By Keith Harmon Snow

February 7, 2007

Part Two

Dr. David Hoile has lived in Sudan on and off, and he works for the European Sudanese Public Affairs council, and he is widely seen as a mercenary (writer) producing flak (propaganda) for the Government of Sudan. Dr. Reeves accuses Dr. David Hoile of the Sudan Public Affairs Council of being an unscrupulous mercenary and apologist for the crimes of the GOS, while Dr. Hoile accuses Dr. Reeves of being "the ugly American" and a propagandist for the West who embodies the age-hold white, Western imperialism.

To compare and contrast the positions of Dr. Eric Reeves and Dr. David Hoile we can consider the case of the Servant’s Heart report of 22 May 2003, issued in alliance with their partners Freedom Quest and The Voice of the Martyr’s, which claimed that "thousands of unarmed civilians" were massacred in the South Sudanese villages of Liang, Dengaji, Kawaji and Yawagi in April 2002.

According to the Center for Religious Freedom, "Servant's Heart, Freedom Quest International and The Voice of the Martyrs (Canada) reported the incident, and called for an investigation by the international Civilian Protection and Monitoring Team assigned to monitor and report on human rights and other violations of the March, 2002 agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement."

"The Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) began operations in late 2002," writes Michael Kevane, a scholar from Santa Clara University who analyzed early CPMT data. "The organization is an odd entity in the annals of international organizations. It is funded largely by the United States, and consists of retired military officers, many from the U.S. Yet it claims to be independent of the U.S., Government of Sudan, and SPLA." The Sudan people’s Liberation Army is the military wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.

Regarding the independence of the CPMT, on the one hand we find Dr. Eric Reeves complaining that the GOS has impeded the impartial work of the CPMT by denying the CPMT access to air transport within Sudan. In this case Dr. Eric Reeves places an unwavering, and even unquestionable, faith in the U.S.-led CPMT, expecting or assuming that the CPMT’s reporting will be unbiased, by default, given the U.S. military leadership. On the other hand we find Dr. Eric Reeves complaining that "the U.S.-led Civilian Protection Monitoring Team has already been deeply compromised" and therefore its investigations and reporting on atrocities cannot be trusted. Presumably, in the latter case, and according to Dr. Reeves, the CPMT is covering up for the Government of Sudan because the U.S. is unwilling to challenge the GOS and risk alienating its supporters or allies, including China, Egypt and Malaysia.

Indeed, Reeves wrote: "[A] careful analysis of the history of the US-led CPMT reveals on the part of the US State Department and the US charge d’affaires in Khartoum a shameful willingness to delay deployment, to compromise investigations, and to abandon the most successful methods and leaders in order to appease the sensibilities of the Khartoum regime. This conveys the ominous message that the US is willing to act expediently in dealing with Khartoum, mistakenly believing that this will entice the regime to make peace."

But what if it is not "appeasement" that drives the Bush administrations’ polices in Sudan, but rather direct collaboration? Second, is it beyond the realm of possibility that there are other business factions connected to or driving the "Save Darfur!" movement that are in conflict with those working with the Khartoum government?

Dr. David Hoile, working for the Sudan Public Affairs Council, has written at length about the conflict in Sudan, and Darfur, and Dr. Hoile has alleged that Servant’s Heart and Freedom Quest International’s charges that the GOS was responsible for mass killings and other atrocities have repeatedly been exaggerated or fabricated outright.

Regarding the incident of April 2002, reported by Servant’s Heart in February 2003, Dr. Hoile reported that it was a fabrication that was later proven false by the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team. For proof he cites the CPMT report, "The Report Of Investigation: Liang, Dengaji, Kawaji and Yawagi Villages," Civilian Protection Monitoring Team, Khartoum, 19 June 2003.

The CPMT, then led by retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Charles Baumann, apparently released the results of its investigation in a report on 19 June 2003, concluding that, "the claim that up to 2,500 people were killed has not been substantiated" proving that the wrongful allegations made by the organization against the Government of Sudan were unfounded and merely fabricated. The report apparently recommended that: "all sources carefully screen future allegations for credibility, source of information and accuracy."

According to Michael Kevane, the CPMT investigated 50 cases over the years 2003-2004. Of those, five were deemed by the CPMT to have been cases of legitimate military activities, nine were found to be not substantiable, and 36 involved deliberate targeting of civilians, through intent or neglect. Of the 36 cases of targeting civilians, there were at least 254 casualties, according to the CPMT: of the 36 cases, 22 were cases where the Government of Sudan forces were at fault, 9 were cases where SPLA forces were at fault, and 5 were either cases where both parties were at fault or where militia forces (SSDF) [South Sudan Defense Forces] were at fault.

Who do we believe, some folks from U.S. Christian missionary organizations? An Englishman accused of being the mouthpiece for the Government of Sudan? A retired Pentagon General? In the case of the villages of Liang, Dengaji, Kawaji, Yawagi, Dr. Davd Hoile’s claim that the CPMT proved the allegations to be unfounded was true, and according to the CPMT and Dr. Hoile the accusations of the Christian AID groups were unfounded to the point of drawing a mild reprimand from the CPMT.

While focusing on Darfur, Dr. Eric Reeves has noted that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is linked to the GOS intelligence apparatus; there are other U.S. interests and corporate links to the GOS as well. The role of the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team is likely as compromised as Dr. Eric Reeves indicates. On this point it seems clear. Any investigatory body with such close ties to the U.S. State Department or branches of the U.S. military or intelligence apparatus as exist with the CPMT is, as Dr. Eric Reeves claims, "deeply compromised." This is a given, not something that needs to be proven.

But just how deeply remains to be established.

A private U.S. military company with a less than stellar record won the contract for staffing the CPMT under a U.S. State Department contract: Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE). In 2004 the CPMT office was being run by Brigadier General Frank Toney (retired), who was previously the commander of Special Forces for the United States Army; General Toney organized covert operations into Iraq and Kuwait in the first Gulf War.

Role of the CIA

It is fairly widely reported that the CIA has maintained ties to some intelligence networks in Sudan. By revealing this point for the clandestine link that it is, "Save Darfur!" advocates like Mel Middleton and Dr. Eric Reeves gain credibility. For those on the political left who see the Central Intelligence Agency as a nasty, secretive organization aligned with the "shadow government"" of the United States, the CIA is always the very problem, never the solution. As Middleton puts it:

"The CIA, as well as the State Department, are bending over backwards to ensure that the NIF fascists in Khartoum remain in place, and have done everything possible to thwart attempts to remove it by the people of Sudan and the international human rights community. The State department has consistently downplayed the extent of the genocide; Khartoum's direct links to international terrorism (including Al Qaeda) and, since George W. Bush took office, has consistently taken the appeasement route, which, with criminal dictatorships, never works.

For those who see the CIA as an essential element in the maintenance of U.S. national security interests and the "War on Terror" the people like Dr. Eric Reeves and Mel Middleton are as likely as not seen as dangers to free and democratic [sic] societies like the U.S. and Canada. Because the anti-Khartoum lobby has challenged certain Chinese, Malaysian and Canadian oil companies, Talisman Oil in particular, and other powerful interests—something this author respects very much—they have at times put their lives at risk.

"I have received numerous death threats, false accusations and slander," Mel Middleton said. "Talisman has threatened to ‘put me in jail’, and others have done all they can to destroy my reputation and credibility."

Mel Middleton has a long and deep history of working on behalf of the disenfranchised people of South Sudan, where the operations of Talisman Oil have been connected to atrocities. Talisman is one of the powerful Adolph Lundin companies (Lundin Oil is another) with nefarious mining and petroleum operations connected to war and mass murder in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. A Swedish national, Adolph Lundin has a deep history of connections to the G.H.W. Bush family. In 1996, for example, just weeks before the U.S.-backed invasion of Zaire commenced, G.H.W. Bush personally telephoned Zaire/DRC strongman, Mobutu Sese Seko, on Lundin’s behalf. Adolph Lundin’s Tenke Mining Corporation today holds major concessions in Katanga, DRC.

While Dr. Eric Reeves has written about the Central Intelligence Agency with his recent focus on Darfur, at least, he has in the past taken the position that there is no CIA connection to Sudan or its internal affairs. In a personal communication in 2001 Dr. Eric Reeves said: "I don’t know that there’s any significant CIA role in Sudan…No, the CIA is not involved there."

However, ties to U.S. intelligence predate the current Islamic regime. From 1964 to 1984 Sudan was run by the corrupt U.S. client dictatorship of Col. Jaafar Nimeiri. Within three days of the March 4, 1984 visit by former CIA Director and then Vice-President George H.W. Bush—which came under the U.S. propaganda banner of food AID for starving millions—Nimeiri instituted a purge against Islamic society, including mass arrests, executions and torture. Draconian IMF and World Bank "reforms" led to starvation, unemployment, mass riots and state repression. As Nimeiri stood arm-in-arm with Ronald Reagan for a New York Times piece in April, the U.S. quickly sent $64 million of a $181 million aid package to Khartoum in an unsuccessful attempt to crush the insurrection which soon toppled "old friend" Nimeiri.

In September of 1983, to gain support from the increasingly important Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, President Nimeiri introduced the so-called Islamic law system of Sharia for all of the country, even the southern Christian and animist regions. Thus we can say that Christians in Sudan—and their brothers and sisters abroad—who are complaining about Sharia law and religious intolerance coming out of Khartoum today should trace their complaints about Sharia (Islamic Fundamentalist Law) back to the Central Intelligence Agency and their man Nimeiri.

In an interview with Howard French, former Africa bureau chief of the New York Times now based in Shanghai, French responded incredulously to the suggestion that the CIA was not involved in Sudan.

" Sudan has been an area of deep CIA involvement for many, many years. [To say that the CIA is not involved there] is just nonsense. Anyone who says that the CIA is not involved in Sudan, you know, is either willfully ignoring the truth…or just…stupid. It’s just not plausible. First of all [Colonel Jaafar Mohammed Al-Nimeiri], the former Sudanese President, was a CIA operative."

At the time, writing about South Sudan, Dr. Eric Reeves’ denial of CIA involvement supported his position; either due to ignorance, willful neglect or unconsciousness, the CIA link was dismissed. This is not the only case of Dr. Eric Reeves dismissing information of relevance to the "humanitarian" conflict he is concerned about.

On 26 December 2006, a letter to the editor by Smith College professor Dr. Eric Reeves was published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, a small local newspaper in Northampton, Massachusetts. Dr. Eric Reeves and Smith College both reside in Northampton, and it is also very close to home for this writer. The letter irrefutably establishes that Dr. Eric Reeves does not in any way equate the conflict in Darfur to oil.

Letter to the Editor

Daily Hampshire Gazette

www.gazettenet.com

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Darfur tragedy isn't linked to an oil-exploration effort

To the editor: The Gazette's important reporting December 9 [2006] on local Darfur advocacy notes the views of Keith Harmon Snow, including his mistaken assertion about the role of oil development in the Khartoum regime's genocidal counter-insurgency strategy in western Sudan.

Having worked and published on oil development issues in Sudan for the past eight years, including traveling to the working oil regions, I believe Gazette readers should know that there is not a shred of evidence—seismic or geological—of significant oil reserves in Darfur. All oil development and production activities occur in southern Sudan (primarily Upper Nile Province) and the very south of Kordofan Province.

There exists not a single credible report indicating oil in Darfur, except for one very old and small site in the most southeastern corner of this immense province (closest to Upper Nile). There is not a single photograph of oil exploration or development infrastructure anywhere else in Darfur; no credible human rights or humanitarian organization has presented evidence of significant oil development in Darfur, even as many have frequently reported on the massively destructive consequences of Asian, Canadian and European oil development in southern Sudan.

It is convenient to explain away the passionate American outcry over genocide in Darfur as somehow orchestrated by big oil interests. It is also perversely wrong.

Eric Reeves

Northampton  

Dr. Eric Reeves is adamant.

Since the very first reports about atrocities in Darfur began to appear, the contention of this writer has been this: get the facts out on the table, all the facts, and then we can talk about what needs to be done to stop the massive loss of human life which the Western mass media is hitting us over the head with, day in, day out. Until all the facts and all the interests have been made transparent, the work is not to "Stop Genocide!" but to make transparent the facts and interests behind the "genocide" and the movement to "stop genocide." Unless we understand who is manipulating this issue, and how, we are open to be too easily manipulated—in service to yet another military debacle by the U.S. its allies.

Now, let’s evaluate the above claims by Dr. Eric Reeves.

The 9 December 2006 Gazette article which Dr. Eric Reeves references in his letter above was a very long front page article which continued inside the newspaper. It was also one of many articles whose slant and focus was overwhelmingly supportive of the satellite "Save Darfur!" coalition in the Northampton area, and its international agenda. A local Jewish activist group connected with the B’Nai Israel Synagogue spearheads this movement, which has a mutually supportive relationship with Dr. Eric Reeves.

As everywhere, however, the local Western Massachusetts base of support for the "Save Darfur!" campaign includes people of both Christian and Jewish faiths, and others both right and left of the political spectrum. It includes Quakers from the American Friends Service Committee and human rights campaigners from Amnesty International’s local Amherst (MA) chapter; it also included Mayor of Northampton (MA) Claire Higgins. In the middle of this extensive article further cheering on the "Save Darfur!" movement there were found several comments by this writer suggesting that the entire "Save Darfur!" movement revolved around powerful interests seeking to overthrow the Government of Sudan and/or gain access to the petroleum and other natural resources in Darfur specifically, and in Sudan more generally. The comments, out of their original context, did not reflect the complexity of the issues or the deeper questions that will be raised in this writing. There have never been any articles in this local newspaper that examine the other questions and therefore balance out the reportage and the issue. Given the preponderance of coverage in favor of his cause, Dr. Eric Reeves still felt it necessary to pen a separate letter to attack the singular point made in one or two brief remarks.

"The Gazette's important reporting December 9 [2006] on local Darfur advocacy notes the views of Keith Harmon Snow, including his mistaken assertion about the role of oil development in the Khartoum regime's genocidal counter-insurgency strategy in western Sudan."

From paragraph one of his letter we can also consider the "counter-insurgency" language used by Dr. Reeves. In order for there to be a "counter-" insurgency one would reasonably assume that there is an insurgency. In fact, that is a rather specious assumption in today’s world: the United States has a long history over the past five decades designing and implementing "counter-insurgency" operations to root out insurgents that didn’t actually exist. Similarly, today, we see a U.S. strategy of "counter-terrorism" which is in fact a complete inversion of the facts: the U.S. government is itself engaged in acts of terrorism all over the world—terrorism and terrorist acts that provide the fait accompli justification for foreign military or economic intervention. Counter-insurgency programs created by the Pentagon include programs to massacre, rape, torture and assassinate, and these are routine, not accidental or one-time jobs committed by "a few rogue soldiers" or "a few mentally unbalanced individuals," as is always claimed.

Nonetheless, in the case of Darfur, Sudan, we find that there is indeed an insurgency led by several "rebel" factions, including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A). But Dr. Eric Reeves says very little about these insurgents, and what he does say does not add up to much, if it adds up at all. Ditto his analyses and writings about greater South Sudan from 1998 to the present: the true role of the "rebel" Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) is never revealed. The fact remains that Dr. Eric Reeves has in this simple letter shared something he hardly pays any attention to in most all of his extensive writings: this is a war involving more than one party.

Paragraph two opens with a statement meant to establish the credibility of the writer, Dr. Eric Reeves:

"Having worked and published on oil development issues in Sudan for the past eight years, including traveling to the working oil regions, I believe Gazette readers should know that there is not a shred of evidence—seismic or geological—of significant oil reserves in Darfur. All oil development and production activities occur in southern Sudan (primarily Upper Nile Province) and the very south of Kordofan Province."

The fact is that Dr. Eric Reeves has spent roughly two weeks in his entire life in Africa, and these were in South Sudan: the remainder of the "past eight years" of his life dedicated to Sudan have been based out of Smith College. Why is Dr. Eric Reeves taking such a hard "no oil in Darfur" line? It’s certainly not because the oil isn’t there.

There are many sources of high standing that have publicized the Darfur oil link. A typical middle-of-the-road example is the article "Oil found in South Darfur—Oil issues threaten to derail Sudan hopes for peace."

"The report also reveals that the president of Sudanese oil exploration company Advanced Petroleum Company (APCO), Salah Wahbi, told The Sunday Business Post that oil had been found in South Darfur. He said that oil had been found in south Darfur and he urged the [ Darfur] rebels to return to the negotiating table."

The Advanced Petroleum Company (APCO) concession is located in South Darfur and the name "APCO" is denoted on the petroleum map of Sudan that is produced by the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, a "watchdog" organization which appears to involve some of the perpetrator companies that are charged with gross human rights violations and named herein.

Oil in Darfur

Other credible sources that clearly see the evidence of oil in Darfur include AlertNet, a syndicated on-line journal which positions itself as a leader in "alerting humanitarians to emergencies." Published in London by the highly respected Reuters Foundation, the award-winning AlertNet was launched in 1997 "to provide support services for aid agencies," and it reports current membership of over 300 leading agencies in some 80 countries.

" London (AlertNet): The existence of big oilfields in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region has added a new twist to a bloody, two-year-old conflict, potentially turning the quest for peace into a tussle over resources."

"Sudan announced in April [2005] that its ABCO [sic: APCO] corporation, which is 37 percent owned by Swiss company Clivenden, had begun drilling for oil in Darfur, where preliminary studies showed there were "abundant" quantities of oil."

"The issue of oil in Darfur isn’t very different from the issue of oil anywhere else," said Mike Aaronson, director general of British NGO Save the Children. "It’s potentially a tremendous blessing, and potentially a tremendous handicap."

According to Ken Bacon, President of the non-profit U.S. advocacy organization Refugees International, petroleum is a central issue behind the war in Darfur. In an interview with AlertNet media, Bacon was repeatedly quoted for his comments about oil in Darfur in the context of its importance to external governments and corporations. Bacon went on to describe the conflict as a "land grab" by powerful economic interests. The displacement of populations, he said, was a means to access and control the land they live on.

"‘There’s some speculation that one of the reasons that these land grabs are going on is to get the African tribes off the ground so they can be controlled by the government in Khartoum,’ " Ken Bacon, president of U.S. advocacy organization Refugees International, told AlertNet."

"The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Sudan since 1997, so there is no legal U.S. investment in the country."

"Cliveden, the biggest stakeholder in ABCO [sic: APCO] corporation, is a Swiss company, but an investigation for British television Channel 4 revealed that Cliveden’s chief executive, Friedholm Eronat, swapped his U.S. passport for a British one shortly before signing an oil deal with the Khartoum government in October 2003."

Above we find executives from two major non-profit organizations stating, in articles published by mainstream news corporations, that the Darfur conflict revolves around Darfur’s oil. Professionals from both Save the Children and Refugees International directly contradict Dr. Eric Reeves’ absolutist statements about oil in Darfur, and both are organizations that Dr. Eric Reeves cites as respectable and credible. Dr. Eric Reeves has also declared that Save the Children is one of the beneficiaries of his fundraising efforts for the people of Sudan.

Not a shred of evidence?

Another 2005 news account that directly establishes that Darfur is about oil is one that was reported by the syndicated Reuters agency and published in the left-leaning CorpWatch:

"Sudan on Tuesday said its ABCO [sic: APCO] corporation—in which Swiss company Cliveden owns 37 percent—had begun drilling for oil in Darfur, where preliminary studies showed there were ‘abundant’ quantities of oil. ‘The Sudanese people have never benefited from these (oil) discoveries,’ said Ahmed Hussein, the London-based spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement [rebels of Darfur]. ‘The oil must wait until a final peace deal is signed.’"

Is there oil in Darfur?

"In fact, a huge strategic game is taking place in central Africa for control of black gold," wrote Africa Research Bulletin. Indeed, Darfur proves a pivotal geographic prize: who ever controls Darfur not only controls Darfur’s oil but also has potential to control the oil in Chad:

"While financing the [Darfur] rebels, Beijing apparently has its attention focused on Chadian oil (200,000 barrels a day) extracted in the south of the country through a US-Malaysian consortium and conveyed to the United States via Cameroon ports and the Gulf of Guinea. A more favorably disposed government in N’Djamena [the capital of Chad] could grant oil permits and authorize an oil pipeline joining southern Chad and Sudan in order to reverse the flow of black gold. China apparently also has an interest in the sub soil of Darfur, which might harbor fossil fuels. So it seems that the war between Washington and Beijing has already begun, amid the sands of Africa."

When the conflict in Darfur spread to Chad and Central Africa Republic the Western media echoed the constant "genocide" refrain. With the above we find that the reality is a little more deeply submerged beneath the headlines. It appears that Chad is a pivotal element in the disastrous "Save Darfur!" equation. However in an international debate published by the BBC on 27 October 2007, Dr. Eric Reeves stated: "" Chad tells us nothing about Darfur."

On the contrary, the evidence suggests that Dr. Eric Reeves tells us nothing about Darfur. In fact, it appears that Dr. Reeves wields information with expedience: if it serves his purposes he uses it; any inconvenient facts are ignored if they don’t fit the explanation or admonition of the moment, and then utilized when it serves the new or adjusted argument. On 27 October Dr. Eric Reeves stated: " Chad tells us nothing about Darfur." As the conflagration unfolded in neighboring Chad and Central Africa Republic, Dr. Eric Reeves was singing a different tune: "The situation in eastern Chad cries out desperately for urgent deployment of a robust international security force," he wrote on 13 December 2006.

Indeed, in the same article in early December 2006 we find Dr. Eric Reeves advocating military actions that clearly indicate that he is party to the aggressive propaganda campaign which serves the military campaign being waged by Western interests:

"Such a [robust international security] force would also send a clear signal of international resolve, and put in place military resources that would be hours, not weeks or months from being able to respond to events on the ground in Darfur."

Dr. Eric Reeves, as seen above, is an advocate for military operations; he goes on to underscore his failure to either comprehend or illuminate the deeper geopolitical forces at work in the region.

"But without French leadership, including in passing an authorizing UN Security Council resolution, there is no chance of forward movement. The Financial Times reports that France appears to be waiting for US leadership on the issue; but if this is French strategy, it is finally disingenuous:

"[A Bush administration official said] that the US wanted to work with France in Chad, where Paris has a small contingent of troops, to help President Idris Deby fend off Sudanese-backed rebels. French diplomats said there had been no approach yet from Washington about military action and Paris would only envisage military initiatives within a multilateral framework." (Financial Times [ London] [dateline: Washington, DC], December 12, 2006)."

What is "French strategy" in the region? According to Dr. Eric Reeves France is "waiting for the US leadership" and this "is finally disingenuous." On the contrary, France and the United States have been at war over Africa. Rwanda from 1990 to 1994 was predominantly a war between France and its allies and the United States and its allies. Ivory Coast is one of the latest areas of French-U.S. conflict; Gabon will be a future area. But France has had a deep hand in supporting the Khartoum regime, and it has been primarily in defense of French interests from the slow, steady challenge by U.S. interests seeking to displace them (French interests).

The northern people of Sudan have historically been very hostile to the people of the south, denying them any kind of equitable development. And then Chevron—with the help of USAID and a company called HTSPE (Hunting) Ltd.—discovered oil. And so, while John Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation started out as a true African liberation force, liberation is something the Western world will not accept for African populations, especially when there is American oil under their soil. Every single liberation struggle has been co-opted or curtailed by Western powers. John Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), through clandestine deals with powerful Western institutions, was transformed, fairly early on, from a people’s movement to just another mercenary army serving the imperatives of power and private profit. The SPLA leader John Garang was a Christian of the southern minority Dinka tribe with a degree from Grinnell College (Iowa) and advanced degrees from Iowa State, and with military training from the U.S. Army's Fort Benning Georgia, the U.S. military academy which includes the infamous School of the Americas, notable for training Latin American militaries in torture, massacres and assassinations .

Other examples of sell-out "African" liberation movements include Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe; Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress in South Africa; and the unified Ethiopian liberation struggle against the Dergue regime of Mengitsu in Ethiopia, which ultimately brought the current brutal regime of Meles Zenawi to power. Where bribery and coercion did not succeed in punctuating liberation movements, assassination was used: Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Claude Ake, and Ken Saro-Wiwa all provide notable examples. In the end, it was likely some U.S. or allied intelligence that eliminated John Garang in the helicopter "crash" in South Sudan that occurred soon after the peace deal with Khartoum was signed; Garang had simply become too powerful.

Iran , Iraq, Libya and France have all provided military and intelligence support to Khartoum. Garang received military support and protected border sanctuaries from Museveni in Uganda, with backing from the U.S. It wasn’t long before France’s worst nightmare became a reality: through low-intensity conflict, a pro-U.S. regime was installed in South Sudan. Responding to U.S. infiltration of on the continent the French Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieur (DGSE) began collaborating with Sudanese intelligence in the mid-1990’s; Sudanese intelligence was provided with state-of-the-art satellite imagery pinpointing SPLA bases in South Sudan. The French also provided secure communications equipment and listening devices. According to one French human rights group, Survie: "Satellite photographs were handed out so that the Sudan population in the south could be bombarded. Genocide is taking place in the South of Sudan and France is quietly taking part."

According to intelligence insider Wayne Madsen, Khartoum agreed to keep its Darfur province, which bordered on Chad, free of rebels fighting against the pro-French Chadian government. In return, France agreed to pressure its ally, the government of Central Africa Republic, to permit Sudanese troops to cross its territory to attack SPLA guerrillas in South Sudan.

Understand the conflagration in Darfur means understanding Darfur’s relationship to Chad and Uganda. Like Uganda, the U.S. penetration into Chad is today very significant. The French military has provided air transport for some rebels of the Darfur conflict. The U.S. is working with others through its proxy forces and regional allies on the frontline states of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad and Uganda. The geopolitical alignments and ongoing regional struggle reflect both deep divisions amongst the elites in the United States and Europe, and a hydra of multinational corporate and mercenary interests difficult to comprehend or confront.

According to the independent Norwegian news service Norwatch:

"So far, oil has not played a central role in the Darfur-conflict. But that just might be a question of time. The rich oil fields are lined up like pearls on a string from South Sudan to Chad. The only place where the oil has been left relatively untouched is Darfur."

If we were to distill it all down into the most simple analyses we might say this: What Exxon-Mobil and other more U.S.-based companies control in Chad, China wants; and what the Chinese National Petroleum Company and TotalFinaElf have in South Sudan, the US companies want. Darfur is right in the middle.

Trade embargo

Some take the United States’ trade embargo against Sudan, set up in 1997 under the Clinton Administration, as evidence that the United States has no interest in Sudan’s petroleum, and no way to get at it. Mel Middleton, executive director of Freedom Quest International, appears to see it this way.

"You conveniently forget that the US is the only nation that has sanctions on Sudan. Thus its oil companies are not allowed to do any business there—and if they do so, take them to court and suit them for violation of US sanctions. The fact is that however badly US corporations might want the oil in Sudan, right now they can't have it, because of these sanctions."

"Yes, Bush is trying to change that—not by doing anything to stop the genocide, but by attempting to whitewash the Khartoum regime to the point where it is brought back to international respectability. That is why the CIA and US State Dept continue to embrace some of the worst human rights violators in the world among the Sudanese government."

However, any rational examination of the West’s hunger for oil would lead one to conclude that it is precisely the existence of sanctions "forbidding" U.S. oil companies from getting at the oil that is behind the conflagration. This is not something "conveniently forgotten" but the very raison d’etre for the deep distrust of the "Save Darfur!" movement and the advocates, like Mel Middleton and Dr. Eric Reeves and John Prendergast, who are spearheading it.

David Morse thinks there is oil in Darfur, and though he cannot understand why Dr. Eric Reeves is claiming there is none, he apparently respects Dr. Eric Reeves’ so much that he doesn’t question Dr. Reeves’ position.

In 2005, Morse traveled to the Nuba Mountains in South Sudan to research the conflict. (His contacts with the SPLA and Christian relief organizations that assisted him in his passage from Kenya to Sudan were organized with the help of this writer, in Nairobi.) He is a member of the same regional "Save Darfur!" chapter as Dr. Eric Reeves. He has published several lengthy articles that support the "Save Darfur!" movement while also challenging the oil angle. Like some within the "Save Darfur!" movement David Morse sees the oil in Darfur, and Sudan more generally, as the driving force behind the Bush Administration’s supposed intransigence or reluctance to get tough to force the Government of Sudan to stop the genocide. However, like most "Save Darfur!" advocates or supporters, David Morse is blind to the role that the "Save Darfur!" movement is playing to help get at that oil.

"Until April 2005, it was said that whatever oil deposits existed in Darfur were confined to its southeastern corner. However, new seismographic studies brought a surprise. On April 19, 2005, Mohamed Siddig, a spokesman for the Sudan Energy Ministry, announced that a new high-yield well had been drilled in North Darfur—several hundred kilometers northwest of the existing fields. Seismographic studies indicated that a huge basin of oil, expected to yield up to 500,000 barrels of crude per day, lay in the area. This Darfur discovery effectively doubled Sudan's oil reserves… Perhaps as astonishing as the oil discovery, reported in brief by Reuters, was that it was not picked up by the world press."

"June 2005 saw oil companies from India, France, Malaysia, China, Great Britain, Japan, and Sweden flocking to sign contracts in Sudan, while U.S. companies were officially sidelined by the 1997 sanctions. The rush was occasioned partly by the new oil finds in Darfur, but also by a long-awaited North-South peace agreement, scheduled to be implemented in July, that ended the civil war."

"Although U.S. oil companies could not openly join the scramble for Sudan's oil, many were finding ways to circumvent the sanctions. One method was by minority ownership. For instance, Marathon Oil, based in Houston and a major contributor to the Bush re-election campaign, is a partner in the French company Total… [At one point] Marathon had resumed payments to the Khartoum government in the expectation that it would take part of Total's operations in the oilfields."

"In addition, certain foreign companies—including some that exist only on paper—were probably serving as place-holders for large U.S. firms until the sanctions could be lifted. One such ‘foreign’ company is registered in the Virgin Islands, uses a Swiss business address, and is owned by an American oil tycoon, Friedhelm Eronat, who has fronted for Exxon Mobil in the past. BBC 4 discovered Eronat was at the heart of a deal to get at Darfur's oil. Eronat avoided prison and a fine only by swapping his U.S. citizenship for British citizenship just before signing a lucrative contract with the government of Sudan for drilling rights to a huge tract that spreads west from South Sudan across the middle of Darfur. As a result of the new Darfur discoveries, that contract is now worth billions of dollars. The deal provoked outrage from human rights groups in Britain. U.S. media showed little curiosity."

David Morse has raised some interesting questions that do not so neatly fit within the "Save Darfur!" framework of good guys ["Save Darfur!"] versus bad guys [ Khartoum]. This Eronat fellow is rather remarkable: he trades his U.S. passport for a U.K. citizenship so that he can circumvent U.S. trade restrictions on Sudan! And imagine the suggestion that someone might be creating a placeholder company for Exxon-Mobil until such time as the Government of Sudan has been whipped into shape and the petroleum becomes available through the lifting of the U.S. sanctions! Place holding like this happens all the time through front companies and offshore subsidiaries. The most important point made by David Morse might well be the repeated notice given that [1] the petroleum discoveries in Darfur were not picked up by the world press; and [2] the Eronat deal provoked outrage from human rights groups in Britain, yet U.S. media showed little curiosity.

Given the massive blanket "Save Darfur!" media coverage, and the moral imperative of "stopping genocide" and "never again," messages which the U.S. media has peddled over and over, even whipping the public up into a frenzy, why isn’t the Western media interested in the new oil finds in Darfur? And what about an oil tycoon who is speculating on oil concessions in the midst of genocide? Why does Dr. Eric Reeves deny the oil factor?

The Marathon Oil board of directors includes some very interesting characters connected to U.S. oil and defense companies, including JackandPanther LLC, a privately-held military and aerospace consulting small business firm whose clients include top Pentagon agencies; Texaco; the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council; the American Petroleum Institute; United Technologies Corp.; Conoco Oil (a DuPont subsidiary involved in Somalia today). Two Marathon directors are also directors of H.J. Heinz Company, of the Heinz family that democratic presidential candidate John Kerry married into. And no directory of interlocking interests would be complete without the world’s premier aerospace and defense behemoth, Lockheed Martin. The circle is complete: Lockheed Martin is a major financial backer of the global "humanitarian" organization, CARE. Unsurprisingly, CARE is also working in Darfur.

In a follow-on article to his first expose on oil in Darfur, David Morse articulated what should be obvious to any thinking American: this is yet another conflict driven by rapacious corporate hunger for oil. Of course, that is what Dr. Eric Reeves always said about South Sudan...but only so much as to say that it is those damned Chinese and Malaysians, and the odd Canadian company: rapaciousness for oil, in the case of Sudan, appears to be something U.S. oil companies are able to remarkably transcend!

"The ink is scarcely dry on oil deals signed between the Islamist dictatorship that rules Sudan from the northern capital, Khartoum, and an eager bevy of oil companies from China, India, Japan, and Britain—even as the genocide continues full tilt in the western region known as Darfur. Every new contract signed in Khartoum makes it clearer that this genocide is fueled by the world's unquenchable thirst for petroleum.

Oil rigs are now drilling on land seized from black African farmers—who have been killed, raped, and driven off their land by their own government through its proxy militias, known as Janjaweed, in a campaign of ethnic cleansing now in its third year.

Is there oil in Darfur? Seems a lot of credible sources think so. There are the concessions, as the two maps produced by this author have shown. There are companies chasing the oil. There are even companies drilling for oil in Darfur.

The problem with the analyses by Dr. Eric Reeves is that it is [1] full of holes, and [2] capricious. Dr. Eric Reeves has fought the oil industry in South Sudan for years. As some have noted, including Dr. Eric Reeves, these were mostly French, Chinese, Malaysian and Arab companies, with one rogue Canadian company.

Why the discrepancy with Darfur? Are we concerned about people’s lives, or not? If Dr. Eric Reeves is concerned about people dying—and I believe he sincerely is—then why does he deny the oil link? By denying the oil link, Dr. Eric Reeves sets himself up for some serious challenges, because one then begins to wonder what is true and what is not true. How can we trust the other information that Dr. Eric Reeves provides, such as the numbers of dead that he is ever claiming, if he cant even get the most basic facts correct? Or, is there something else going on?

End of Part Two

Source: Global Research,