When is China revising truthfully “its” Sudan’s policies?
By Mahgoub El-Tigani
April 6, 2007 — While the Sudanese democratic parties and civil society groups are angrily celebrating the Popular Uprising, which toppled the Nimeiri’s NIF-military tyrannous rule on April 6, 1985, disturbing news indicates that China is not revising its policies with respect to the NIF 17-year’s tyranny in Sudan. Instead, there is sufficient evidence China might have finally revised the Sudan’s policies, not for the sake of any far-sighted healthy Chinese-Sudanese relations, but, most unfortunately, for short-term “strategic defense and security strategic plans” with the tyrannous regime of Sudan.
Many Sudanese expected China to live up to the solemn promise the President of the Republic of China publicly announced in a Khartoum press conference during his recent trips to Africa to encourage the pariah regime of Omer al-Bashir to honor the peace agreements in South Sudan and Darfur, comply with the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions, and cooperate in a principled way with the national, regional, and international relief agencies and humanitarian organizations to help the victims of his warring regime.
Instead, the People’s Republic of China has obviously chosen to play an elephant and mouse game in the Sudanese nation of Africa. The game is apparently processed via “obscure strategic plans” with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Government of Sudan, at expense of the People of Sudan.
In this notorious game, a China elephant would provide with its huge stature the protection, shelter, aggressive weaponry, and even hidden “tips” and commissions that the ruling elite of Sudan, the mouse in this case, desperately needs to continue harassing its own people, cheat about the Naivasha Agreement with the South, genocide the poor peasantry and Bedouins of Darfur in the Sahara, and continue to exterminate successfully through the elephant’s protection the Sudan’s opposition parties and civil society groups that represent the genuine and most respectable source of Sudanese heritage and democratic experience, simply to stay in power.
Ironically, it was these very persecuted parties the elephant is now supporting the mouse to exclude from the Sudan’s politics and power sharing that once stood with great integrity and principles by the side of the People of China to join the legitimate partying to the United Nations and the International Community.
Not only that the Chinese Elephant is determined to “preserve” this horrible imbalance of power relations in Sudan for reasons possibly deduced though never clearly stated by China; but the Asian profit-maker communist leadership is equally determined to challenge the Will of the People of Sudan and the whole International Community that have fully agreed on the urgent need to press, by all means possible, upon the Government of Sudan to implement, without any elusiveness, the one-year remaining transition to democratic rule in accordance with the spirit and text of the Naivasha Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), in the first place, and the UN resolutions.
The Naivasha CPA, despite its bilateral processing and short-comings, still maintains affordable possibilities of a peaceful national transcendence into a full-fledged constitutional development when all Sudanese opposition groups will become effective parts of it by a constitutional national conference – as increasingly adopted by many international and regional entities, including serious discussions at the UN Human Rights Council.
And yet, China says nothing about this vital Sudanese/International strategic plan. Instead, China spends a lot of party cordiality, state cooperation, and international diplomacy praising the NIF rule, promoting its aggressive in-competencies, and commending its oil, dams, and weaponry deals.
The security agreements between the China elephant and her mouse ally in Africa has gone a long way lately by the shameless visits of Nafi’ ‘Ali Nafi’, the Iranian-trained NIF State Security founder since the June military coup 1989, preceded or followed by a number of key intelligence and defense policy-makers (including the minister of defense, chiefs of army staff, and other security seniors) to Beijing for arms sales and major financial missions.
As general elections are scheduled within a year or so to determine the fate of unity, peace, and development of the country, the Sudanese are really very seriously offended with these trips and the increasing Chinese-elephant Sudanese ruling-mouse multi-million relations with no involvement, whatever, of the parliamentarian and the opposition groups of the country.
Where would all these multi-millions’ arm sales go? Does Sudan really need all these arms?
Is there some commissioned cycle of these huge stocks of arms to other warring groups in Africa or elsewhere?
Perhaps the sophisticated weapons would be targeting “imperialist entities” in other places over the border, as part of the hidden Chinese-Sudanese “strategic defense and security agenda,” wonders the Sudanese.
Why shouldn’t all these monies be spent to relocate the hundreds of thousands of the Sudanese refugees and displaced people in Darfur, the South, and abroad who have all been directly victimized by the ruling NIF junta for almost two consecutive decades of a one-party tyranny?
Would the lethal weapons go into the ailing chests of the dispossessed peasantry and the devastated Bedouins of Darfur? Or would the short-range rockets only blast the peaceful demonstrations of Port Sudan and Soba and the medication residence of handicapped SLA Darfurians, as occurred days ago at the al-Muhandiseen NIF largely possessed suburb in Omdurman?
Has the communist leadership completely betrayed the Maoist concerns ofor the development of the poor and the deprived peasantry?
Well, the living standards of the peasantry of China has not yet improved, remarks the Sudanese who heard the latest Communist Party conference of China. So, why should China care for the African peasantry?
We know who rules Sudan – the commercialized religion-cheater NIF repressive junta. But who really rules China, exclaims the Sudanese!
The NIF defense and security leaders were highly received by top defense and security policy makers in China (Sudan official news, including Sudan T.V., and Sudan Tribune, February-April, 07). None of the Chinese or the Sudanese policy makers or security managers, however, was more out-spoken than the former member of the NIF military coup, member of the NIF Shura [Consultation] Council, former minister of the interior, current minister of defense, and a most close confidant of president al-Bashir, ‘Abd al-Rahim Hussain (Abu Asaya), the one Sudanese senior state manager who expressed full satisfaction with the “overlapping Chinese-Sudanese strategic defense and security plans” right after the official visit of China President to Khartoum.
It is well known for the Sudanese, what kind of “strategic plans” the Islamist regime of Omer al-Bashir has been pursuing in blind obedience to the International Muslim Brotherhood Movement throughout 17 years of torturing governance against the peoples of the land, as well as disturbing intrusions and/or acts of war versus the neighboring nations of Sudan, including the most recent armed conflicts in Chad and Central Africa.
The so-called strategic plans of the warring regime have been consistently based on a policy of indifference to the international law, as well as harassment and contempt of the Sudanese civil society, and corruption of the Sudan’s Treasury.
With these ruthless unaccountable systematic atrocities, the NIF government continues to brutalize citizens, stretching over a police state based on security and army lawlessness, and recruiting the Janjaaweed gangsters and highwaymen with little regard, if any at all, to the Interim Constitution, the Naivasha Peace Agreement or the Darfur Abuja Agreement. Minawi, the only leader of the Darfur rebel groups that signed the Abuja Peace Agreement, just announced his intention to quit the unprincipled performance of the NIF ruling elite to the peace agreement unless straightened out and steadfastly implemented (Sudan Tribune, April 5, 2007).
The continuous killings of innocent people in Port Sudan, Soba, Omdurman, El-Fasher and almost every village of Darfur, as formerly occurred in every village of South Sudan, by the NIF police state testified to the solidifying existence of the China-protected tyranny in Sudan to the detriment of the country’s peace, development, and international obligations.
It might be understandable that “a mouse” solely playing games in a closed cafe would have to pay dearly, at one point, for all acts of disruption and carelessness. An “elephant” which protects, allies with, secretively designs and publicly implements “strategic plans” with such a thing should be condemned both nationally and internationally, however, with the strongest degree possible.
The Sudanese are asking with increasing anger: what “strategic plans” really tie in China with the NIF terrorist rule?
Are these plans part of the NIF “strategic plans” with the International Muslim Brotherhood that high-jacked the democratic State of Sudan in 1989 by military coup and never ceased to destabilize the country or the whole region, let alone undermining international relations, for cheap political and financial gain?
Why are the defense and security strategic plans beginning to overshadow the Chinese-Sudanese oil relations?
Is China prepared to intervene militarily in Sudan by these “strategic plans”? How much China “security” is thus far involving itself in Sudan?
Why is China challenging the will-power and the yearning of the Sudanese people to complete the Transition to Democratic Rule despite the tyrannous nature of the existing regime?
Why is China showing insistent defiance to the Nubians rejection of the Kajabar Dam that will ruin for ever the treasure lands of Nubia, whereas many scientific and popular schemes are available to produce electricity and expand agriculture without inundating Nubia?
Isn’t China aware of the short-lived fate of the falling regime of Sudan?
When is China truthfully revising “its” Sudan’s policies?!
* The author is a member of the Sudanese Writers’ Union. He can be reached at [email protected].