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Behind The Headlines in Sudan

By Ron Brackin
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

UPPER NILE, SUDAN (ANS) -- On the surface, the recently-signed peace protocols between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) are cause for rejoicing. Within weeks, a comprehensive peace treaty is expected to be signed, and Africa’s longest-running civil war will be over.

But there is little merry-making among the people here in Upper Nile and in the neighboring Nuba Mountains.

Christian rebel leaders remember too well past truces violated by Khartoum. The OLS Access Agreement of 1989. The 1997 Khartoum Peace Agreement. The October 2002 Ceasefire.

Here in the village of Payuwer, tens of thousands of refugees know nothing of politics or diplomacy. They know only that one day government bombers and helicopter gunships shattered the skies over their villages. That following the crushing bombardment, men on horseback thundered into their midst – killing, raping, looting, abducting women and children to sell as slaves.

Month after month, as peace negotiations continued in neighboring Kenya, the Sudanese Government flaunted the ceasefire and pressed its relentless campaign of genocide.

We listened to the grisly accounts by Shilluk survivors of the April Renk County massacres. Everyday for two weeks, government raiders came. Twenty-two villages along the west bank of the Nile were torched. Twenty thousand people slaughtered, abducted or displaced. Seven hundred fled to Payuwer.

But there is nothing here for them. No hospitals. No food. A cluster of widows stand under a tree, gathering leaves to eat.

One woman describes the attack of her village. Government troops in motor boats on the river. Arab militia on horseback. Her husband killed. She fled into the water with her four children. Two drowned. The others are lost. By now, they have most likely been sold as slaves. Another woman saw her sister gang raped.

Far to the west, in Darfur, Khartoum wages another genocidal campaign. Not against Christians and animists. The farmers of Darfur are Muslims, too. But they’re black Africans, not Arabs. And they’re moderate Sufi, which is intolerable to extremists in the north.

On September 8, 2003, Khartoum signed a ceasefire with resistance forces in Darfur – then violated it. Another ceasefire was signed seven months later. But honoring it would have stalled the genocide, so it too was violated.

International observers have documented the carnage. USAID projects that another 350,000 people soon will die of starvation because Khartoum has destroyed their homes, kept them from planting crops, and stiff-armed humanitarian aid organizations to ensure that mortality reaches its full potential.

At the same time, the international community has turned itself inside-out to avoid using the G-Word, favoring more sterile terms like “ethnic cleansing” and “regional conflict.”

But what is taking place in Darfur today is nothing short of genocide, as defined by the UN General Assembly in 1948.

Genocide, it stated, is “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such” and includes “killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, or deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (Article II.

Ignoring the obvious also avoids the legal necessity of an awkward confrontation with oil-rich Khartoum.

Article IV of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide states that: “Persons committing genocide or any other acts enumerated in Article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.”

That Khartoum’s National Islamic Front has indeed committed, and continues to commit, genocide and crimes against humanity is indisputable. That it has broken every treaty it has made is public record. That it is committed to the overthrow of America and other western nations is its proud and constant boast.

That the soon-to-be-signed peace treaty is cause for celebration is at best wishful thinking – little more than illusory headlines crying “Peace! Peace!” when there is no peace.

Armed resistance has merely turned mountains and marshes into killing fields. Treachery has emasculated diplomacy. And selfish commercial interest has defanged threats of sanctions.

What, then?

Only God.

Ron just returned from a humanitarian aid mission to the Upper Nile and Nuba Mountain regions of southern Sudan with the Persecution Project Foundation (PPF). For more information, visit www.persecutionproject.org.

Ron Brackin is a freelance writer in Little Elm, Texas. He has more than a quarter of a century of experience ranging from journalist and congressional press secretary to marketing and public relations. He is the author of half a dozen nonfiction and fiction books, including “Sweet Persecution” (Bethany House 1999) and "Between Two Fires" (Banner Communications 2002). He has just completed his most recent book, working title: "Iraq My Handiwork," about the Church in Iraq. Ron is currently available for freelance projects. Resume and writing samples available upon request. Contact him directly at ronbrackin@aol.com. (Pictured: Ron Brackin, researching "Between Two Fires" in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem).

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