone's guess if this will really happen or not. Most of the border has been agreed upon except for the one town of Abyei, mostly inhabited by Southerners, yet claimed as part of the North's territory for years. There has been no formal agreement as yet as to which side the town will go to or if it will remain neutral territory with security forces from both the North and the South present. Over this past weekend, antagonized by the South, the North invaded the town starting with airborn bombing runs to clear the way and followed with an all out invasion with tanks and troops. At this point it seems as if no one was killed with most of the residents able to flee before the actual invasion. Now the South seems poised to retaliate saying that the North's invasion is an outright declaration of war. As we do with most countries that do not have massive reserves of oil or hold strategic military importance, we are only issuing statements of warning that a civil war will not make it easy to split the country officially come July. Really? That one was hard to figure out.
It is definitely a good thing that we are not meddling in the affairs of this country. If only we could carry this through to all other world wide issues, maybe we would be a little better off. The only effect we do have on that country at this point is the sanctions we imposed on them in the 1990's for harboring Bin Laden. The Southern troops, according to news reports, did receive U.S. training at some point, but I do not believe that it was recent. Regardless, watching this unfold is like watching two little children, sworn enemies since birth, battle it out over a sandbox in the schoolyard. One pokes the other and claims innocence. The reciever of the poke retaliates claiming just cause. And then it goes on and on and on ad infinitum. To me it is ridiculous that there can be so much dispute and turmoil over different ethnicities, one small town, and how it factors into a large country. Perhaps there should be a 20 mile wide demilitarized zone, similar to that between North and South Korea that forces both North and South to abandon the town of Abyei and leave it to rot and decay. Then maybe there could be some sort of closure. Let each country patrol their border, stay on their side, and leave each other alone. Unlike North and South Korea, this is unlikely ever to happen. They probably would not even be able to decide where the DMZ should go and neither would be likely willing to forfeit the possibility of controlling the town of Abyei.
If we can't effect a change through issuing statements and sanctions, then I say let them fight. Let the civilians run for cover and let both militaries fight it out till they kill of most of themselves. It is not our fight to get involved in, the same as the dispute in Israel is not our fight to get involved in either, yet we take much more interest in that region than in Sudan. Granted, there are much more powerful people in our government with direct ties to Israel than to Sudan, so it only makes sense that they would push to get our government involved in the foreign affairs of Israel. To me, there is no difference between the fight over Abyei or Jerusalem. Both are highly contested areas, claimed by multiple parties as their own, and no one is willing to budge on the issue of who ultimately has the right to govern that territory. Obviously, we can't all just get along or we wouldn't have to witness these issues being dealt with. It seems unfortunate that Sudan is not recieving as much news coverage as the Middle East and the turmoil currently engulfing that region. The lives of the people living there are just as important as the lives of the people living anywhere else. Human life is valuable no matter where a person lives, what ethnicity they are, or what religion they follow. The governments and media of the world never cover wars, disputes, and the atrocities perpetrated with equal coverage. The genocide in Darfur never received as much coverage as any of the current uprisings in the Middle East has. Unfortunately, I don't see that changing any time soon. We will forever concern ourselves with those countries that can have the largest negative impact on us and sideline those that are simply fighting over themselves. It seems that war at this point will never end. There will always be conflict, men exerting power over other men, and men trying to retaliate and overcome subjugation. At this point, we can only hope for peace, for an end to world wide conflict, and for men and women alike to realize that every person is unique in their own way and just because they may look different or worship a different religion, it does not mean that they are less important in any way. Today, lets look to a future of peace, a future where we can accept others for who they, a future void of discrimination and subjugation, a future where we can all live together without worry.
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