One cannot speak only of Darfur when speaking of Sudan. The north-south civil war that culminated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is seen by some as a marriage between war criminals and victims. Largely brokered by the United States, it has specific provisions for wealth-sharing, common defense, and a timeline for both an election referendum and a secession referendum in 2011.Last October, President Bush signed the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act and revised Executive Order 13067 which kept sanctions on the Government of Sudan (GoS - the North) and rescinded them for the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS - the South). These efforts allowed direct investment by US companies in Southern Sudan except in the petrochemical and extractive industries. There was some confusion as to whether this applied to the private sector's involvement in security sector reform, but that was further clarified by President Bush this past April when he signed documents allowing the private sector to participate in defense and security initiatives. This is important, because a secession referendum that results in a vote for secession by the South most probably will result in the North re-invading the South. Certainly, Bashir has no intention to allow the South to control the oil there, along with the teak and gum arabic resources.
In Southern Sudan, the private sector has the ability to directly affect the security of a nascent democracy who has a very specific timeline for survival. Security-sector reform (SSR) programs like creating a police force, professionalizing the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and engaging in disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) operations, so that rule of law/justice, agricultural, business, and political experts can perform their very important work are paramount and a perfect fit for the private sector. Blackwater particularly pitched such plans for both Darfur and Southern Sudan. Now may be the time for those plans to be revisited. Other companies like PAE and DynCorp have already been executing US government programs there.
As I mentioned in the previous post, investing in everything in Southern Sudan will have a huge affect on sustainability going forward. But nothing happens until demining is finished and roads can be built. Road construction will allow business and public safety operations to flourish. No roads, no nothing - period.
Sudan will not be the only opportunity for the private sector to have a positive affect in Africa, but it can demonstrate there to the world just how effective it can be in DDR and SSR programs and how a long-term investment can pay the greatest dividends.
Open minds and innovation can help assuage human suffering. The private sector is part of that innovation. We should no longer be asking, "why should we use the private sector?", we should be demanding why we aren't to the fullest extent possible.
4 comments:
The writer fails, like most, to note the reasons WHY the north is attacking the south. Darfur is another place in the world where Islamic government’s geopolitical desires are to spread Islam through the use of force. In Darfur, the Islamic north is attempting to subdue the Christian and Spiritualist south for Islam. Those that are Christian may be converted or subdued (become dhimmis), those that are spiritualist are to be killed. This is according to Sharia and the Qur'an. Building more roads and having more investment isn't going to stop the killing.
Open minds and innovation are not part of Islam, its rules were set down 1400 years ago, have not, and will not change.
Thanks for the comment, Frederick. Of course, you make a point that many share, however, conducting a war on Islam is like condicting a war on terror. Omar al-Bashir enjoys support only in Khartoum. More Sudanese showed up for Dr. John Garang's funeral than voted in any election.
There are many ways that extremist Islam can be met and providing people with a better life and dignity is one of them. I will in the future post more about the struggle between Christianity and Islam in Sudan, but for now, I chose to simply introduce how the private sector might assist. Thanks, again...
I ignore whether my comment will be read or not because I came on this site by hazard and found a comment that was posted on june 2007 by Frederick.
I wanted to tell to Mr Frederick that his view on Islam is neither wide nor wise. He judges the laws of an entire religion by the acts of some of its adepts. That seems to be a little bit out of wisdom. Each religion has indeed different ways of being practiced due to the differences in the understanding of its principles. There are several Islamic countries that never oppress people from other belongings, are they less Muslim than others?
Of course, the principle is one but the interpretation may differ. That's why you can find Catholics and Protestant or Jehova witnesses. Despite all those categories of christians, christianity in itself may not be judged by the errors of one of the different groups that constitute it. It's the same with Islam. There are several groups that act and think differently while remaining all Muslims, therefore, the community should not be judged by the acts of one group. The principles of Islam are indeed full of wisdom but the interpretations differ most of the time depending on the group that makes them.
I respect you Mr Frederick and I really would like you to consider the fact that Islam is not Arabic, it is Human.
casseabdou@hotmail.com it may be my last time on this blog.
Maybe it would be interesting for both of us to exchange.
Thank you and sorry for anything that you might dislike in my comment.
Maybe it's the lack of knowledge of current events or maybe plain hypocrisy. But the status of terrorism is never applied to the Christian countries that dominate the international Arms industries. Gentlemen this is the real problem of our little planet, there are to many profiting from wars and conflicts.
With the exception of Israel and china it should be known that it is Christian countries that are peddling terror not Muslims.
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