Sudan: Today's Ignored Holocaust

IntellectualConservative.com ^ | May 4, 2002 | Rachel Alexander

[az4vlad]

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has stated that there is perhaps no greater tragedy on the face of the earth today than the war in Sudan. The State Department views Sudan as one of the most egregious violators of human rights. George Bush’s “Axis of Evil” should have included Sudan. Strangely, the media has relegated the holocaust in Sudan to the back pages of the newspapers as if thousands of people being killed, children raped, and enslaved every day is not really that important. As a result, most people don’t even know what is happening in Sudan.

The northern fundamentalist Muslim government, the Khartoum, has declared jihad against the mostly Christian south. The fighting began in 1983 when rebels from the Christian south rose up against Khartoum’s forced implementation of Muslim law. Muslim students were lured into fighting for the Khartoum with promises that they would be allowed to keep whatever they stole from the south. Captured women have been raped and their children sold into slavery. Christians from the north who refuse to fight with the Khartoum against the south are forced to be mine sweepers. Hospitals, schools, relief centers, and marketplaces are constantly under bombardment. Because of the war, there is massive famine. Christians compose 19 percent of the population. Since the war began, two million have died from the war and famine. In comparison, six million Jews died in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany. There are no other wars currently going on that have had as many deaths. Even the current war in Afghanistan, which has been going on since 1979, probably has not reached two million deaths. And in the entire twentieth century, there have been only about seven wars that have seen more than two million deaths.

Although the U.S. has negotiated an agreement that limits attacks on civilians in Sudan, this agreement is ignored by the Khartoum regime. Groups such as Servant’s Heart and the World Food Program, which are trying to send grain to the impoverished areas, are being thwarted by the Khartoum regime, which is destroying the food supplies. Sudan has been sanctioned by the U.N. for bombing U.N. relief helicopters. However, unbelievably last year, Sudan was given a seat on the Human Rights Commission, while the U.S. was kicked off for the year! This happened because each U.N. member country is allowed one vote – equal to any other country, democratic or not, and there are plenty of Sudan allies in Africa. It appears the U.N. is set up “non-judgmentally.”

The Khartoum regime receives its financing from the powerful government-owned Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, which has international partners in Russia, China, and a Canadian oil company, Talisman. The government has made profits of $300 million from Talisman alone, and collects about $1 million a day from all of them. This money is then used to buy Western, Russian, and Chinese planes to bomb the south. 90 percent of Christians in the south have been displaced, mainly to make way for oil exploration. Khartoum also receives money from allies such as Libya.

Not only has this government killed and enslaved Christians, but it has tortured them. Christians have been baked to death, their lips have been padlocked together to prevent them from talking about the torture they have endured, they have been crucified, forcibly converted to Islam and circumcised – including women. Slaves have had their fingers and limbs cut off for reasons like losing a goat.

Journalists like Dan Rather have bought into reports that slavery is not really taking place, and instead of visiting Sudan to verify the accuracy of the reports, have dismissed the work of human rights groups such as Solidarity International and the American Anti-Slavery Group, groups that are trying to stop the slavery. John Eibner, an official with Christian Solidarity International, has reportedly freed about 60,000 slaves, mostly by buying them. In all, it is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 people from the south have been enslaved by the north and sold into slavery in other nearby countries.

The U.S. has made little progress negotiating with the Khartoum regime. In 1998, the U.S. bombed Khartoum because of suspected terrorism. Recently, the U.S. appointed John Danforth, former U.S. Senator, as special envoy to Sudan. In January he attempted to convince Khartoum to cease its bombing of civilian targets in the south. The government agreed to briefly suspend bombing to allow humanitarian aid, but then in February dropped six bombs killing two children. As a result, the U.S. suspended its peace talks with Sudan. Danforth admitted this month that the U.S. alone will not be able to end the civil war. But since 9/11, the U.S. has been less critical of Khartoum, eager for the government’s cooperation with the U.S. war on terrorism. This month, the U.S. posted its first resident diplomat in Khartoum in six years.

The Khartoum would like to convert the entire continent of Africa to Islam. A Khartoum sympathizer characterizes the Khartoum’s disdain of the West’s opposition this way, “The advantage, from the West's point of view, is that it will prevent the spread of Islam southward. Islam's appeal for Africans is natural. Its egalitarian system fits in well with the good-natured Africans, unlike the racist brand of Christianity propagated by the west. Africa is essentially a Muslim continent.”

So why aren’t we hearing more about this dreadful situation? Why is the media relegating the holocaust from the Sudan to the back pages of the newspapers, if at all? Perhaps it is because the crimes being committed are by blacks upon blacks, which is something the media doesn’t care about since it is not politically correct to point out. Perhaps it is also because the victims are Christians, which are usually the media’s target of ridicule and criticism, not their sympathetic victims or heroes. So the message from the media is this: if you are a black Christian, your death is a lot less important than somebody else’s death. Sounds eerily similar to how the early U.S. viewed the black slaves, who were primarily Christians - as 3/5 of a person. Funny, since the liberal-leaning media never ceases to insist that their “progressive” left wing philosophy is the least racist philosophy.

The author is the editor of IntellectualConservative.com

[eureka!]

Tragic Jesse Jackson/Kofi Anan et al are frauds ping...

[ppaul]

History repeats itself - but the world "leaders" ignore it.

KHARTOUM, starring Charleton Heston, is a Grand, Historic, Sweeping Epic with a cast of thousands.
Does history repeat itself? I first saw this movie years ago. After the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in the mid-1990's, when Osama Bin Laden first declared a "jihad" against the United States, I was reminded of the movie. Osama Bin Laden is the spitting image of the "Mahdi", played by Lawrence Olivier. The parallels are uncanny. Believing that he was "the predicted one" spoken of by the prophet Muhammad to bring the sword against infidels and convert the world to Islam, the Mahdi sprung up from the deserts of the Sudan in 1883 to organize a Holy War against the British Empire and all Christendom. A century later, Bin Laden also sprung up from the Sudan (he was expelled from Sudan in 1996 and his assets there seized). In fact, recall when then U.S. President Bill Clinton bombed the aspirin factory there in an attempt to annihilate Bin Laden - in Khartoum! To understand what is taking place in the world today, this movie is a must see. I would highly recommend it for high school and college students, as well as adults desiring to make sense of what drives the radical Islamic jihadists. This movie reveals that their radical mindset is nothing new - it was alive and well in 1883 much the same as today. Besides being a true story, Khartoum is a gripping tale of good versus evil, full of action, battles, and edge of your seat suspense and intrigue. If you haven't seen Khartoum, do it now. It's a TOP 10 for sure.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

[JDGreen123]

Proves once again that if you have oil and don't get too far out of hand like Saddam, you are not going to land on any terrorist lists. Why isn't Saudi Arabia on the list? From whence did the majority of 9-11 terrorists originate? Saudi Arabia. The day we see a Bush family member punish Saudi Arabia will never come. Too many business ties, friends, and interests. Looks like Sudan sadly is falling into the same pile.

[F16Fighter]

Excellent post...

Too bad there aren't any Sudanese lobbiests in Washington, eh? Or Hollywood "heroes" willing to make light of this outrage...

Oh, that's right -- the scourge of Africa is AIDS, and NOT Islam, Communism, or ruthlessly oppressive African "leaders".

Now that Boy Clinton eight years of ignorance are over, will Dubya address this tragedy?

[Free the USA]

Bump list

[Ohioan]

The author makes a major mistake, in my view, calling a systematic slaughter over a period of years a "Hollocaust." The use of this term has become a way to mystify a policy, rather than effectively analyze it, so that it may more likely be prevented in the future. For a classic example of how really self-defeating such a packaging label is, see Cult Of "The Holocaust"--Golden Calf Of The 20th Century.

The whole subject of ethnic, religious and class slaughters is being deliberately confused today, so as not to embarrass the forces on the Left, who wish to force Uniformity on all mankind. Thus the real causation--the intolerance of those who seek human uniformity (Equality & new World Orders)--goes largely unremarked.

I am aware that the issues are somewhat different in the Sudan than in the Communist and Nazi slaughters of high achievers in Europe. But they spring out of a similar intolerance for variation, for deviation from a pursued norm.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[End Times Sentinel]

Great Post ’vlad. Nice to see some of the horrors outside of Rhodesia getting a little attention (if that can be nice anyway).

The only real problem I had with the article was the passage:
Journalists like Dan Rather have bought into reports that slavery is not really taking place…

Now, I can always be found at the head of the pack of those ready to bash The Dan, but this statement just isn’t true. What Rather said was that lefty idiots like John Eibner actually promote slavery by purchasing the slaves to give them freedom. This only further fuels the market for slaves. Further, it’s surely no surprise that Eibner and his feel good fools are routinely duped into buying “Slaves” who aren’t really slaves at all. Often they’re just kids promised a 20% cut of Eibner’s money for posing as slaves.

The statistics Alexander brings up at the start are truly horrific. The more one looks at the racist left and their insanely prejudiced coverage of crimes such as these, the more a rational person must loathe them.

Alexander makes her best point in the last paragraph pointing out that so long as the aggressor is black and the victim a Christian (at least that’s what I think she tried to say), all is right in the liberal view of the world.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[mafree]

Thanks for the ping.

About 6 years ago I started speaking up about slavery in the Sudan. At that time, there was still some denial in some quarters. Now, more are aware but not enough is still being done.

[JDGreen123]

Good article on raising funds to purchase freedom of Christian slaves in the Sudan at Dr. James Dobson's site. Pros and Cons discussed. If it is good policy, we could all chip in and get some folks free. Slaves sell for between $15 and $100 according to the article. Some fear that this encourages more slaves to be captured. See what you all think?

Brothers in Chains

[F16Fighter]

I'm surprised Powell is addressing this tragedy at all, (even if Jesse and Farrakhan couldn't care less) but if ever there was an issue both liberals and conservatives, black and white could agree on, it is this...

IMO, if high-profile black powerhouses like Oprah, BET, clergy, and a few athletes and entertainers stood and voiced an iota of outrage in public AS ONE, the U.S. government would snap to its senses in a minute.

Just how can we spend billions in military and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, and at a hundred otherplaces, and yet ignore this??

[backhoe]

You may find this somewhat related:

'Their Blood Cries Out'- and 'Into the Lion's Den....'

[Salvation]

Two Christian/Catholic compounds were bombed today by Sudan.

[Salvation]

Sudan Bombs Two Church Compounds

[redrock]

"Tragic Jesse Jackson/Kofi Anan et al are frauds ping.."

Can't improve on the truth...so I'll just copy it..

redrock

[niki]

Now that Boy Clinton eight years of ignorance are over, will Dubya address this tragedy?

This month, the U.S. posted its first resident diplomat in Khartoum in six years.

[Red Jones]

bttt