Notes On Sudan
(Up to: Places Of Interest )
A scratchpad for interesting things that come up as I read about the situation in Sudan.
Information on Sudan, including political parties, history, maps and stats.
The BBC FAQ states that "the rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs," but perhaps, quite possibly, this is a Muslims vs Christians thing - definitely seems to be recurring suggestion. Wonder why the BBC are dumbing it down a fair bit?
From the Historical Perspective above, some international relations:
"[The SPLA's] major victory has so far been to interrupt, by killing, or by capturing non-Sudanese workers, two major economic projects: oil fields under exploration by Chevron Oil Co., and the Jonglei Canal in southern Sudan."
More information on the Jonglei Canal project, a joint effort on behalf of Egypt and Sudan to channel shed-loads of water from the Sudd swamps [satellite photo] of Sudan to other places in both Egypt and Sudan, thus relieving them of the dependency and threat of annual Nile flooding, amongst many other things. However, somebody allegedly decided to blow up the canal-digging drill with a missile, and with the civil war on, things came to a stop.
We've already mentioned Chevron, and itjust wouldn't be the same without a little Western oil interest. So here's some links to dig through that investigate the matter a little further:
- Oil and the Civil War in the Sudan
- Oil in Sudan - a huge report thingy, including "Technical Concerns - Oil and Pressure" - see the very bottom of the page for some info on Sudan working with Iraq over oiltech, perhaps to the chagrin of other neighbouring countries.
- Human Rights Watch presents "Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights" from last year, including "The Chevron Period: 1974-92". Of particular interest is the quote:
"To prevent further rebel threats to oil development, state and Umma party authorities started arming Baggara cattle-owning nomads, the western and northern Kordofan and Darfur neighbors of the Nuer and Dinka, with automatic weapons."
- Some other article I have yet to read. It has pictures of planes on it.
